Archaeology in Annapolis

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10991

Archaeology in Annapolis was a city-wide excavation of Maryland’s capital city whose purpose was to recover and teach with the below ground remains of materials from the 1680’s to today. Archaeology in Annapolis is a part of the Department of Anthropology of the University of Maryland, College Park and has been, and in some cases remains, partners with Historic Annapolis Foundation, the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, and the City of Annapolis. The project was begun in 1981 and continues to work in the City and to excavate on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The project works to provide understanding of the many peoples who have made up the City in the past and present. Under the direction of Mark P. Leone, the organization has conducted over forty excavations in the historic area of Maryland’s capitol city as well as in Queen Anne and Talbot Counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, including Wye House Plantation. This collection includes archaeological site reports, technical reports, and dissertations produced by the project between 1985 and the present. Where possible, separate files for artifact catalogs have been provided.

A physical component of the collection is housed in the National Trust room of Hornbake Library on the University of Maryland campus. It contains copies of site reports, field notes, drawings, slides, contact sheets, photographs, historic research, oral history transcripts, artifact cataloging sheets, analytical notes, dissertations, scholarly and public papers, presentations, journal articles, administrative planning notes, correspondence, visitor evaluations, press releases, brochures, exhibition planning notes and grant proposals.



The Sites in this Collection Include:





Browse

Subject: search.filters.subject.Queen Anne's County

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Archaeological Investigations at Wye Hall Plantation, Wye Island, Queen Anne's County, Maryland
    (2003-03) Harmon, James M.; Hill, Anna; Beadenkoph, Kristofer; Neuwirth, Jessica; Leone, Mark P.; Russo, Jean
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Phase I and II Archaeological Testing at 321 and 323 South Street, Easton Maryland, Home of the Family of the Buffalo Soldier, 2012
    (2013) Jenkins, Tracy H.; Skolnik, Benjamin A.; Leone, Mark P.
    The University of Maryland, College Park, Archaeology in Annapolis Project, conducted Phase I and II archaeological excavations of the property in Easton, Maryland, known as the Home of the Family of the Buffalo Soldier (HFBS) from July 9th through July 20th 2012. The Housing Authority of the Town of Easton owns this property, located at 323 South St., and excavations were conducted at the request of Historic Easton, Inc., with the Housing Authority’s permission, and forms a part of The Hill Project to document and publicize the history of the Easton neighborhood known as The Hill, which has been home to a community of free African Americans since the late eighteenth century. This first excavation within The Hill Project successfully tested the potential for research archaeology to serve the interests of The Hill’s resident and descendant communities, and excavation at the HFBS contributed to The Hill Project’s ongoing historic preservation and community revitalization efforts. Four shovel test pits (STPs) and three 5’x5’ test units were excavated in yard spaces. The Hill’s free black community dates to the late eighteenth century. However, documentary and oral history indicated that the standing built environment at the HFBS dated only to the period of the first African American owners of the site, from ca. 1879. Shedding light on the development of the community through time, archaeological remains documented at the site suggest that this period was the first inhabitation of the property, despite the inhabitation of other properties nearby for the one hundred years prior. They indicate that much yard space has been used in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries for activities including gardening, play, and trash disposal. Two US Army buttons from ca. 1900 support the site’s association with Buffalo Soldier William Gardner and his family, who curated his discharge papers in the house. The site remained open to the general public during excavation and was actively interpreted to site visitors. During and since the excavation, the HFBS has received many visitors, including many Hill residents, and has attracted much news interest. As of the summer of 2013, it has been included in regular walking tours of The Hill’s historical heritage. The excavations determined that the archaeological record at the HFBS, and likely across The Hill, is quite intact and can support active research. Both the HFBS and The Hill are therefore eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places under criterion D. Because of the integrity and uniqueness of the archaeological record at the HFBS, we recommend that the site be protected for further archaeological research. However, since the communities’ interest in researching the origins and early development of the free African American community that existed on The Hill during the time of slavery can be more effectively addressed elsewhere in the neighborhood, we recommend that excavation at the HFBS be a secondary priority for archaeologists for the present.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Phase II Archaeological Testing at 49 Pinkney Street (18AP119), Annapolis, Maryland, 2011
    (2011) Deeley, Kathryn H.; Leone, Mark P.
    Archaeological excavations at 49 Pinkney Street began in June 2011 intensive excavations began as part of the University of Maryland Field School in Urban Archaeology. Two large, deep units, one five feet by four feet and one five feet by five feet, were excavated in the backyard of 49 Pinkney Street and produced thousands of artifacts, including broken dishes, bottles, corroded metal objects, including nails, and a large number of food bones. These artifacts were processed, cataloged and analyzed in the Archaeology in Annapolis Laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park. The data from the excavations are being written up by Kathryn Deeley,a PhD student at the University of Maryland, Department of Anthropology. These many thousands of artifacts will identify the items that were consumed and discarded by predominantly African American working families. The connections between these families are examined, and the materials recovered are studied to determine if the various different communities that lived at this site, including white, black, and Filipino, are visible archaeologically.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Phase I, II and III Investigations of Wye Hall (18QU977), Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources
    (2008) Babiarz, Jennifer J.; Chisholm, Amelia; Leone, Mark P.
    This report describes a three years of investigations to further define the archaeological resources of the privately owned Wye Hall plantation (18QU977), late 18th century home of William Paca, Maryland governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Wye Hall is located on Wye Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in Queen Anne‟s County. Past archaeological work at Wye Hall, from 2000 through 2002, revealed extensive information about the design and usage of the original mansion and gardens from William Paca‟s time. The fieldwork documented in this report was centered on investigation of the area to the east of the main mansion, which is believed to be an area of enslaved habitation during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This represents the first recognized Phase III investigation of a slave quarter in Queen Anne‟s County. Therefore, the results are very important for augmenting Maryland‟s Eastern Shore narratives of the past, particularly in relation to the voice and space given to African and African American histories.