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:





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Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Wye House (18TA314) Survey and Excavation Report
    (1998-08) Kerns, Mechelle; Gibbs, James G. Ph.D.
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    Reordering the Landscape: Science, Nature, and Spirituality at Wye House
    (2015) Pruitt, Elizabeth; Leone, Mark P; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation draws on literature and theoretical frameworks of gardening and social ordering that examine early Euro-American and African-American material culture as they came together on the plantation landscape at Wye House. Located on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the plantation was home to the Welsh Lloyd family and hundreds of enslaved Africans and African-Americans. Using archaeological and archeobotanical remains of garden related buildings and slave dwellings, this project acknowledges the different possible interactions and understandings of nature at Wye House and how this gave shape to a dynamic, culturally-based, and entangled landscape of imposed and hidden meanings, colonization and resistance.
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    Archaeological Excavations on the Long Green (18TA314), 2005-2008, Talbot County, Maryland, 2009
    (2009) Blair, John E.; Duensing, Stephanie N.; Cochran, Matthew David; Kraus, Lisa; Gubisch, Michael; Leone, Mark P.
    Four site reports are included in the one document. Locus 1: Tulip Poplar slave quarter; Locus 3: the North Building slave quarter; Locus 4: Red Overseer’s House, named by Frederick Douglas, home of Overseer Sevier; and Shovel Test Pits from 2005-2008.
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    Phase II Archaeological Testing on Wye Greenhouse (18TA314), Talbot County, Maryland, 2008
    (2009) Blair, John E.; Cochran, Matthew David; Duensing, Stephanie N.; Leone, Mark P.
    From October 27, 2008 to November 24, 2008 staff from the Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), Archaeology in Annapolis Project, conducted archaeological testing on the Wye House Greenhouse (18TA314), Talbot County, Maryland. This Phase II investigation has been conducted at the request of the Greenhouse’s current owner, Mrs. Mary Tilghman, prior to planned Greenhouse foundation stabilization efforts. The project area for this Phase II archaeological investigation comprises the immediate exterior perimeter of the Wye Greenhouse foundation. Seven test units were excavated in the course of this project to evaluate archaeological integrity and to evaluate the potential effects of planned stabilization efforts on archaeological resources. In addition to questions of archaeological integrity, research questions guiding this project focused on the architectural development of the Wye Greenhouse as well as its social use, both by members of the Lloyd family and the plantation’s enslaved African-American inhabitants. Background historical research and oral histories differ concerning the Greenhouse’s initial date of construction. Historical research suggests a construction date of the c. 1770s, while oral histories suggest an initial date of construction of c. 1740s. Archaeological testing has shown that the Greenhouse underwent two major developmental phases—with the main block of the Greenhouse having been constructed in the 1770s and the East and West Wings and hypocaust system added in the mid 1780s. In addition to providing evidence of the Greenhouse’s structural change, levels and features excavated in the course of this project have shed light on the social use of the Wye Greenhouse throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Artifact deposits analyzed in this report detail the Lloyd family’s use of the Greenhouse as both a social space and as a symbol of 18th century opulence. Artifact analyses also shed light on the use of the Greenhouse’s north shed as a slave quarter from the 1790s through the 1840s. Testing in the course of this project has concluded that there is a high degree of archaeological integrity within the project’s area of potential effect. In addition, testing has determined that intact archaeological resources have the distinct potential to add a considerable depth of historical knowledge concerning the Greenhouse’s structural change and social use throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Archaeological evidence detailed in this report should be read as supporting evidence for the Greenhouse’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.
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    Phase II Archaeological Testing of the Hothouse Structure (18TA314), Talbot County, Maryland
    (2013) Pruitt, Beth; Leone, Mark P.
    This report contains the results of the Phase II Archaeological Testing of the Wye House Hothouse Structure (18TA314). It is divided into the following sections: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Research Design and Methodology Chapter 3: Cultural Context and Historical Background Chapter 4: Previous Archaeological Investigations and Significant Architectural Structures Chapter 5: Archaeology and Interpretations Chapter 6: Conclusions and Recommendations Chapter 1 of this report is an introduction to the Hothouse excavation in May 2012. Included within in this chapter are the dates of fieldwork, laboratory processing and analyses, as well as the identification of key project staff. Chapter 2 of this report details the project’s research design and methodology. Included within this chapter are the method employed during the research process of locating the structures, excavation, pollen sample recovery, and laboratory processing. In addition, this chapter lists the research questions that guided this fieldwork. Chapter 3 of this report details the cultural context and historical background of the Wye House Plantation, particularly surrounding the standing Greenhouse. Included within this chapter is a short history of the Wye House Plantation, scientific gardening, and a contextualization for understanding West African spirit practices. Chapter 4 of this report details reported archaeological excavations at the Wye House Plantation, particularly surrounding the standing Greenhouse. Chapter 5 of this report details the results of archaeological testing conducted at the Hothouse structure in May 2012. Included within this chapter is an account of stratigraphic layers, features, and significant artifacts encountered within individual test units. Also included within this chapter are interpretations of layers, features, and artifacts. Chapter 6 of this report details the conclusions based on the data recovered from these excavations and recommendations for further investigations.