Archaeology in Annapolis
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/10990
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Item “THE REAL DISTANCE WAS GREAT ENOUGH”: REMAPPING A MULTIVALENT PLANTATION LANDSCAPE USING HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (HGIS)(2019) Skolnik, Benjamin Adam; Leone, Mark P.; Anthropology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation uses the tools of historical Geographic Information Systems (hGIS) to locate and describe mid-nineteenth-century plantation landscapes in Talbot County, Maryland. The methodology described here combines historic maps, historic and modern aerial photography, LiDAR-derived elevation data, historic census data, and textual descriptions. It also uses them in conjunction with an ongoing archaeological research project at Wye House, the ancestral seat of the Lloyd family and site of enslavement of Frederick Douglass, near Easton, Maryland in order to further develop ways for archaeologists, historians, and other researchers to work with cartographic and spatial data in a digital framework. This methodology can be used across multiple scales to survey remotely individual sites or even entire counties for potential archaeological resources. Furthermore, it examines the autobiographies of Frederick Douglass, not only because he was a witness to these landscapes, but also because he can be read as a social theorist who addresses issues of race and racialized landscapes throughout his writings. Lastly, it uses these sources of data to consider Dell Upton’s spatial hypothesis regarding racialized plantation landscapes. Taken together, this study of mid-nineteenth-century Talbot County, Maryland represents one way to identify and recover lost sites of African American heritage that would otherwise remain lost.Item Phase II Archaeological Testing on Schwar’s Row (18AP120), Annapolis, Maryland, 2012(2015) Deeley, Kathryn; Pruitt, Beth; Skolnik, Benjamin; Leone, Mark P.This report is a summary of excavations conducted by Archaeology in Annapolis between May 29 2012 and July 6 2012 on Cornhill Street, Annapolis, Maryland. The report is divided into the following sections: Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Context and Historical Background Chapter 3: Archaeology and Interpretations Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations Chapter 1 of this report is an introduction to the Cornhill Street excavations in 2012 at two areas designated Schwar’s Row East and Schwar’s Row West. Included within in this chapter are the dates of fieldwork, laboratory processing and analyses, the identification of key project staff, as well as research design and methodology. Chapter 2 of this report details the context and historical background of the properties. Included within this chapter is a short history of the ownership of the structures and the research questions for this investigation. Chapter 3 of this report details the results of archaeological testing of a total of four units at Schwar’s Row East and Schwar’s Row West. 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 4 of this report details the conclusions based on the data recovered from these excavations and recommendations for further investigations.Item 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.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.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.