It's been a long winter cooped up in the lab, so last Friday we made our first spring trip back to the field at Pig Point. Since we still have to contend with freeze/thaw, we don't want to dig any unit too deep. Otherwise, the sandy walls will literally slump and collapse! Instead, we went over to the Glendening Nature Preserve to check out some depressions on the hill overlooking the site. We were curious if these could be remains of a prehistoric activity or something stemming from the historic use of the area (extending back at least 350 years). We found out they were likely created by the sand and gravel mining that took place in this area in the 20th century - not exactly the exciting archaeological find we were hoping for, but at least now we know!
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| The test trench dug in the Glendening Preserve |
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| Considering we didn't find anything in the trench, we decided to bury a volunteer! I don't think we backfilled over him. Hmm, better go back and check... |
We also took the first tentative steps toward excavating another block in the core of the site, although we only got through the upper historic fill horizons. The discovery of three projectile points spanning the Woodland period has us very excited for what remains underneath!
We'll be back in the field occasionally throughout March, so call the lab at 410-222-1318 if you'd like to come out and volunteer.
ALSO - the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference (MAAC) is coming up next weekend, March 18-20. Jessie and I will be participating in a Lithic Technology Workshop on Friday, and Al and Lauren are giving papers on Saturday (Al will be talking about the 2010 Pig Point findings and Lauren will be talking about our project researching the effects of sea level rise on archaeological sites). If you're interested in attending, here's the website for more info: http://www.maacmidatlanticarchaeology.org/
Hope to see you soon!
-Steph 
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