56th Annual Spring Symposium on Archeology

Presented by the

Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc.,

Saturday, April 16, 2022

Maryland Historical Trust
100 Community Place


Preservation and Education – Underwater Archaeology Program at Virginia Department of Historical Resources

presented by: Brendan Burker

Of Virginia's public lands, over 85% are submerged. From the coastal zone off the Eastern Shore to the wild mountain rivers, Virginia's sunken and submerged history includes every chapter of human occupation going back nearly 20,000 years. The Virginia Department of Historical Resources (DHR) is tasked with helping protect and learn from these resources, including archaeological resources along our shores and beneath the waves. This presentation describes how the Underwater Archaeology Program at DHR functions to pursue its goals of preservation and education.

Brendan Burke is the Underwater Archaeologist with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR). His job with the Underwater Archaeology Program is to document, inventory, and help preserve maritime sites and submerged cultural resources throughout the waters of the Commonwealth.


Barwick’s Ordinary site - An Exciting Collaboration Shedding Light on the Eastern Shore’s Early Colonial History

presented by: Dr. Julie Markin

At the Barwick’s Ordinary site, an exciting collaboration of volunteer, student, and professional archaeologists is shedding light on the Eastern Shore’s early colonial history. By the late 18th century, a small complex of buildings on the Choptank River near Denton became the first county seat of the newly formed Caroline County. One of the buildings belonged to tavern/ordinary owner James Barwick. Remote sensing conducted by MHT archaeologists identified possible historic structures. Excavations by the Washington College archaeology field school last summer uncovered what might be the cellar to Barwick’s tavern and its privy. Early 18th century pottery and coins - and a single glass trade bead - indicate the site was active prior to Barwick’s residency, but this is based mainly on plowzone contexts. The 2022 field session will dig into these structures to determine when they were active and what types of activities were taking place, helping us to determine if we have found Barwick’s tavern and the location of Caroline County’s first county seat or the remains of an earlier household or commercial establishment.

Dr. Julie Markin is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Washington College. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and History from the University of Alabama and her doctoral degree in Ecological Anthropology from the University of Georgia. Dr. Markin examines political and economic inequality in the Pre-Columbian United States with a focus on how environmental abundance, settlement location and subsistence production intersect to fuel [or preclude] the rise of socially and politically complex societies.


The 2022 Richard E. Stearns Memorial Lecture


The Richard E. Stearns Memorial Lecture is named in honor of Richard E Stearns (1902-1969), curator of the Department of Archeology at the Natural History Society of Maryland for more than 30 years. Mr. Stearns located numerous archeological sites in the Chesapeake area, and carefully documented his surface and excavated finds. He published numerous archeological articles and several monographs, and donated his collection to the Smithsonian Institution. A commercial artist by profession, he was nonetheless a pioneer in Maryland archeology, instrumental in recording much of Maryland prehistory.

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Time, Typology, and Point Traditions in North Carolina Archaeology

presented by: I. Randolph Daniel Jr.

This presentation provides an overview of my recent book. Building on the foundational work of Joffre Coe’s Formative Cultures, I highlight issues of typology, dating, and the place of traditions in North Carolina projectile point studies. I also emphasize the importance of professional and avocational collaboration as two communities mutually interested in increasing our understanding of the past. Given the importance of projectile point typologies to archaeology and the goals of the Archaeological Society of Maryland, I think members of the ASM will find this presentation of interest.

andy Daniel is Professor and Chair of the anthropology department at East Carolina University where he has worked since 1996. He received his Ph.D. in 1994 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests include the archaeology of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the Southeastern United States, particularly hunter-gatherer adaptations at the end of the last Ice Age.


An Overview of the Recent Research in New Netherland Archaeology

presented by: Craig Lukezic

The presentation will be a summary of recent research that is presented in the book "Archaeology of New Netherland: a World Built on Trade".

Currently, Craig is currently serving as the Cultural Resource Program Manager at NAVFAC, in the PAX River Base. Previously, he was the historical archaeologist for the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs for fifteen years. Craig holds an M.A. from William and Mary and a B.A. from the Penn State University.


Student Spotlight

Refining Interpretations of the Conowingo Site (18CE14): Ground Stone Analysis of the Stearns Collection

presented by: Caillete Rose, Towson University

The Conowingo site (18CE14) has been described as a Late Archaic-Late Woodland seasonal base camp supported by a series of exploitive procurement camps supplying non-local goods. This description of one of the largest pre-contact sites in Maryland has been de rigueur since the site was excavated by the Archaeological Society of Maryland in 1981-1982. Multiple severe flooding episodes have ensured that later excavations have not supplied much data to alter this narrative. However, the currently accepted time of occupation and interpretation of site function do not include data from over 100 years of avocational archaeologists collecting artifacts from the site. Analysis of the Stearns collection from the 1930s indicates the presence of a significant Middle Archaic component, and a much heavier reliance on local goods than initially inferred."

Caillete Rose is an undergraduate student at Towson University, pursuing bachelor’s degrees in both Anthropology and Biology.


Anglo-Native Interactions of 17th Century Maryland

presented by: Scott Strickland

Records written by English colonizers in the 17th century paint a picture of amicable relations between them and the Native people of what is now southern Maryland. The colonial venture of the Calverts, after all, had the advantage of over two decades of knowledge of the successes and failures of the Virginia Company in their relations with the Native people of the Chesapeake. Reading between the lines and being critical of the source of the documentary record, however, reveals a much more complex story about Anglo-Native interactions. The ways in which the English advanced settlement in the region and the reactions of Native people will be discussed, with some archaeological tidbits along the way.

Scott Strickland is the Deputy Director of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum. His personal research interests include landscape mapping and the study of Native settlement during the Late Woodland period and into the 17th century.


The Iris McGillivray Memorial Lecture

Iris McGillivray was a founding member of the Archeological Society of Maryland, Inc., ably serving the Society for over thirty years as Secretary, President, Newsletter Editor, Field Session Registrar, and Membership Secretary. She is perhaps best known, loved, and respected for her organization of the annual Spring Symposium, first held in 1965, arranging all aspects of the day-long program. In 1991 Iris was presented with the Society's William B. Marye Award to honor her services to archeology in Maryland.

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A Comparison of White Clay Tobacco Pipes Recovered from Dutch and Haudenosaunee Sites, ca.1640-1710

presented by: Dr. Michael Lucas

Research by archaeologists has demonstrated the temporal occurrence of European clay tobacco pipes from the Hudson River west through the Mohawk valley and beyond. The general distribution of these pipes and associated dates is well understood. Criteria such as use-wear and modification have been largely ignored, yet these measures illustrate distinct differences among assemblages from European and Indigenous sites. A closer look at collections in the New York State Museum, offers some possible new avenues of inquiry about tobacco pipe use on a variety of seventeenth century sites.

Michael Lucas is Curator of Historical Archaeology at the New York State Museum. Michael worked as an archaeologist in the Chesapeake region for 25 years before coming to the museum in 2014. He received a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland in 2008 focusing on town development and settlement in Maryland between 1680 and 1720. He broadly studies transitions in rural production, labor, and community formation during the 17th through early 19th centuries. His current research program focuses on the contributions and struggles of African American farmers in the Hudson River Valley from 1780 to 1880.