The 2024 William B. Marye award winner, Dr. Julia King, is a native of Maryland who never forgot her Maryland roots and has spent most of her life studying the archeology of Maryland and the surrounding region.
Dr. King began work at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in 1987, where she directed survey and testing at several major sites located within U.S. Naval facilities, including Mattapany-Sewall at PAX River and Posey at Indian Head. In 1996, she was appointed the first director of JPPM's newly created Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab, and over the next decade helped establish that facility as a premier research and conservation institution. Her vision was that the lab should not only serve as an artifact repository but should also create ways to make information accessible to researchers and the general public. She secured grant funds for sweeping overview studies, two of which resulted in major interactive websites—A Comparative Archaeological Study of Colonial Chesapeake Culture and Colonial Encounters.
Soon, she began service at the college in southern Maryland where she has been able to tap the youthful energy of eager students in a variety of field projects, giving them firsthand experience in how to approach archeological problems. As a testament to this training, many of her students have gone on to successful archeological careers. Using this student workforce, she tackled two of Maryland's most elusive "needles" in the state's cultural haystack. The first of these was the 17th century Charles County Courthouse at Moore's Lodge. Using archival and county land records, her team was able to narrow the search focus, before employing her students on an extensive shovel-testing program. Dozens of STPs and a few test units later, a pattern of 17th century artifacts revealed the outlines of the site. Then in 2008, she worked to assemble a team to search for the 1680’s era Piscataway Indian fort in Zekiah Swamp. Miraculously, using similar techniques, three years later the fort was found! Coincidentally, this discovery of Fort Zekiah had been a long-sought after goal of none other than William B. Marye himself.
Another noteworthy contribution is her ability to forge lasting bonds with Native communities such as the Piscataways and the Rappahannocks, engaging them as partners in research of their ancestral lands. Throughout her career our award winner has made, and continues to make, outstanding contributions to Maryland archeology, through educating and training students, disseminating information for researchers, prolific publishing, frequent lecturing, and engaging native communities. She is most deserving of this award.