Volume 22, Number 2, Fall 2005 - Council of Virginia Archaeologists

Transcription

Virginia
Archaeologist
FALL 2005
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PRESIDENT’S
COMMENTS
IT IS ARCHAEOLOGY MONTH once again, with
several weeks of tours, talks, and related public events
ahead to highlight the important role of archaeology
throughout the Commonwealth. Please plan to join us
for the fall meeting of the Council of Virginia
Archaeologists in Winchester on October 28th and the
public education session to follow. Dennis Pogue, chair
of the Public Education Committee, has worked hard
with Warren Hofstra to secure us good meeting facilities
at Shenandoah University’s History Center and has
organized an excellent evening program.
While this year’s theme is “Archaeology on the
Edge,” it would be fairer to say that over the past several months the work of the Council has brought archaeology closer to the center of action and debate. I’d like
to highlight just two examples. As you recall, in 2003
COVA was made aware of, and began to craft a
response to, the destruction of an archaeological site at
Menokin, a National Historic Landmark located in
Virginia’s Northern Neck. Important outcomes of that
process were a report and recommendations submitted
to the membership by Julie King in 2004. Among the
recommendations that she put forth, and that the membership approved, was COVA’s participation in the
Section 106 process as a consulting party on Save
America’s Treasures and other projects receiving federal
grant money in Virginia. In the past six months, we have
received that status from the National Park Service.
Under the direction of Mike Barber, the Guidelines
Committee has expanded its role to review and comment on relevant projects. I believe that we have taken a
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major step forward in becoming aware of, and having a
voice in, the review process for sites receiving federal
funding. Mike will report on his Committee’s work, and
the challenges they face, at the upcoming meeting in
Winchester.
Another important outcome of the process
relates to Menokin itself. In August, the Menokin
Foundation named Sarah Dillard Pope as their new
Executive Director. Ms. Pope brings to this position an
impressive background in preservation and a strong
interest in protecting the Foundation’s archaeological
resources. She has nearly a decade’s worth of experience
with the National Park Service in the National Register
program and has worked as a planner for the Virginia
Main Street program. Ms. Pope contacted me in early
September to discuss upcoming ground-disturbing
work at the site and solicit my input on behalf of
COVA. At the same time, she extended an open invitation to us all to visit Menokin and share ideas with her.
We will explore the possibility of holding a COVA
meeting at the property in the future as a step towards
opening up a productive diacontinued on page 2
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O F
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CURRENT RESEARCH
CONFERENCES
COMMITTEE UPDATES
CONSERVATION COLUMN
HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER...
HEARD AT THE SCREEN
NEWS
VIEWPOINT
COMMITTEE LIST
CALENDAR
T HE C OUNCIL OF V IRGINIA A RCHAEOLOGISTS is organized to protect,
preser ve and disseminate infor mation on Virginia’s archaeological resources.
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logue in the years ahead.
I’d like to end this column by calling on all of us
to pause and look back. The Virginian archaeological
community lost a respected colleague and friend with
the death of Alan Wormser on August 12. Alan came
to Virginia from Texas in 2000 as national program
manager of cultural resources at Army National Guard
headquarters in Arlington, and joined The Council in
2003. During his career, he received environmental
security awards from the Secretary of the Army and the
Secretary of Defense as well as a personal citation of
merit. Alan’s commitment to COVA, and his cheerful
presence at our meetings, will be sorely missed.
- Barbara J. Heath
CURRENT RESEARCH
William and Mary Center
for Archaeological
Research
Courtney J. Birkett and Joe B. Jones
STAFF OF THE WILLIAM AND MARY CENTER FOR
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH (WMCAR) have been
involved in a number of interesting projects in Virginia
and Maryland over the course of the past year. During
the winter, the WMCAR conducted archaeological evaluations at two sites (44LA147 and 44LA175) in Belle
Isle State Park in Lancaster County, Virginia in advance
of the building of a proposed visitor center. The investigations were sponsored by the Division of Planning
and Recreation Resources within the Virginia
Department of Conservation and Recreation. Test excavations revealed that both sites contained evidence of
Late Woodland-Contact period occupation, which may
be related to the settlement of Oquomock, noted on
John Smith’s 1612 map of the region. Site 44LA147 also
contained Late Archaic and Middle Woodland components, as well as 18th-century domestic and architectural artifacts. Historical research indicates that the 18thcentury component is associated with occupation of the
site by members of the Bertrand family. However, the
structural remains identified during the evaluation are
not part of the main domestic complex and instead represent a building that was most likely occupied by tenants or slaves.
In early 2005, the WMCAR evaluated nine sites
in the City of Suffolk, five of which were recommendPAGE 2
ed to be eligible for the National Register of Historic
Places (NRHP) by the WMCAR. This evaluation was
sponsored by the Virginia Department of
Transportation (VDOT) and conducted in association
with the proposed construction of a new bridge to carry
King’s Highway (Route 125) over the Nansemond River.
The eligible sites each contain Late Woodland-Contact
period components, along with Archaic or Middle
Woodland components in several cases. One site contains an 18th-century domestic component, which may
be a contributing element to a potentially eligible
archaeological district.
In the spring, the WMCAR conducted an
archaeological evaluation of the Chiles Homesite, near
the Potomac River in Maryland, for the Federal Bureau
of Land Management (BLM). Reverend William Chiles
acquired the property in the mid-nineteenth century, but
he was not the first owner. The land was first patented
in the mid-seventeenth century, and the house whose
distinctive double chimneys still stand today was constructed in 1798. Diagnostic artifacts recovered from
the site date to the 18th through 20th centuries. While
these components are stratigraphically indistinguishable,
artifact densities across the site provide some clues to
site structure and evaluation results, in general, document sufficient integrity and research potential to recommend the site eligible for the NRHP under Criterion
D. A brief overview of the site and investigation can be
found at http://www.wm.edu/wmcar/chiles/.
In what we hope may be indicative of a trend in
CRM-based archaeology, the WMCAR has had two
opportunities in recent months to prepare interpretive
plans containing recommendations for long-term public
interpretation of significant archaeological sites that are
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to be preserved in place. In the case of both the aforementioned Chiles Homesite in Charles County,
Maryland and Site 44JC618 within the New Town tract
in James City County just outside Williamsburg, the
BLM and New Town Associates LLC, respectively, have
sponsored development of the site-specific interpretive
plans. An interpretive trail is planned for the Chiles site
to be linked to a larger interpretive trail network planned
for the BLM and adjacent state-owned public lands at
Douglas Point, Maryland. Likewise, New Town
Associates have taken the commendable approach of
preserving a significant nineteenth-century farmstead
domestic site as greenspace within the mixed residential/retail New Town development in James City
County. The latter park, which may come to be known
as Roper Farmstead Park, will contain the archaeological site preserved in place. Both plans include specific
recommendations for interpretive signs, trails, benches,
lighting, management of vegetation, and handicapped
accessibility, as well as recommendations for long-term,
responsible management of the archaeological
resources.
Later in the spring of this year, WMCAR
archaeologists identified an interesting early to mid19th-century domestic site in the Shenandoah Valley
while conducting an archaeological survey of proposed
improvements to Route 644 in Rockingham County, a
road that leads up to Massanutten Resort. The project
was sponsored by Anderson & Associates, Inc. of
Blacksburg, Virginia as part of a public-private partnership project with the VDOT. Site 44RM469 was found
to contain relatively high densities of nineteenth-century domestic and structural artifacts focused near a
spring. Historic research indicates that the site was occupied at that time by a farmer who was among the first in
the area to capitalize on the perceived medicinal benefits of the spring water from his spring by leasing bottling rights to a series of commercial spring water bottling ventures. Further investigation of this interesting
site is planned for the fall.
In July, the WMCAR was offered an opportunity to conduct an archaeological survey and limited testing of John Marshall Birthplace Park, supported by
Fauquier County Department of Parks and Recreation.
A pyramid marker was placed in the park in the early
twentieth century based primarily on oral traditions concerning the birthplace of the first Chief Justice of the
U.S. Supreme Court, John Marshall in 1755. The marker, currently surrounded by a flagstone pavement, refers
to the location of the birthplace as “nearby,” leaving
some doubt as to the actual location of the Marshall
family dwelling site. Systematic survey resulted in identification of a highly discrete scatter of primarily early
to mid-18th-century domestic artifacts focused in the
immediate vicinity of the birthplace monument.
Documentation discovered during the background
research revealed additional information that further
supports the expectation that the early to mid-eighteenth-century archaeological component represents
the remains of a dwelling occupied by the Marshall family at the time John Marshall was born. Future work may
include archaeological evaluation and additional
research aimed at confirming the potential significance
and NRHP-eligibility of the site that is suggested by the
results of the survey.
Archaeology
at Mount Vernon
tion where a large work room, 60x30 feet, housed five
stills along the long east wall. Mashing, or cooking, the
grain and fermentation took place in hogsheads located
in the northwest quadrant of the room. Water for
mashing was heated in a large copper boiler set to the
south of the masonry-supported mashing floor.
The northern 15 feet of the building was separated from the main room of the structure by a stone
partition wall. This area was further divided into two
rooms by a post-in-ground partition and is interpreted
as a storage area and office space for carrying out the
business dealings of the enterprise. A plethora of
domestic artifacts found within this portion of the site
Dennis Pogue and Esther White
Distillery
MOUNT VERNON’S ARCHAEOLOGISTS completed
work at the site of George Washington’s Distillery in
early 2005 and construction began during the summer
of the structure which housed one of the largest early
American whiskey distilleries. Five years of archaeological excavations informed the layout of the reconstrucC O V A
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randomly – the width and profile of the mortar joint,
and the composition of the mortar itself. To help us in
making these decisions, we consulted period documents, but even more helpful was studying other stone
buildings in the area that date from this period. One of
the best sources is Rockledge, a two-story stone house
located in Occoquan, in Prince William County, that was
built in two stages during the mid-to-late 18th century.
Our building follows the Rockledge model in that the
stone is randomly laid with plain, recessed joints that are
roughly one to two inches in width. The mortar is made
from lime, as it was in the 18th century, but we were
The reconstructed distillery incorporates random
laid Ohio sandstone and plain, recessed joints.
suggests that the finished loft chambers housing two
hired white distillers, mentioned in the documentary
record, were located at this end of the building.
Reconstruction of the large whiskey distillery
began June 23, after six years of archaeological excavations, two years of intense planning, and six months to
get an approved building permit from the State of
Virginia. Within two weeks the concrete foundations
were poured and on July 12 masons began to prepare
and lay stone for the walls. We hope to have all the walls
completed before the end of November. Washington’s
masons erected the original distillery walls in a remarkably short period – over 60 days between late October
and early December, 1797 – a pace that our masons cannot even hope to match.
The stone used in the original distillery was
quarried at Mount Vernon and consisted of iron-rich
sandstone. Approximately 5000 cubic feet of stone,
weighing more than 370 tons, is needed for the reconstruction. No quarries in Virginia currently produce
this type of stone, so we have contracted with a company in Ohio to supply the needed material. Fortunately,
the Ohio stone is virtually identical to the Mount
Vernon stone, and we have used it in other applications
at Mount Vernon where we needed to replicate the
18th-century masonry.
In addition to finding a stone that matches the
original work, we needed to determine the overall
“look” of the stone walls. This means deciding how the
stones would be laid – whether in regular courses or
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required to add modern materials to meet current building codes.
The distillery’s loft will be open to the public
and the workers’ chambers will be furnished and interpreted. This space will also house an exhibit about the
history of distilling and whiskey in America. Opening
up the loft necessitated additional egress, stairs and an
elevator to accommodate visitors. These requirements
are being housed in a small extension to the north end
of the building.
The completed reconstruction is scheduled to
open to the public in October 2006 as a fully operating
distillery. Mount Vernon Archaeology’s webpage
www.mountvernon.org posts pictures each week documenting the construction progress.
South Lane Restoration
As the culmination of numerous archaeological
excavations carried out over more than a decade, renovation of the Mount Vernon historic exhibition area
referred to as the “South Lane” was completed this
summer. The goal of the project was to restore the lane
to its appearance in 1799, the year of George
Washington’s death and the point in time when the
organization attempts to interpret the plantation. The
combination of archaeological and documentary data
indicates that a structure, the “dung repository,” was
located at one end of the lane, and that unusual building was reconstructed in 2001. A nearby fruit garden
and nursery were recreated several years ago, based primarily on the evidence of archaeological investigations.
In 2002 the Victorian-era well house behind the kitchen
was removed and a pump placed above the brick well.
The final project completing the restoration of
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posthole pattern for the 18th-century fence line.
During 2001 and 2002 the path of the fence bounding
the brick kitchen yard was completely excavated. Two
18th-century brick drains, an earlier drainage ditch, a
The south lane fence runs from the kitchen to the
dung repository.
the Lane was the reconstruction of a post and plank
fence probably built during the mid-1770s. The fence’s
postholes were initially seen during excavations in 1992
in the kitchen yard, although a regular pattern was not
discerned during that limited excavation. In 2001, an
early 20th-century brick wall along the South Lane was
removed and archaeological excavations confirmed the
Louis Berger Group, Inc.
Charlie LeeDecker
Arlington House, Robert E. Lee
Memorial
THE LOUIS BERGER GROUP, INC. (Berger), has
completed a program of archeological investigations at
Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, for the
National Park Service, National Capital Region. The
2003-2004 work focused on the main house, its associated dependencies/slave quarters, vegetable garden,
courtyard, and the area of potential effects associated
with a proposed underground bunker, utility corridor,
and comfort station. The investigations were conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), and were designed
to provide information for an Historic Structure
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small pit feature, and the postholes for the fence were
recorded. The postholes were found directly underneath the foundation of the later brick wall and in this
area the masonry was completely lifted from the ground
to facilitate excavation.
Archaeological testing along the route of the
fence bounding the lane, from the kitchen yard to the
dung repository, revealed that culturally sensitive soils
were not present south of the kitchen yard. The decision was therefore made to mitigate each individual
modern posthole during the reconstruction, rather than
completely excavated the area. During the summer of
2005, working with the restoration carpenter, archaeologists excavated soils as the brick wall foundation was
punched through to set the modern posts. Washingtonera postholes were encountered in many of the modern
holes, and these instances confirmed the six-foot spacing of the 18th-century fence posts. This methodology
worked very well and allowed for data recovery without
completely removing all evidence of the c. 1910 brick
wall.
tion relevant to the interpretation of slave life.
The landscape around the site has been greatly
altered, not only during the site’s historic occupation
period, but also during subsequent restoration campaigns under periods of ownership by the War
Department and National Park Service. In some areas
west of the main house, deposits associated with the
early construction periods (1803-1804 and 1817-1818)
were identified, as were interim living surfaces finished
by the 1830s. Excavations in the south wing (dairy) of
the main house identified a deep drywell mentioned in
oral histories of former slaves as being used for storage
and butter churning. In the same room, an area of herringbone-pattern brick floor was identified as possibly
the oldest intact brick flooring on the site.
In the south dependency, excavations in Selina
Gray’s room revealed a complex archeological record,
beginning with a buried natural landscape surface and
culminating with features and deposits associated with
the 1959-era restoration. Investigations in the smokehouse found a twentieth-cencontinued on page 6
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tury reconstructed hearth over
a larger hearth and wall trench that may date to the
Custis/Lee period (1802-1861). Limited testing in the
storehouse room identified evidence only of a modern
fireplace reconstruction and a live electrical line.
Much of the work in the north dependency
focused on the areas adjacent to doorways, to address
questions raised in the Historic Structure Report.
Previous restoration campaigns have significantly
altered the interior and exterior grades in this area, and
these events have left little record of the nineteenthcentury occupation. In the coachman’s room, evidence
of a possible early to mid-nineteenth-century floor was
found, along with rubble deposits from the 1871 and
1929 reconstruction campaigns.
Investigation of the garden area indicated this
area has generally maintained its nineteenth-century
contours, although the ground surface appears to have
been raised slightly by the addition of topsoil, presumably introduced as a soil amendment.
For additional information, contact Bob
Sonderman ([email protected]).
Arlington Boathouse
The Louis Berger Group, Inc., conducted a
Phase I archeological investigation on behalf of the
National Park Service for the proposed Arlington
Boathouse in Arlington County, Virginia, in 2004 and
2005. Five alternative sites on the Virginia side of the
Potomac are being considered; they are located on or
near land administered by the George Washington
Memorial Parkway: the Lower Rosslyn Waterfront, the
Upper Rosslyn Waterfront, Rosslyn VDOT, downstream from (south of) the 14th Street Bridge, and the
Daingerfield Island shoreline. The investigation included background research, shovel tests, geoarcheological
probes by hand auger, and mechanical excavation of
trenches on land, and magnetic remote sensing survey
with selected excavations offshore.
These investigations have identified two archeological sites. 14th Street Bridge: Documentary research
indicated that this area might contain traces of Fort
Jackson from the 1860s and remnant structures in
Jackson City (ca. 1870-1905), as well as prehistoric material. Jackson City was a notorious center of racetrack
gambling and illicit activities. One of the mechanically
excavated trenches in this area disclosed part of a stone
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and brick foundation (Site 44AR0037), most likely associated with the occupation of Jackson City. Daingerfield
Island: A prehistoric site with a minor historic component (Site 44AX0194) was identified, with Late
Woodland and possibly Early Woodland material.
For additional information, contact Matt Virta
([email protected]).
An Unusual Late Woodland
Assemblage from 44PW1291,
Prince William County, Virginia
In late 2002, The Louis Berger Group, Inc., conducted a Phase II evaluation of Site 44PW1291 at
Marine Corps Base Quantico, in Prince William County,
Virginia. An extraordinary quantity of cultural material
was recovered from shovel tests and two test units within the 80x50-meter southern locus of the site. No intact
cultural features were exposed, but there is a good possibility that they exist in the unexcavated portion of the
site. Even without feature contexts, the assemblage
from the test units in the southern locus is highly
informative, especially the large sherds of Late
Woodland pottery ascribed to a new ceramic type,
“Chopawamsic Fabric-Impressed, var. Incised.” In
addition to the predominant Late Woodland pottery and
triangular points, a small number of diagnostic artifacts
denote earlier episodes of occupation of the southern
locus during the Middle Archaic (a Morrow Mountain
point), Late Archaic (a broken Bare Island point), Early
Woodland (a probable Piscataway point), and Middle
Woodland (a small Mockley-like sherd).
Sixty-eight ceramic sherds were recovered from
Test Unit 1 and 109 were found in Test Unit 2. Among
these are a dozen large sherds from Levels 4 and 5 of
Test Unit 2. The survival of these sherds within 40 centimeters of the surface suggests that the cultural
deposits have incurred minimal, if any, damage from
plowing. The most common ware represented is fabricimpressed, tempered with grit or sand. Some sherds
perhaps also contained shell temper particles at one
time, but these have leached out, leaving only small
voids. The presence of shell temper, albeit in small
amounts, may justify ascription of these sherds to the
Rappahannock Fabric-Impressed type.
However, several of these sherds display a mixture of attributes generally taken as definitive of two
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distinct Late Woodland types. On one sherd, the exterior surface treatment consists of fabric impression,
overlain by an incised triangular plat (presumably one of
many arrayed around the vessel’s neck). Such decoration is typical of Rappahannock Incised pottery (e.g.,
Egloff and Potter 1982:108, figure 11), which dates to
between ca. AD 950 and 1600; however, Rappahannock
Incised pottery is shell-tempered, and the Site
44PW1291 sherds are tempered mainly with quartz particles and sand. The latter temper is the kind usually
found in Potomac Creek ceramics, but those are generally decorated only with complex patterns of cordmarking, not incised designs. Stephenson and Ferguson
(1963:123-124, plate XIX) recognized a separate type at
Accokeek Creek, Moyaone Incised, a ware, tempered
with extremely fine sand, that bore designs of incised
triangles or lines around the rim. Apart from the finer
temper, Moyaone ware resembled Potomac Creek pottery.
Potter (1993:134-136) noted, after re-examining
Schmitt’s original collection from the Potomac Creek
type site (Schmitt 1965), that one feature contained
sherds with the same mixture of attributes that appears
in the Site 44PW1291 sherds: quartz temper and
Rappahannock Incised designs. Although Potter reluctantly acknowledged the possibility that this pottery
might represent an in-place stylistic transition, over
time, from Rappahannock Incised to Potomac Creek, he
preferred to view it as the result of acculturation.
Whether through warfare capture, adoption, or intermarriage, some pot-maker at Potomac Creek was mixing elements of her natal tradition with later-acquired
elements to produce this hybrid ware. The similar
sherds from Site 44PW1291 indicate that this was not a
one-time, fluke event. Perhaps it is time to recognize
the consistent combination of disparate elements as a
new type, which we have provisionally named as
Chopawamsic Fabric Impressed (with an Incised variant). This type may represent either a temporal variant,
resulting from the widespread social effects of Potomac
Creek intrusion into the Inner Coastal Plain ca. AD
1300 (Blanton 1999; Potter 1993), or perhaps marks the
regionally specific output of an ethnic group occupying
the frontier between groups that made, respectively,
Rappahannock/Townsend and Potomac Creek ceramics.
Some small sherds appear to represent a plainsurfaced, sand-tempered ware, probably Potomac Creek
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Plain or Moyaone Plain (Stephenson and Ferguson
1963:119-120, 124-125). A few have cord-impressed
decoration that is consistent with the Potomac Creek
Cord Impressed type (Stephenson and Ferguson
1963:115-119). Several sherds bear incised lines, most
notably a small sherd on which five deep, parallel vertical incisions are perpendicular to a horizontal line. The
incisions seem more regular than those seen in illustrated specimens of Moyaone Incised, and the sherd does
not readily conform to any of the extant regional Late
Woodland types. It bears a general (and probably coincidental) resemblance instead to incised Iroquoian wares
from New York, e.g., Chance Incised and Cayadutta
Incised, and imitative pottery made by New England
Algonquians between ca. AD 1200 and 1600 (Chilton
1998).
For more information, contact Stuart Fiedel
([email protected]).
References
Blanton, Dennis B., et al.
1999 The Potomac Creek Site (44ST2) Revisited. Research
Report Series No. 10. Virginia Department of
Historic Resources, Richmond.
Chilton, Elizabeth S.
1998 The Cultural Origins of Technical Choice:
Unraveling Algonquian and Iroquoian Ceramic
Traditions in the Northeast. In The Archaeology of
Social Boundaries, edited by M.T. Stark, pp. 132-160.
Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.
Egloff, Keith T., and Stephen R. Potter
1982 Indian Ceramics from Coastal Plain Virginia.
Archaeology of Eastern North America 10:95-117.
Potter, Stephen R.
1993 Commoners, Tribute and Chiefs: The Development of
Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley. University of
Virginia Press, Charlottesville.
Schmitt, Karl
1965 Patawomeke: An Historic Algonkian Site. Quarterly
Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Virginia 20:1-56.
Stephenson, Robert L., and Alice L. Ferguson
1963 The Accokeek Creek Site: A Middle Atlantic Seaboard
Cultural Sequence. Anthropological Papers 20.
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor.
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Ratcliffe
Fairfax
Cemetery,
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The Louis Berger Group, Inc. (Berger), has
completed an archaeological survey at the Ratcliffe
Cemetery (44FX1174) for the Office of Historic
Resources, City of Fairfax. The survey goal was to map
and record the graves and markers in the cemetery and
define the boundary of the cemetery long thought to be
the final resting place of Richard Ratcliffe, founding
father of Providence (City of Fairfax). Located on the
west side of the city, the surveyed property includes
four lots of a residential development, encompassing
roughly two acres.
Richard Ratcliffe purchased land including the
surveyed property in 1786 and died in 1825. His son,
Charles, inherited the land surrounding the family mansion, called Mount Vinyard, and sold it in 1828, setting
aside two acres for a family burying ground. Ownership
of the land surrounding the cemetery passed from the
Ratcliffe family when William Rumsey purchased it in
1842; however, the cemetery still belongs to the heirs of
Charles Ratcliffe. The cemetery’s period of use begins
as early as 1818 with the death of Richard Ratcliffe’s
son, John, and extends to as late as 1895 with the death
of Richard’s great granddaughter, Marianna Jones
Thornton, thus spanning most of the nineteenth century
Archaeological fieldwork consisted of a surface
survey to record all depressions, markers, and other features associated with the use of the site as a cemetery. A
total of 89 depressions were identified as potential
graveshafts. Three other depressions are considered to
be tree falls, and three more are recorded as “forts”
excavated by local juveniles. Within the cemetery, three
Alexandria Archaeology
Steven Shephard
Colross Urban Plantation
R. CHRISTOPHER GOODWIN & ASSOCIATES, INC.
recently conducted excavations at the site of Colross in
Alexandria. Investigation of this important property,
which began in June prior to the onset of construction
of a retail and condominium complex, was undertaken
as a result of an Alexandria Archaeological Protection
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somewhat disjointed rows of graveshafts are in the
northwest side, and the remainder are distributed in
irregular fashion.
A total of 62 people, 26 of whom were civilians,
and 36 of whom were Civil War soldiers, including both
Confederate and Union, has been linked to the Ratcliffe
Cemetery through physical evidence or archival records.
While the majority of the civilian burials were Ratcliffe
family members, some were not. The survey identified
several marked tombstones and other fieldstone grave
markers, some of which appear to be head and foot
markers, only two of which have engravings.
Tombstones were found for Anna Jones, Edgar and
William Skinner, and Winefred Ratcliffe, all Ratcliffe
family members. Others marked with the initials ESH,
J.A., A.W., and AJ are not tied to the Ratcliffes. A headstone for Lewis B. Harlow, a Confederate soldier who
died at nearby Camp Harrison, was identified.
Archival records suggest several Ratcliffe family
members were buried in the Ratcliffe Cemetery, including a Jackson baby, Mrs. (Jane Ratcliffe) Jones, Mildred
Deneale Ratcliffe, Matilda Wilcoxon Farr, Marianna
Jones Thornton, and William Chapman. Non-family
members include Mrs. Beck, Dr. Frederick Baker,
Catherine Draper, Lillie Chapman, and 35 Union soldiers, including Jacob Krieg and August Frey. Those
possibly buried in the cemetery with no archival record
or physical evidence include Richard Ratcliffe and his
wife Louisiana/Locian, John and Lucinda Ratcliffe,
Charles Ratcliffe (Richard’s son, who set aside the
acreage for the cemetery), Samuel Ratcliffe Farr,
Cornelia Ratcliff, Robert Ratcliffe, Jr., and additional
Confederate soldiers.
For more information, contact Charlie
LeeDecker ([email protected])
Code requirement under which City archaeologists identify properties with high potential for archaeological
resources within the development approval process.
Because the City’s archaeologists were aware of the history of Colross, a major urban estate complex in historic Alexandria, investigation of the block was required
to locate and fully explore any archeological resources,
and document the site while scientifically recovering
artifacts.
The Colross site is unusual for the City of
Alexandria, because it retains the remains of a grand
nineteenth-century urban estate. The entire block
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bounded by Oronoco, North Fayette, Pendleton and behind the house; the foundations of the house itself,
North Henry Street, initially was developed as a residen- including the possible basement kitchen; a network of
tial complex by John Potts, a prominent Alexandria mer- brick walkways; and the foundations of various outchant, who began the construction of a brick house on buildings. One set of brick foundations, tentatively
the property in 1800. Potts ran into financial difficulties identified as the stable, encloses a chimney base with
and offered the not-completed house for sale in 1801. two hearths and a domed brick water cistern. The cisThe eventual purchaser was Jonathan Swift, another tern appears to be designed to filter the water and is
noted merchant, who referred to the estate variously as similar to two other filtration cisterns found in
“Belle Air” or “Grasshopper Hall.” Swift’s wife, two Alexandria. In the northwest portion of the property,
daughters and three sons lived at the mansion. A sketch the foundation of what is believed to be a rectangular
of the property attached to a Declaration of Assurance burial vault also was uncovered. There were no remains
record of 1803 noted that the kitchen of the two-story of burials discovered, all interments presumably having
brick dwelling was located in the stone basement below been removed in the twentieth century. Collectively,
the house, and that there also was a smoke house and these discoveries are providing an unusually complete
one-and-one-half story stable on the property.
glimpse into the evolution of a nineteenth-century
Jonathan Swift, a Freemason, died at Colross in Alexandria urban estate.
1824 and probably was buried there in a vault, although
research is on-going to verify this fact. Colross then was Cameron Mills
purchased by Thomson Mason, grandson of George
Archeologists with R. Christopher Goodwin &
Mason and a respected attorney and judge. Mason
Associates, Inc. conducted excavations at the site of
made extensive modifications and additions to the
Cameron Mills, located on Eisenhower Avenue in
house before his death in 1837; Mason and two of his
Alexandria. The former mill site is slated for developchildren also were interred on the property in a vault,
ment as a multi-story parking facility. Investigation of
but were removed and reinterred by subsequent properthis important property was undertaken as a result of
ty owners. During the Civil War, Colross was seized by
Alexandria’s Archeological Protection Code. The propFederal authorities; tradition has it that several Union
erty owner, Hoffman Management, Inc., retained the
deserters were executed against a brick wall on the
archeological consultants to locate, explore and docuestate. William Smoot, lumber merchant and mayor,
ment the mill site and to scientifically recover artifacts.
resided in the house with his family from 1885 until
The foundations of two 18th-century gristmills were
1917. The estate remained virtually intact until 1917,
exposed, as well as a building that housed a steam
when a warehouse complex and other buildings associengine and boiler later used to power one of the mills.
ated with the Alexandria Hay and Grain Company, were
The two mills that formed the complex known
built on the northern half of the block.
as Cameron Mills were built between 1791 and 1798 by
In 1927, the mansion was ravaged by a tornado
the partnership of William Bird, John Stump, and John
and fell into disrepair, but in 1932 the house was bought
Thomas Ricketts. As depicted on a 1798 Plan of the Town
by John Munn, who systematically dismantled it, transof Alexandria in the District of Columbia, the complex
ported it to Princeton, N.J., and reconstructed it there.
included a lengthy headrace that tapped Cameron Run
Following Munn’s death in 1956, it became the central
far upstream of the mill site; two mill buildings; and a
building of the Princeton Day School, which it remains
tailrace that flowed directly south into Great Hunting
to this day. During the second half of the twentieth cenCreek/Cameron Run. Because this stream was navigatury, a large 50-truck garage, an electric sub-station, a car
ble for shallow-draft vessels through the early ninewash, the large Hennage Printing Company building,
teenth century, flour and meal produced at the mills
and several other smaller retail buildings all occupied
could be transferred to lighters and then ferried down
this block. Given such massive twentieth-century develGreat Hunting Creek directly to larger sea-going vessels
opment, it was surprising to discover that extensive remor to wharves along the Potomac River.
nants of Colross remained buried and intact.
In 1833 Stump and Ricketts’ heirs partitioned
The archaeological fieldwork exposed various
the property formerly held in common by the partners,
landscape features associated with the large garden area
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Archaeologists uncovering the basement of Colross.
and sold their rights to Richard Windsor, a miller in
southern Fairfax County. Windsor re-sold the mill complex to two brothers from New Jersey, Reuben and
Robert F. Roberts. In 1851, the Roberts’ sold the eastern mill building to the newly formed Alexandria Water
Company, which provided the first central water supply
for the city. The gravity-fed system that drew its supply
from a stone-lined reservoir atop Shuter’s Hill utilized
water that was pumped uphill from Cameron Mill’s millrace, through the modified eastern mill building, to the
reservoir. With this acquisition, the history of the two
mill buildings diverged.
Edmund Hunt and the Roberts family descendants continued to operate the western mill as a gristmill until 1917. The archeological team has exposed the
basic foundation of this mill, as well as a southern addition that was built in 1875 to house the steam engine,
boiler, and a coal bin or pit. The foundations of an
addition to the western mill, which may have functioned as an equipment storage room, also were uncovered.
The water company significantly modified its
part of the old mill site by first replacing the old wood-
FALL 2005
en common mill wheel with a new, 18 foot wide iron
overshot wheel, and constructing a “solid foundation”
to support it. This modification has been substantiated
archeologically; between the two mills, where the race
was located, excavators have uncovered a stone support
pier, a stone wall that would have supported the frame
structure of the original race, and other stone and concrete structure modifications to the mill race. The water
company also widened the head races; constructed outbuildings, installed or refurbished the dam and water
gates; and relocated the original millrace or added a second race. In 1927, the company purchased the Roberts
gristmill, which they razed the following year, claiming
that it constituted a fire hazard. Thereafter, only the
company’s pumping facility occupied the site.
The Virginia American Water Company eventually disposed of this property in 1990 to Mill Two
Associates Partnership, which in turn exchanged the
parcel with the Hoffman interests for one of comparable value. The remaining structures were taken down
shortly thereafter and the site has been used ever since
as a parking lot.
The western mill foundations,
Cameron Mills site.
Let the World Know What We’re Doing in Virginia!
Have you just completed a fantastic survey? Has your intern analyzed that box of faunal remains?
Made a new discovery? The editor of the Quarterly Bulletin (QB) seeks articles of any size on Virginia
archaeology or related subjects to publish. Publication in the QB will give your work, projects, or
ideas wider dissemination, not only in Virginia, but also throughout the country. The QB presently has more than
90 institutional subscribers, which include public, academic, and research libraries from coast to coast.
Quarterly Bulletin editor (and lifetime COVA member) Ted Reinhart, is a friendly, accommodating, and forgiving editor with a professional archaeology background. You will be given the opportunity to see your article as
it will appear in the QB and proof it before publication. Your articles usually appear within six months and sometime sooner after submission.
Please contact Ted at [email protected] with submissions or questions.
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James Madison
University
Clarence Geier
OVER THE PAST YEAR JMU ARCHAEOLOGY has
been continuing to work with Fredericksburg &
Spotsylvania National Military Park towards the completion of an overview and assessment document. Fall
and spring involved visiting and surveying numerous
historic sites varying from domestic farmsteads and
plantations to two major CCC camps that played an
important role in the establishment of the park. To this
point two volumes documenting the archaeological sites
on the battlefields have been submitted and accepted.
The final volume providing the actual overview and
assessment summary is in preparation.
During the summer the first session of the JMU
archaeological field school conducted a five week program of testing and assessment on the “tobacco barn
site” associated with Montpelier plantation. This work
Poplar Forest
Barbara Heath
POPLAR FOREST STAFF ARCHAEOLOGISTS continue investigations of an important plantation-related site
in the southeast quadrant of Jefferson’s curtilage, an
enclosed area of 61 acres surrounding the retreat house.
Research suggests that this area, known as “Site B,” may
contain at least two Jefferson-era structures. They likely are associated with the working and domestic lives of
Poplar Forest’s enslaved laborers during the period
when Jefferson used the property as his personal retreat
(1806-1826).
To date, archaeologists have excavated a total of
38 contiguous five-foot square units forming a block
excavation, and 11 discontinuous five-foot square units
at Site B. These excavations have revealed several substantial layers and features at the base of plow zone that
include a large filled depression, a sinuous stone-filled
trench, and several apparently related brick and stone
features that may be associated with structures at the
site. It is currently hypothesized that at least two structures stood at Site B, spaced approximately 20 feet apart.
Ongoing excavations will attempt to determine their
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continued a project that had begun in the 2004 field season and successfully uncovered material remains of
what is believed to have been a domestic quarter for
part of the Madison community of enslaved African
Americans.
In mid-summer, JMU researchers had the
opportunity to work on the site of a well maintained
Confederate encampment in the Leesburg, Virginia
area. The site is believed to have been occupied by a
company of Mississippi troops who had established
winter quarters in late 1861 following the Battle of Balls
Bluff. The project included mapping the site complex
and conducting the complete excavation of one of the
large structure platforms. The success of the project
was greatly enhanced by the assistance of volunteers
from the Winchester area Archaeological Society of
Virginia, and by the unselfish interest of members of
the professional community allied with experts in the
area of metal detecting. Collaboration with the developer of the property should result in the preservation and
potential public interpretation of a significant portion
of the complex.
dimensions, use, and lifespan.
The artifact assemblage suggests close ties
among Site B, the Quarter Site (a c. 1790-1812 slave
quarter), and the Wing of Offices, Jefferson’s service
rooms attached to the east side of the octagonal retreat
house. Numerous fragments of locally made coarse
earthenware pots and dishes from Site B match vessels
found at the Quarter Site and are of types that were no
longer in use by the early 1820s. Similarly, a worked
stone blank, left over from the manufacturing process,
was discarded by a craftsperson who was fashioning
pipes or other stone objects from locally-available micaceous schist. This artifact matches an assemblage of
stone wasters and tobacco pipes found at the Quarter,
as well as a finished pipe from the Wing of Offices.
Several ceramic types and patterns found at Site
B also match Jefferson-era vessels used at the Wing.
Beyond patterns that are common to the early 19th century, matches of relatively rare pieces have also begun to
emerge, including small amounts of canaryware, a single
fragment of a dry-bodied red stoneware teapot, fragments of a pearlware bowl with a distinctive slipped
decoration, and fragments of a molded creamware basket. These clues not only tie the two sites together in
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time, but also go further to
suggest that in some cases, matching sets of ceramics
may have been used and discarded at both places.
Prior testing indicates that significant quantities
of artifacts extend south of the current excavation
boundaries. The site may also extend to the northwest
in an area that has not yet been tested. Documented
structures, including a spinning house, dairy, cooperage
(barrel-making shop), stables, a pre-1816 kitchen, and
numerous slave cabins, have not yet been located, and
some may fall within this area. It now seems likely that
archaeologists have uncovered a portion of a larger
complex of Jefferson-era buildings and workspaces that
marked this place as a major center of activity during his
retirement years. As such, Site B has the potential to
provide important new information about plantation
industry and Jefferson’s strategies for promoting selfsufficiency, about the changing domestic and working
conditions of enslaved men and women as the property transitioned from an outlying farm to a villa retreat,
and about Jefferson’s final resolution of the ongoing
tension between elements of utility and those of beauty in his domestic landscapes.
Poplar Forest staff members are also conducting work at Historic Sandusky—a Lynchburg museum
associated with the 1864 Battle of Lynchburg—in
preparation for that organization’s renovation and
expansion of an existing structure to serve as their
Visitor’s Center.
Marine Corps Base,
Quantico
manned by available troops, often infantry from as far
away as Florida and Texas. The ensuing months were
filled with many ship-to-shore duels, landing party raids,
and secret construction of more batteries by the
Confederates. These batteries once “unmasked” would
prove capable of more than defending the Virginia
shore, closing a section of the Potomac to Union shipping for more than four months. This often overlooked
and underestimated campaign has left traces for 30
miles along the Potomac, including campsites, batteries,
and even shipwrecks. Marine Corps Base Quantico has
documented three archaeological sites, which encompass at least six regiment-sized Confederate winter
camps dating from 1861 to 1862. Survey and testing
has gone on at these sites over the past 10 years with
fieldwork conducted by the William and Mary Center
for Archaeological Research, Gray and Pape, the Louis
Berger Group, and most extensively by John Milner
Associates.
In the course of investigating Civil War sites,
archaeological surveys identified a dump and training
trenches dating to the initial years of Marine Corps
activity at Quantico. The dumpsite consists of a combination of incinerator ash and unburned refuse. The
latter comprises a record of consumer habits among
Marine recruits in World War I. The extensive training
trenches were mapped with a total station, and crosssectioned. These extensive earthworks were hand-dug,
for training – a feat of labor that cannot fail to impress
an archaeologist! Efforts continue to record, protect,
and nominate as needed those historic and archaeological resources as exist at Marine Corps Base, Quantico.
John H. Haynes
An Unofficial Update on Archaeology
ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORK AT MCB, Quantico
over the past few months has focused on summarizing
past efforts. Several years of archaeological fieldwork
on Civil War camps at the base was augmented by additional primary historical research in developing a unifying theme by the Base Archaeologist. We have received
a draft report documenting last summer’s fieldwork by
John Milner Associates on Phase II evaluations at two
sites related to early Marine Corps training – a dump
and World War I era trenches – and two mid-19th
through early 20th century pre-Marine Corps Base sites.
The Navy acquired a lease at Quantico for a
Marine Corps Base in 1917, later buying the parcel, and
some adjacent land near the mouth of Chopawamsic
Creek. In 1942, this initial 5,000 acre reservation was
expanded ten-fold to near its present 62,000 acres.
Unrelated to these 20th-century military developments,
Quantico was the scene of some of the most intensive
fortification works in Northern Virginia during the first
year of the Civil War.
The Union Navy aggressively took control of
Virginia waters on the eve of the state’s secession.
Shortly afterward, state, and then Confederate naval
officers designed and commanded batteries at Aquia
Creek and other locations. These “naval batteries” were
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Radford University
ed trenches, cannon emplacements, access roads, and
structures used during these battles. This project also
involved
faculty and students from the Departments of
Cliff Boyd
Geology and Chemistry and Physics at Radford
University.
Four sites were also investigated using geoBETWEEN JUNE 27 AND JULY 29, 2005, Radford
University (RU) conducted its archaeological field physical remote sensing equipment and limited shovel
school under the direction of Dr. Cliff Boyd and Josh tests were conducted at one site (Sanders Hill – a locaDuncan (College of William and Mary). The field tion of fighting and an aid station during the October
school had two main research foci. First, with funding battle). In 2006 we will return to Saltville to test some of
support from the National Park Service American these sites to better determine their integrity and to colBattlefield Protection Program (ABPP), we intended to lect other data for the preparation of a district National
map and document Civil War features in Saltville, Register nomination for the battlefield sites. A final
Virginia, which directly related to the October and project report is due to the ABPP in December, 2006.
The final two weeks were spent excavating unit
December, 1864, battles fought there. Second, we
levels
and
features at Keyser Farm. At this complex
intended to assist the U. S. Forest Service in their excavations at the late prehistoric/protohistoric Keyser Native American site, RU students learned feature excavation techniques, flotation procedures, and the Forest
Farm site (44PA1).
The first week was spent training students in the Service methodology for recording and mapping inforuse of GPS mapping equipment at Smithfield mation. Most students also worked with non-profesPlantation (44MY97) in Blacksburg, Virginia. Two sional volunteers (many of them ASV members) for the
Trimble GPS units were used to map features at the Forest Service Passport in Time program. This was an
excellent opportunity, in that the RU students learned a
plantation, including the Preston family cemetery.
great
deal from others who had more field experience
After this introductory phase, the next two
weeks were spent in Saltville using this equipment to and more experience at Keyser Farm. RU students were
GPS map and record information on the condition of also able to teach more inexperienced volunteers the
24 critical defining features of the two Saltville battles. proper excavation techniques they had learned in the
By 1864, Saltville was the major salt producer for the classroom and in the field.
In addition to the work in Saltville, the 2006 RU
Confederacy, so Union forces mounted two assaults on
this strategic location. The October attack was repulsed, field school also hopes to investigate another prehistoric
and even though the December raid was a success for site on U. S. Forest Service property. Training students
the Union, the salt works were only moderately dam- on both prehistoric and historic sites and in a variety of
aged by Union forces before they withdrew. The defin- recovery and recording techniques is the best way, we
ing features mapped by RU faculty and students includ- feel, to prepare them for work as professional archaeologists.
Fairfield Plantation
David Brown
AFTER MORE THAN THREE SUMMERS of work we
are trying to wrap up the excavations at the Fairfield
slave quarter. Excavations in 2004 uncovered a possible
second quarter and a large burned feature that may represent an early surface kiln, mortar production or other
industrial activity related to the construction of the
manor house. Located approximately 75 feet west of
the 1694 manor house, the excavation area topped out
at 62 five-foot-square test units and more than 40 features, including three sub-floor pits, multiple scorched
earth areas (hearths?), and numerous postholes for
fencelines. While the slave quarter excavation still
threatens to expand further, as we continue to find evidence of additional buildings, we’re excited about completing the analysis of the excavation area.
This summer’s work has focused on enlarging
the excavation area and sampling the two cellars found
last year. Once again, with the help of students from
Professor James Whittenburg’s National Institute for
American History and Democracy (NIAHD) pre-collecontinued on page 14
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giate summer program, our
annual field school with Lorrain County (Ohio)
Community College, and volunteers from across the
state, we were able to open nearly 20 additional excavation units, finding thousands of artifacts related to the
life of enslaved Africans at Fairfield in the 18th century.
One of the most remarkable finds this summer
was a nearly complete English Fulham stoneware jar.
Manufactured in the early 18th century, the sturdy jar
would have held liquids for storage and possibly for
serving. For some unknown reason, the jar was thrown
complete into one of the cellars along with an abundance of other trash, including animal bone, plaster, and
fragments of scrap copper. We had an inkling that the
jar would be inside the sub-floor pit after we recovered
more than 40 fragments from the surrounding plowzone squares. When the feature was finally cleaned off The English Fulham stoneware jar will be featured in
last fall, the profile of the large jar was clearly evident, the Spring COVA newsletter!
laying on its side within the cellar. Plowing had broken with personal items such as an ornate tin-plated buckle
off the top third of the vessel and dragged the frag- fragment, cowrie shells with the backs removed, and
ments into the surrounding soils. Only through the numerous beads. These materials, in addition to our
determination of our skilled volunteers, picking through current excavations on the third sub-floor pit within the
endless buckets of material from these test units, were quarter area, should allow us to better understand the
we able to recover nearly every sherd that was broken lives and experiences of Fairfield’s African slaves in the
off. We completed the excavation of the feature this 18th century.
summer and recovered the remainder
of the vessel. We
hope to have the jar
catalogued
and
reconstructed for
everyone to see in
the next COVA
newsletter.
The jar was
only one of many
memorable finds this
summer. We found
evidence of gardening, including a
pitchfork and the
copper spout to a
watering can. We
also found a fragment of a Chinese
porcelain plate painted with two curiously posed deer, along
Derek Wheeler helps clean a pit feature at Fairfield’s slave quarter site.
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DA TING A R CHAEOL OGICAL
W INE B O TTLE G LASS
Researchers at DHR have developed a new method to
age-test archaeological glass
Chris Stevenson, DHR
Broken glass is a
common artifact
found at archaeological sites and
occurs even at the
earliest settlements
including Jamestown
(1607).
Scientists
have found that once a glass surface is exposed to air
it begins to absorb water into the silica structure. A
water rich layer is formed over time. It has been
demonstrated that the speed with which the water is
absorbed is constant over time. Thus it is possible to
date the breakage of an ancient glass bottle by measuring the amount of absorbed water and converting it to
an age before present.
The challenge in applying this dating
method is to establish the rate of water diffusion into the glass. Not all glasses behave
the same because of slight variations in glass
chemistry. Glasses low in silica and aluminum will take up water faster than glasses
with higher amounts of these elements. To
solve this problem DHR researchers have
developed a chemical model that predicts the
rate of water diffusion based upon an artifact's chemical composition.
SIMS hydrogen profile of
a wine bottle fragment.
Test unit soil profile from Building o at
Monticello, Virginia
A test of the method. Glass artifacts from the site of a
slave cabin at Monticello were dated by analyzing their
water content and then comparing those dates with other
evidence. The twelve artifacts, shards of wine bottles, were
taken from the root cellar of the structure called "Building
o" located on Mulberry Row near Thomas Jefferson's residence. Jefferson's written documents and unique pottery
types found at the site indicate the cabin was used from
1760 to 1800, before it was demolished. When tested, the
wine bottle class resulted in dates ranging from 1770 to
1793, thus successfully dating the cabin based on the evidence of the writings and the pottery.
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Measuring water absorption. The figure
shows the surface water layer on a Colonial
wine bottle fragment as documented by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). It shows the
inward movement of water (H) from the surface
on the left to a depth of about 0.6 microns. The
diffusion of water is counterbalanced by the
depletion of calcium (Ca), potassium (K), and
sodium (Na). The peaks near the surface at
about 0.1 microns represents a surface precipitate of leached materials that have been deposited on the glass. This deposit forms a reservoir
for atmospheric water that results in an exaggerated hydrogen (water) peak.
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P REHIST ORIC J ASPER A R TIFA CTS
Can we tell where the raw material came from?
Prehistoric hunter-gatherers were
mobile populations because the animal
resources were scattered across the
landscape and had to be carefully
tracked down. Suitable deposits of
stone for the production of projectile
points were limited to a few locations
within a group's territory and could
only be visited infrequently. To access
all of the things they needed to live
they could develop a seasonal round
and / or engage in trade / exchange
with neighboring groups.
Jasper artifacts from Virginia
Beach, Virginia.
Many types of
stone were used to
manufacture tools.
Not all types are
useful for tracking
human movement.
A suitable material
is one that can be
found in several
outcrops located in
different regionsthe stone from
Jasper sources in the Middle Atlantic
each region differs
Region.
slightly in chemical
composition-and this difference can be measured. Under such conditions, artifacts found in archaeological sites can then be chemically
linked to the point of origin with high levels of confidence. Jasper is
one lithic (stone) material that meets these qualifications.
How do we reconstruct possible patterns of trade with adjacent groups.
One way is to look at the distribution of geological deposits of stone
and the distribution of materials
taken and later discarded at distant
locations. For example, a stone tool
found in Georgia and originating in
Virginia
may
imply a long distance down-theline
exchange
process among
many groups.
Statistical analysis of jasper chemical
compositions showing the degree of
separation.
There are five known jasper sources in Virginia. To establish the chemical signatures for these sources each of the
geological outcrops was visited and 20 samples were removed for analysis. The samples were sent to a lab at the
University of Missouri where Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis was performed to identify and measure
the concentration levels of over 30 trace elements. A statistical analysis of the data was then used to determine
which elements were the best identifiers for each jasper source. The results, plotted along two dimensions in the
above scattergram, show how each jasper source is different. The spatial overlap can be eliminated when the statistical dimensions are incorporated into the solution. Based upon this baseline analysis, jasper artifacts can be
assigned to the parent source if it originated within Virginia.
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Taking Samples
Photo-micrographs (below) from
Wood ID performed on samples
from the Machodoc Canoe -- now on
exhibit at the Virginia Historical
Society -- identified the wood of the
canoe as Willow (Salix spp).
Private consultant conservator Carey
Howlett has come to the lab to use the
light polarizing microscope and teach
his interns wood ID procedures.
W OOD A N ALY SIS AND
I DENTIFICA TION
Preparing Slides
Using high-power transmitted
light and polarizing light
microscopy
Cross Section
Radial Section
w/Polarized Light
Tangential Section
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Cell features observed in
the sample are matched
with wood anatomy charts
(keys) in order to reach a
conclusion about the
species of wood. Two
wooden shingles found in
the attic of The Marshall
House were sampled by the
interns. One, as expected,
was confirmed as Yellow
Pine (Pinus spp.). The
other sample was identified
as
Bald
Cyprus
(Taxodium discichum).
Practice
Demonstration of properly made samples.
Carey explains the correct
cell views needed to make a
successful ID using DHR
slides from previously
identified wood samples -see Machodoc Canoe photomicrographs at left.
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Volunteer Brett Goldfine preparing
samples for Virginia soapstone sourcing project.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN THERE?
Archaeology in the Lab
DHR Materials Research & Conservation Laboratory
Supporting Archaeology In Virginia
In addition to the technical examination of artifacts prior
to conservation, the DHR lab performs analytical studies
of artifacts, as featured here. The DHR lab is particularly
well suited to conducting these kinds of activities for two
reasons: 1) it’s range of the archaeological collections, scientifically recovered from every county in Virginia, allows
for comparative artifact studies; 2) the lab is equipped
with specialized tools required for materials analysis.
For these reasons, DHR can make its laboratory facilities
available to professional archaeologists and conservators.
If you would like to discuss a project, please contact
Melba
J.
Myers
(804)
367-2323
x130,
[email protected] or Dr. Chris Stevenson at
(804) 367-2323 x132 [email protected]
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Intern Ashley Atkins using chemical extraction techniques on soil samples -- one step on
the way to determining phosphorus levels.
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CONFERENCES
The 72nd Annual Meeting of the
Eastern States Archeological Federation
Williamsburg, Virginia
November 9-12, 2005
BANQUET SPEAKER: Michael B. Collins (University of Texas)
Title: Finding First Americans – Archeology’s Challenge for the 21st Century
MEETING HOTEL: Best Western – Patrick Henry Inn, York and Page Streets (Route 60E), Williamsburg, Virginia
W W W. E S A F - A R C H E O L O G Y. O R G
The Annual Meeting of
The Society for Historical Archaeology
Sacramento, California
January 11 - 15, 2006
Get ready to experience "Life on the Edge," as the 2006 Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology
returns to Sacramento, California, USA, January 11-15, 2006. Join your friends and colleagues as we explore the
edges of archaeological inquiry with a fascinating demonstration by forensic search dogs on Wednesday night; a
far reaching forward looking thematic plenary session on Thursday morning; and a collection of informative
papers, posters, workshops, and tours throughout the conference. In commemoration of such disparate but related events as the 100th anniversaries of the Antiquities Act and the San Francisco Earthquake we will investigate
the edges of empires, oceans, disasters, technologies, innovations, partnerships, and cultures.
W W W. S H A . O R G
The 71st Annual Meeting of
Society for American Archaeology
San Juan, Puerto Rico
April 26 - 30, 2006
HEADQUARTERS HOTEL: Caribe Hilton, San Geronimo Grounds, Los Rosales Street, San Juan Puerto Rico
MEETING LOCATION: Puerto Rico Convention Center
THE SOCIETY FOR AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY (SAA) is an international organization dedicated to the research,
interpretation, and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. With more than 7,000 members,
the society represents professional, student, and avocational archaeologists working in a variety of settings
including government agencies, colleges and universities, museums, and the private sector.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
36th Annual Meeting of
The Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference
Virginia Beach, Virginia
March 23 - 26, 2006
Cavalier Hotel
Oceanfront at 42nd Street, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23451
Reservations: 1-800-446-8199 or online at www.cavalierhotel.com
Please send abstracts by December 1st to:
MICHAEL B. BARBER, MAAC Program Chair
DENNIS POGUE, MAAC Program Chair
USDA-Forest Service
Mount Vernon Ladies Association
or
5162 Valleypointe Parkway
PO Box 110
Roanoke, Virginia 24019
Mount Vernon, VA 22121
[email protected]
[email protected]
Abstracts are to be submitted to the Program Chairs in hard copy and on disk in Microsoft Word, or attached to
an e-mail. Abstract should be limited to 150 words and should include the paper title, the name(s), address(es),
phone number(s), and e-mail address(es) of the paper presenter(s). For organized symposia, the Program Chairs
request Symposium Organizers to submit the symposium abstract and paper abstracts as a package. Symposia
Chairs should contact the Program Chair prior to the submission of a symposium abstract.
Presenters must be members of MAAC for 2006. Membership dues are also due by December 1st.
Membership fees are sent to FAYE STOCUM, MAAC Membership Secretary
Registration fees are sent to MICHAEL B. BARBER, MAAC Program Chair
4th Annual MAAC Student Paper Competition!
BA and MA students and recent BA graduates are invited to submit abstracts for twenty-minute, singleauthored papers on any topic related to archaeology in the mid-Atlantic United States. Papers will be judged by
a panel of MAAC member judges with diverse backgrounds in the field of archaeology. The papers will be judged
on content and presentation. This competition is unique in that each student participant will be paired with a mentor of a similar focus in archaeology. The mentor will be of the student's choosing or will be paired with the student after the abstract is submitted. The mentor will serve as an advisor and editor on the paper before it is presented at the conference. Winners will receive a monetary prize and a certificate of award from the MAAC
President. All papers will be published in the Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology. Please refer to the guidelines
for the competition for further information.
The deadline for the paper title and abstract is December 1, 2005. In addition to the title and abstract
(150 words or less), please provide name, affiliation and/or degree program, mentor (optional), address, phone,
email, audio-visual requirements, and the pre-registration fee of $30. A final copy of the paper is due February
1, 2006. Students and recent graduates must be members of MAAC to present a paper.
Mail or email the above information and fee to: ELEANOR BREEN, Student Competition Co-Chair, Mount
Vernon Archaeology, PO Box 110, Mount Vernon, VA 22121 [email protected]
H T T P : / / W W W. M A A C M I D A T L A N T I C A R C H A E O L O G Y. O R G
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Annual Jamestown Conference
Williamsburg, Virginia
December 1, 2005
The staff of the APVA Jamestown Rediscovery Project is pleased to announce that the 2005 Jamestown
Conference will be held on Thursday, December 1st in Williamsburg, VA at Colonial Williamsburg’s Lane
Auditorium in the Bruton Heights complex from 9am to 4pm.
As is traditional, the conference will be an informal sharing of recent work. Proposals are invited for 20 minute
papers from any dscipline with a bearing on the archaeology of the chesapeake Region (c. 16th - 19th centuries.)
If you wish to present, please email conference organizers Carter Hudgins ([email protected]) and Jamie May
([email protected]) on or before Friday, November 11.
H T T P : / / W W W. A P V A . O R G / J R . H T M L
C OMMITTEE U PDATES
T
H R E A T E N E D
Clarence Geier
THE THREATENED SITES COMMITTEE, or representatives thereof, have met three times with members
of VDHR. In April, 2005, the committee met to review
thirteen applications for threatened sites funding.
Projects considered included work at the Smucker property in Alexandria Virginia, the Hoge Site, a Civil War
encampment (44ST266), Hungars Plantation, Maycocks
Point, 44AB14 and 64 in the Charlottesville area, soapstone quarries in southwest Virginia, and Germanna, as
well as a series of proposals involving diverse research
studies such as chemical anlaysis of soils, trace element
analysis of jasper, etc. It was generally recognized that
the new proposals were better and more completely prepared and were therefore, relatively easy to evaluate.
The idea of setting a meeting date in April, before the
onset of the field season also worked well.
A major issue that was addressed focused on the
need to disseminate the rich body of data gathered several years ago from the Jordan’s Point area. This project
had received considerable financial support from the
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threatened sites committee with outstanding results. At
this meeting it was deemed both appropriate and necessary that efforts be made to make available the rich volume of data gathered on the prehistory and early settlement of this site locale. Two additional meetings
were scheduled and held that were to discuss the manner in which such a presentation was to be pursued. It
is the consensus of the committee that all of the working reports would be digitized and made available to
researchers on CD/DVD. It was also agreed that a priority concern would be the preparation of a quality popular report for general or popular use and distribution.
The last goal, and that given the lowest immediate priority, was to establish a set of technical reports focusing on the various prehistoric and specialized historic
issues addressed by the archaeology. At present work is
focusing on preparing the CD/DVD and with seeking
appropriate authors to prepare the popular report.
Members of COVA and other interested
research groups should make themselves aware of the
opportunities provided through the threatened sites
program. This information is available on the DHR
Web page.
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VDHR 2004/2005
Threatened Sites
Program Update
E. Randolph Turner, III and David K. Hazzard
VDHR ARCHAEOLOGICAL STAFF met with ASV
and COVA representatives in Charlottesville last spring
to review Threatened Sites accomplishments over the
last year and to discuss proposed projects during the
upcoming year for which $72,500 will be available.
Below is a compilation of all projects completed during
2004/2005 as well as a brief summary of proposed
upcoming projects for 2005/2006.
PROJECTS COMPLETED IN
2004/2005
Maycock Point Site (44PG40)
A multi-component site with a major Middle
Woodland period and an early 17th-century period
focus, Maycock Point is located approximately 20 miles
southeast of Richmond on the south bank of the James
River in Prince George County. First observed by C. G.
Holland and Ben McCary in the late 1940s, serious excavation began in 1970 by the College of William and
Mary. Additional excavation and specialized analyses
have been conducted under separate institutions and
independent researchers since that time and are continuing today. The collections of artifacts, soil samples,
field notes, drawings, and photographic documentation
are in various locations and stages of completion and
preservation. In recognition of that fact and given the
site’s high research potential, the Threatened Sites program supported the preparation of a report summing
up all work to date, condition and location of existing
records and collections, and recommendations for
future work. As part of this assessment funding also
was committed for soil flotation of all retained samples
as well as initial analyses of existing botanical and faunal
samples.
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R. B. Worthy High School Site
(44SM25)
This Native American village site contained features from both the Middle and Late Woodland periods.
It was mostly destroyed during the construction of the
high school and from looting in advance of, and at the
time of, that construction. It is located in the town of
Saltville in Smyth County. Specialized analysis was conducted on over 3,000 animal bones recovered from a
recent assessment of a small surviving portion of the
site. Results of the analysis are providing a glimpse into
the local environmental conditions existing at the time
of occupation and the dietary patterns of the occupants
who lived there.
Jasper Lithic Analysis
Instrumental neutron activation analysis of
jaspers from seven localities and artifacts from two different sites in Virginia were examined to identify differences that could be used to distinguish between individual sources. The results suggest that the major sources
of jasper in Virginia can be differentiated from one
another. Follow-up work also was made possible by
separate funds from the VDHR independent of the
Threatened Sites program
Steatite Analysis
Chemical analysis was completed of steatite
samples from archaeological quarry sites in Carroll,
Floyd, Franklin, and Grayson counties of the Virginia
Blue Ridge Region. This was a continuation of the
work undertaken last year and is contributing to our
ability to source and trace the movement of steatite artifacts across Virginia.
Land Bay A Analysis (44FX2723)
This site is one of the few unplowed upland
prehistoric sites recorded in Northern Virginia. It has
multiple components and exhibits excellent integrity.
Fairfax County has funded an archaeologist, working
with volunteers, to complete the fieldwork begun by a
private firm (shortage of funds necessitated the county’s
involvement). Threatened Sites funding was provided
to assist with the completion of analysis and report
writing for this important site.
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Gwynns Island (44MT71)
Surface indications on a stretch of beach and in
shallow water in conjunction with artifacts recovered at
Gwynns Island in Mathews County indicated the presence of a colonial and multi-component Native
American site. Features were mapped, two barrel wells
were excavated, and what appeared to be a shell midden
was tested for the presence of artifacts. An inventory
also was made of the artifacts collected from this stretch
of beach by local residents. The beach is now underwater.
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during the Civil War, a school for nearly a century, and
presently as a church again. A watercolor painted by
Sneden in 1862 depicts two dwellings to the east and
southeast of the church. Perspective does not allow
determination whether either of those buildings was
within the 10-acre parcel in this area where a new
church, parking lot and ancillary building is scheduled
for construction. Threatened Sites funding was used to
assess this area and determine the extent that proposed
construction might impact archaeological resources
here.
Leigh-Stubblefield Site (44GL123) Chesopean Site (44VB48)
Representing a distant component associated
with Rosewell Plantation in Gloucester County, an
assessments was undertaken at this site in advance of
potential threats from encroaching development and
increased relic collecting. Earlier collecting had considerably damaged a large pit containing a remarkable collection of well-preserved artifacts having direct association with Rosewell. The study has begun to establish
boundaries of the site, has assessed the damage from
relic collecting, and has documented the site’s overall
integrity. A catalog of all artifacts recovered from the
site also has been prepared.
Hickory Neck Church (44JC124)
This church, begun in 1734, is situated in James
City County. Over its 270 plus years it served variously
as a church, a Revolutionary War Hospital, a barracks
Containing both Native American and early
17th-century artifacts, this site was discovered on a part
of Adam Thoroughgood’s 1636 land grant. It currently
is situated in a residential development. In 1955, Floyd
Painter and R. Lloyd Updike excavated a number of
“midden pits”, part of a “stratum of soil” that covered
the site, and a “cellar pit”. The only surviving records
of their work consists of a three page description, some
black and white photographs, a few newspaper articles,
and a collection of artifacts recovered by Painter. In
advance of a proposed house addition archaeological
testing documented the presence of still intact deposits
which will be further examined prior to any future construction.
Hampton Goodyear Site (44HT94)
As archaeological excavations at this 17th-19th
century urban site in downtown commercial Hampton
closed out, a late discovery was made of an archaeological feature extending under the current sidewalk.
Threatened Sites assistance allowed for this final area of
the site to be examined. Over the past two years, just
over $5,000 seed money from the Threatened Sites program encouraged private donations for the excavations
totaling over $25,000 as well as over $225,000 provided
by the City of Hampton.
New Publications
Two recent departmental publications on past
Threatened Sites projects include:
Excavations at the Hampton Site.
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THE BUZZARD ROCK SITE (44RN2): A Late Woodland
Dispersed Village (2005). By Wayne E. Clark, Joey T.
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Moldenhauer, Michael B.
Barber, and Thomas R. Whyte. VDHR Research
Report Series No. 15.
THE BONHAM SITE (44SM7): A Late Woodland Village
Complex in Smyth County, Virginia (2005). By C.
Clifford Boyd, Jr., Donna C. Boyd, Michael B. Gardner,
and Paul S. Gardner. VDHR Research Report Series
No. 16.
For ordering information and a listing of other archaeological publications available through the VDHR,
check out the department’s web site at
http://www.dhr.virginia.gov.
PROPOSED PROJECTS FOR
2005/2006
During the upcoming year, archaeological field
investigations will be funded at Maycock Point in
Prince George County, Butler’s Bluff in Northampton
County, Hungars Plantation in Northampton County,
and a Civil War encampment in Alexandria. Also
under consideration are various analysis studies from
prior investigations at such sites as Maycock Point in
Prince George County, the Hogue site in Tazewell
County, and Germanna in Orange County. Of particular importance, the VDHR/ASV/COVA Threatened
Sites Committee has place a priority on publishing
both a general report for the public and a more technical series of reports on the nationally significant
Jordan’s Point excavations in Prince George County
dating back to the 1990s. Work on both will begin during the upcoming year with a goal of having them
available by 2007.
MEMBERSHIP
Esther White
THE MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE is pleased to
announce Derek Wheeler, Wayne Boyko and Ellen
Brady are COVA's newest members.
Derek Wheeler is a research archaeologist at
Monticello where he has worked since 1996. He holds
a MA in Anthropology from the University of Virginia
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and did his undergraduate work at University of
California in Berkeley. He has worked at Plimouth
Plantation and Flowerdew Hundred, as well as numerous sites in California.
Wayne Boyko is the director of the archaeology program at the Conservation Management Institute
at Virginia Tech University. Prior to this position he
spent almost 10 years at Fort Bragg, NC as the program manager and director of their Cultural Resource
Management Program. He holds a Ph.D. from
Pennsylvania State University and a BA from the
University of Winnipeg in Canada.
Ellen Brady graduated from James Madison
University and went on to earn an MA at Texas Tech
University. She is currently employed by Cultural
Resources, Inc.'s Norfolk office as a project manager.
She spent many years with Coastal Carolina Research
prior to her return to Virginia.
COVA has two levels of membership - Full
and Associate. Full membership is open to professional archaeologists with an interest in Virginia archaeology. Applicants must attend two COVA meetings and
submit a resume to the Esther White, Membership
Chair. Associate Membership is open to everyone with
an interest in Virginia Archaeology by submitting
$15.00 dues to Esther White, Membership Chair.
C ERTIFICATION
Michael Barber and Bruce Baker
THE CERTIFICATION COMMITTEE is compiling a
list of all graduates and current students enrolled in the
program. If anyone knows of, or discovers someone
connected to the certification program please contact
Bruce Baker, Co-Chair of the Certification Committee,
[email protected], (804) 271-4718.
The certification committee seeks COVA
members to act as mentors for students enrolled in the
joint COVA / VDHR / ASV Certification Program.
Mentors work closely with students helping negotiate
the certification program requirements and acting as a
friend and advocate. To learn more about becoming a
certification mentor please contact Bruce Baker, CoChair
of
the
Certification
Committee,
[email protected].
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2006-2007 Slate of Officers
The following individuals have agreed to stand for election to office for the upcoming two-year term.
President - Barbara Heath, Poplar Forest
Vice President - Steve Shephard, Alexandria Archaeology
Treasurer - Mike Madden, United States Forest Service
Secretary - Eleanor Breen, Historic Mount Vernon
Editor - Jennifer Strong Ebbert, Historic Mount Vernon
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12th Annual COVA Public Symposium
October 28, 2005
7:00-8:30 PM
With reception to follow
Shenandoah University, History Center
20 Cameron Street, Winchester, VA
Fleshing out the 400th:
New Insights into Virginia History and Prehistory
Speakers:
Mike Klein,
University of Mary Washington
“The Past 50 Years of Hunter-Gatherer Research: A Revisionist History of Pleistocene North America”
Martin Gallivan,
College of William and Mary
“Early Seventeenth Century Maps of Virginia and the Native Landscapes of Tsenacommacah”
Dennis Pogue,
Historic Mount Vernon
“Seventeenth-Century Virginia Beyond Jamestown: What We Have Learned Since 1957”
The Symposium is sponsored by
The Council of Virginia Archaeologists
and
Shenandoah University
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Lisa Young
FALL 2005
T I O N
Arrested
D e c a y
The Conservation of Archaeological Materials:
Current Trends and Future Directions
The Archaeological Discussion Group of the American Institute of Conservation and the Department of
Conservation at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation are pleased to announce a conference on archaeological
conservation to be held November 13th through the 17th. The aim of the conference is to communicate new
technologies and to serve as a forum for discussion regarding both the present practice and future development of
archaeological conservation and its interactions with other professions and communities. Cooperative efforts
between a variety of fields involved in the conservation of archaeological materials will be explored. The conference is expected to be of interest to conservators, archaeologists, scientists and curators.
The conference will address the following six topics:
1.
Defining archaeological conservation - what is archaeological conservation and how do
we define and educate its practitioners? How have different national approaches affected the development
of the field?
2.
Site management - the conservator's role in site management, the management implications of
the burial environment and new technologies for monitoring burial environments and developing predictive models.
3.
On site conservation - efficacy of summer holiday archaeology and conservation, the creation
of more effective models and sustainable solutions, new and developing technologies for on-site conservation work including imaging technologies, treatment techniques and analytical tools.
4.
Conservators and the intellectual record - technical study/examination and analysis of
artifacts.
5.
The creation and long term management of archaeological archives/repositories - issues dealing with establishing long-term collection storage, and access policies and facilitating
publication and exhibition.
6.
Community involvement and conservation - the impact of conservation on other stakeholders, and methods for sharing conservation research and decision-making with others typically outside
of the professional process.
Keynote addresses will be delivered at the start of each session and there will be a lengthy discussion period at the
end of each session. Keynote speakers include Chris Caple of the University of Durham, Hedley Swain of the
Museum of London, Rae Beaubien of the Smithsonian Center for materials Research and Education among others.
For the full conference program and to download the registration form:
http://www.history.org/history/institute/institute_about.cfm
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A note from the Editor:
The Best Job in the
I jokingly refer to the fall issue as
Josh Duncan
Deanna Beacham
the “How I Spent My Summer World
Issue.” I am pleased to finally
I spent the first five weeks of the sum- present two such articles and
I really am blessed. My job
mer at Werowocomoco where I was a TA for want to thank Josh and Deanna allows me to read dozens of
Martin Gallivan. It was a good experience to for their personal submissions!
archaeological reports, visit several
work on a project which receives so much
sites every season, and keep up
public attention and strives to work so closely with the with what’s going on at most of Virginia’s prehistoric
contemporary Virginia Indian community. I can how- archaeology projects, and I rarely even have to get dirty.
ever attest to the fact that no matter how much publici- This summer I visited three very different field schools.
ty the site gets I got chiggers and a ton of ticks while Every year the William and Mary field school at
running a shovel test pit survey of some of the wooded Werowocomoco, led by Martin Gallivan, turns up someportion of the land form. I also had the chance to work thing more fascinating. Also, thanks to Carole Nash, I
with a great crew which consisted of W&M grad stu- made it to the ASV field school at Keyser for a day.
dents, Fairfield archaeologists, and a member of the Despite the great finds that day, which included a deer
Pamunkey Tribe (Jeff Brown). I can say that this expe- antler piece and a slate gorget blank, the highlight for
rience did not affect the way I “do” archaeology but it several of Josh Duncan’s students from Radford was
did affect the way I think about what I find.
trying to pry open Carole’s truck after I locked her keys
I spent the second half of the summer directing in it. They were, alas, unsuccessful. Believe it or not,
the Radford Field School in the absence of Cliff Boyd. after that incident Carole still invited me to her James
We spent a week doing some mitigation work at Madison University field school at Wintergreen, where
Smithfield Plantation on the site of a “kids dig” area. they are turning up material from Archaic to Late
Two weeks in Saltville,VA where we GPS mapped a Woodland. Maybe it was that great encounter we had
Civil War fortification, tried out some resistivity, and did with the eagles at Keyser. Come to think of it, all three
a small amount of excavation. This was part of an of those field schools were located in areas of incrediongoing interdisciplinary research project Radford has ble scenic beauty. Thank you, ancestors, for picking the
funded through the American Battlefield Preservation best spots to live.
Program (Chris Stevens’s program). The project includThe summer had even more archaeology, comed two cooks who fed us better than I have eaten since pliments of the usual contingent of Section 106 and
I moved out of my momma’s house.
other miscellaneous consultations and visits. I had a
The final two weeks of the field school were tour of Mount Pleasant in Surry, successfully dodged a
spent at the ASV/Passport In Time Field School at pesky reporter at a VDOT work site, crashed through
Keyser farm. It was great, hotter than hell, but good some deep woods looking for a looted site with Chris,
archaeology. We stripped off two tenths of overburden and studied exhibits in museums that are candidates for
and there were features everywhere. From Smithfield to the Virginia Indian Heritage Trail. Did I mention how
Keyser farm I had the chance to have the students inter- much I enjoy archaeology? Because of my job, I learned
act with various members of the archaeological commu- about another site where Orapax isn’t (sorry, Randy and
nity, some COVA members, and a ton of ASV folks. It Tony!) and saw a report on the first Clovis point found
made the students’, and my own, experience that much in Greene County. (Note: come to the ESAF conferbetter. It was amazing to see the willingness of everyone ence if you want to hear all about the latter.) I even
to take time to make these students feel welcome and managed to squeeze in another field trip to Monacan
help craft their skills as up and coming archaeologists. I country and a day hanging out with the rest of that
owe a big thanks to the Virginia archaeological commu- crazy gang known as the Threatened Sites Committee.
nity for making Radford’s 2005 field school such a suc- Does it get any better than this? I’ll let you know this
cess. The last vestiges of my summer were spent work- winter. Meanwhile, thanks to everyone for your invitaing with Dovetail CRG and I am currently trying to tions, your tours, and your patience.
frantically analyze artifacts for my thesis while taking a
stat’s class.
How I Spent My Summer
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Dave Brown is getting hitched!
Dave and his fiancee, Kristen, plan to tie
the knot May 6th at Historic Long Branch
- a gorgeous plantation in Clarke County,
built in 1811 by
Robert
Carter
Burwell
(whose
grandfather was born
at Fairfield Planation).
H A P P YO L O G Y
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Heard at the Screen
Submit your news to [email protected]
Every October, Virginia
celebrates Virginia archaeology at
libraries, museums, historical
societies, clubs, and on active
archaeological sites.
Events
range from exhibits, lecture
series, and tours, to special handson children's programs. The
theme this year is Archaeology on
the Edge: Environmental
Archaeology in Virginia.
To learn more, visit DHR’s website at:
www.dhr.virginia.gov/arch_
DHR/archmo.htm
Have you seen the super
article about Poplar
Forest in the Fall 2005
issue of
American
Archaeology (Vol. 9 No.
3)? There is a great picture of COVA members
Barbara Heath and
Randy Lichtenberger on
page 13!
Kerri Barile and Mike
Carmody left positions
as Preservation Program
Coordinators in the Fredericksburg District
office of VDOT in June to start a new cultural
resource management firm, Dovetail Cultural
Resource Group (Dovetail). Dovetail is operating as a woman- owned business with Kerri as
the majority owner. Dovetail is engaged in a
number of projects, primarily cell tower compliance. They are also working with Don Tharpe,
an avocational archaeologist with land holdings
in Fauquier and Culpeper County, to help him
get control of the excavations he has been
undertaking at the Norman’s Ford site. This site
contains an early historic component as well as
what, at this point, appears to be multiple prehistoric components.
Check out Dovetail: www.dovetailcrg.com
Jen Strong Ebbert is the proud mom of Leo
Franklin. Born September 9, baby Leo weighed 8
lbs 7 oz. and was 21 inches long.
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Military Archaeologist
Alan Joseph Wormser
(Reprinted from the Washington Post, Sunday, August 21, 2005; page
C11)
Written by Washington Post Staff Writer,
Matt Schudel
ALAN JOSEPH WORMSER, 48, who worked to
make the National Guard more sensitive to environmental needs, archaeology and cultural and historical
matters, died Aug. 12 at Inova Fairfax Hospital from a
stroke, as a complication of diabetes.
Trained as an archaeologist, Mr. Wormser developed his specialty in Texas, where in 1993 he launched
the country's first cultural resources office for a unit of
the National Guard. He supervised a staff of archaeologists, architectural historians and other specialists and
advised the Texas National Guard on the impact its
bases and construction programs might have on the
environment, historic properties and Native American
artifacts.
In 2000, he brought this expertise to the federal
government as national program manager of cultural
resources at Army National Guard headquarters in
Arlington. As a federal agency, the National Guard is
required to comply with environmental and historic
preservation regulations at its hundreds of locations
throughout the 50 states, the District and three territories.
Mr. Wormser's task was to balance the Guard's
military mission with concerns for the environment and
history. As a result, he worked closely with archaeologists across the country and became an authority on
issues related to environmental law, land management
and conservation. He was a primary liaison between the
Defense Department and Indian tribes whose lands and
sacred sites were affected by developments at National
Guard bases nationwide.
In Texas in 1996, he succeeded in having a historic military base, Camp Mabry near Austin, nominatC O V A
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In addition to his work with cultural resources for the
Army National Guard, Alan Wormser was a ham radio
operator and a member of emergency-response communications networks. (Family Photo)
ed to the National Register of Historic Places. Mr.
Wormser later worked on a national scale to determine
whether buildings or other sites on National Guard
properties should be designated as historic landmarks.
He also led workshops across the country for the
National Guard, historic preservationists and archaeologists.
In 1997, he was given environmental security
awards from the secretary of the Army and the secretary of defense, and the next year he received a personal citation of merit from Secretary of Defense William
S. Cohen.
Mr. Wormser was born in San Antonio and
graduated from Southern Methodist University in
Dallas. He received a master's degree in anthropology
from the University of Oklahoma in 1981 and did additional graduate work there until 1984.
He was a registered professional archaeologist whose
specialties included the anthropology of Texas and the
Southwest, the settlement of the southern plains and
Native American practices. Before finding his niche
with the National Guard, he worked on the staff of the
Oklahoma state archaeologist
PAGE 29
VOL UME 22
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and, from 1986 to 1993, was an
archaeologist for the Texas Department of
Transportation.
Besides his professional work, Mr. Wormser had
a wide array of other interests. Since his teens, he had
been interested in folk dancing from around the world
and could perform more than 700 varieties of ethnic
dances, particularly from Eastern Europe. He led classes and workshops on folk dancing and occasionally performed at festivals across the country.
He had been a member of the fencing team in
college and, in recent years, had become interested in
rapier fencing from the Renaissance. He also participated in activities of the Society for Creative Anachronism,
a group dedicated to historic reenactments from
V
FALL 2005
medieval and Renaissance times.
Mr. Wormser, a resident of Annandale, was a
ham radio operator skilled in communicating in Morse
code. He was a member of emergency response communications networks and, at the time of his death, was
secretary of the Alexandria Radio Club.
He also had done a considerable amount of
genealogical research and had traced his own family
back to Hungary and Romania in the 15th and 16th centuries.
His wife of 12 years, Kerynn Lynne Darien
Bissett, died in 2002 of Lou Gehrig's disease.
Survivors include his fiancee, Lara Coutinho of
Indianapolis; and two sisters, Lisa Schamess of
Washington and Deborah Wormser of Dallas.
I E W P O I N T
From the desk of Howard MacCord
MULTI-PURPOSE FIELDSCHOOLS SOUGHT
VIRGINIA’S ARCHEOLOGICAL NEEDS are many and well known, but some can be met, if individuals in the
professional community would conduct several 1-3 weeklong fieldschools each year on threatened sites not coming under Section 106. The needs include the following: greater archeological awareness by the general public
(including politicians); recruiting new members for ASV (truly needed!); training ASV and non-ASV people to recognize archeological evidence and thus bring to light sites now not known; adding to knowledge through test or
rescue excavations; and doing this at minimal cost while being self-supporting.
Here’s how it can work:
One or more professionals, working in the name of ASV, would fit a fieldschool
into their schedules, choose an endangered site convenient to their homebase, arrange
for the landowner’s written permission and other details, publicize the project well in
advance (with details including costs per person), invite those interested to sign up for
the work (which will include orientation and on-the-job teaching), assemble tools, supplies, etc., conduct the school, analyze the data recovered, and publish a report on the
work and findings. Participants can be charged a fee sufficient to cover costs, including
a modest stipend for the sponsoring professional and a percentage to ASV.
ASV could provide publicity, workers, some tools and equipment, liability insurance to protect landowners, and then a publication outlet for the resulting report.
This idea has been presented to the ASV Board of Directors, but not yet adopted as an ASV course of
action. If you agree that the above approach is feasible and worthwhile, please tell the ASV president (Faye Wade).
If you have ideas for improving the concept, please present them, too.
PAGE 30
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O M M I T T E E
EXECUTIVE
BOARD
President
Vice-President
Past President
Secretary
Treasurer
Newsletter Editor
FALL 2005
L
Barbara Heath [email protected]
Mike Klein [email protected]
Carole Nash [email protected]
Eleanor Breen [email protected]
Beth Acuff [email protected]
Esther White [email protected]
MEMBERSHIP
Esther White, Chair [email protected]
Cliff Boyd, Andrew Veech
CERTIFICATION
George Tolley, Chair [email protected]
Mike Barber, Kay McCarron, Carole Nash
ETHICS
Randy Lichtenburger, Chair [email protected]
Clarence Geier, Carole Nash, Randy Turner
PUBLIC
EDUCATION
CURATION
THREATENED
SITES
I S T
Dennis Pogue, Chair [email protected]
Mike Barber, Deanna Beacham, Amber Bennett, Eleanor Breen,
David Brown, Josh Duncan, Jennifer Strong Ebbert, Mark
Freeman, Laura Galke, Mike Klein, Kay McCarron, Carole
Nash, Esther White
Keith Egloff, Chair [email protected]
Beth Acuff, Eleanor Breen, Charles Cheek, Jack Hranicky,
Elizabeth Moore, Carole Nash, Lisa Young
Clarence Geier, Chair [email protected]
Mike Barber, Dave Brown, Royce McNeal, Carole Nash, Keith
Adams
AWARDS
Lily Richards [email protected]
Sherman and Hoffman Awards
Carole Nash [email protected]
Ben McCary Award
STATE PLAN
Cliff Boyd, Chair [email protected]
VDHR
GUIDELINES
Mike Barber, Chair [email protected] Browning, Dan Hayes,
Mike Johnson, Lily Richards, Keith Seramur, Chris Stevenson
SITE FILES / DSS George Tolley, Chair [email protected]
Mike Barber, Lyle Browning, Keith Egloff, Randy Turner
LEGISLATIVE
AFFAIRS
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Carole Nash, Chair [email protected]
Deanna Beacham, Eleanor Breen, Josh Duncan, Lily Richards,
Julie Ernstein, Randy Lichtenberger, David Brown
PAGE 31
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October 28, 2005
I R G I N I A
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A L E N D A R
COVA FALL MEETING
Winchester, VA
w w w. c o v a - i n c . o r g
October 28 - 30,
2005
ASV ANNUAL MEETING
Holiday Inn
Winchester, VA
w w w. a s v - a r c h e o l o g y. o r g
November 2 - 6,
2005
November 9 - 13,
2005
SEAC ANNUAL MEETING
Columbia, SC
w w w. s o u t h e a s t e r n a r c h a e o l o g y. o r g
ESAF ANNUAL MEETING
Williamsburg, VA
w w w. e s a f - a r c h e o l o g y. o r g
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
November 13 - 17, CONSERVATION CONFERENCE
Williamsburg, VA
2005
w w w. h i s t o r y. o r g / h i s t o r y / i n s t
itute/institute_about.cfm
November 30 December 4, 2005
AAA ANNUAL MEETING
Washington, DC
December 1, 2005
JAMESTOWN CONFERENCE
Williamsburg, VA
w w w. a a a n e t . o r g
w w w. a p v a . o r g / j r . h t m l
January 11 - 15,
2006
March 23 - 26,
2006
SHA ANNUAL MEETING
Sacramento, CA
w w w. s h a . o r g
MAAC ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Virginia Beach, VA
w w w. m a a c m i d a t l a n t i c a r c h a e o l o g y. o r g
SAA ANNUAL MEETING
April 26 - 30, 2006 San Juan, Puerto Rico
w w w. s a a . o r g
PAGE 32
FALL 2005
Attend
COVA’s
Fall Meeting!
1 PM
FRIDAY,
O CTOBER 28 TH
The fall COVA meeting will take place October 28th at
1:00 p.m. at the History Center, 20 South Cameron
Street, Winchester, Virginia.
Please join the Education Committee for their annual
symposium at 7:00 p.m. Friday October 28th at the
History Center. A reception will follow the papers and
a free trolley will provide service between the Holiday
Inn (the ASV conference hotel) and the History
Center.
Directions can be found on the COVA website:
http://cova-inc.org/fall05.html
Pay your 2006 COVA dues!
Checks should be made out to COVA for the
amount of $20 (full) or $15 (associate).
Send to:
Beth Acuff
2312 E. Marshall St.
Richmond, VA 23223
Virginia Archaeologist is published twice a year in the
spring and fall. The success of this publication
depends on contributions from Virginia’s archaeological community. Deadline for submissions for the
Spring issue is April 15, 2006. Please send news items,
announcements, publications/book reviews or current
research to:
Esther White, [email protected]
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
NEWSLETTER DESIGN
Esther White
Jennifer Strong Ebbert
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Volume 22, Number 2, Fall 2005 - Council of Virginia Archaeologists

Transcription

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