Preparation Begins for Archaeological Field School

The archaeological field school sponsored by the Archaeological Society of the Northern Chesapeake (ASNC) starts at Historic Elk Landing on May 25^th, but preliminary surveys have begun and will continue over the next few weeks.

Dan Coates, of the ASNC says non-invasive testing will begin on Monday, March 19^th.   “(The testing) will be through the use of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and metal detectors.  The GPR,” Dan explains, “will further define soil anomalies that were discovered last July, by magnetometer use.”

Then, Dan says, comes the physical digging. “The soil core-sampling begins the first week in April.”  The crew will use “hand augers that are simply screw devices of about 4 inches in diameter, that allow a soil sample of some depth to be brought to the surface for analysis.”  Dan says “the ultimate goal would be the discovery of a pattern of buried clay that would indicate displacement of the soil in 1813, to constructFortHollingsworth.”

FortHollingsworthwas the earthen fort that was constructed to the immediate east of the Stone structure and was one of two forts,FortDefiancebeing the other, which guarded the Little Elk Creek and prevented the British from moving up stream and burning Elkton as was their intention.

Again, the May 25^th field school will be open to the public and free to Historic Elk Landing Foundation members.  Dan notes, for Boy Scouts in the area, that “the requirements of the Archaeology Merit Badge can be met at this 2012 Field Session at Elk Landing.”

Back in 1980,Cecil County commissioned an archaeological study of the land that would become the county detention center just to the north and east of Elk Landing.  That study yielded thousands of artifacts which were inventoried and bagged for future reference.  A report on that work is available through the Historical Society of Cecil County.  However, Dan points out that the ASNC is revisiting that work done over 20 years ago.  “Thirty-two different members of the ASNC and Harford Community College (HCC) anthropology students have logged 52 man-days toward detailed study of the 1980 Hollingsworth Farm artifact collection.” Dan says this work “includes re-bagging the material, re-cataloging it in an EXCEL Worksheet using up to 7 defining categories.”  According to Dan, “the artifacts are on a one year loan to HCC for study and outreach purposes.  A major focus of this work,” Dan continues, “is to prepare vocational participants of the May 2012 Field Session for the property identification of recovered artifacts.

So, as you can see, a lot of preparation goes into such a field session and leaders will be well prepared for the event.  Our thanks to Dan Coates for updating us on the lead up to this spring’s field session.