Saturday Blog Post:

August 13, 2016

This past Saturday our volunteers were tasked with processing and cleaning our collection of oyster shells from the trash midden, where small mammal bones, and teeth were also discovered.

As we have quite a lot of oyster shell to process – and in turn catalog – we’ve displayed the polished shells on a large wooden platform.

Karen continued the discussion on material culture from last weekend, which brings relevance to the oyster shells. Consumption of food stuffs brings clarity to the identify and class of those residing at the site. The assemblage of oyster processed this weekend came from a trash pit associated with the earliest occupation of the site: the Broad family who lived on the property from 1690 – 1740.  In addition to the abundance of oyster, other artifacts from the period were also recovered including: food storage vessels and fragments of tea service vessels made of white salt glazed stoneware. All of this material will help the project team better understand what life was like in Baltimore for its earliest European residents.

Pardon my blogging absence, as I will be in Colorado until the end of August.

See you all in September!
Lily Roze (Archaeology Intern)