Digging Into the Past

Here at Washington College, students often find opportunities everywhere they look – even in the unexpected. When second-year students Kat Esposito and Xavier Smalls joined the crew for the 2022 Archaeology Field school, neither expected to stumble across a new passion for archaeology both in the field and in the lab.

 

On the search for an enriching summer experience Kat and Xavier both found themselves enticed by the opportunity to gain further knowledge in archaeology outside of the field – instead, they took their skills into the lab.

As Lab Assistant Interns for the WC Archaeology Lab, Kat and Xavier worked in tandem to wash, identify, catalogue, and properly store all cultural artifacts from the summer field session at the Barwick’s Ordinary and Chapel Branch sites, which they helped to excavate.

Situated along the Choptank River, Barwick’s Ordinary is the suspected first county seat of Caroline County and essential to understanding patterns of life in 18th century Maryland. Adjacent to Barwick’s Ordinary is the Chapel Branch site, where shovel test pit surveys have revealed Native American artifacts and cultural materials.

Together, Kat and Xavier are estimated to have catalogued over 1000 artifacts from the sites over the course of four weeks. From pottery and projectile points to coins, faunal remains, and the objects of everyday life in the 18th century, the pair applied their extensive knowledge of artifact identification and methods of conservation to preserving and cataloguing the collection for further study.

Through their internship experiences, Kat and Xavier’s choices to pursue Anthropology as a major has only been reinforced, with Xavier citing the care, dedication and experience put into the position as having pushed him towards potentially pursuing archaeological research in post-graduate. 

“The best experience that I had during my internship was all of it. I really enjoyed cataloging artifacts because it involved a little bit of math (counting and weighing artifacts), history (identifying the ages of artifacts such as clay pipes and glass), science (identification of animal and human bones), etc. I really enjoyed the cataloging process of the internship because it interests me and it made me realize that choosing anthropology as a major was the right choice for me” said Xavier. 

Following their tenure as Lab Assistants, Kat and Xavier decided to pursue individual research projects inspired by their work in the lab. Kat is pursuing an analysis of the Chapel Branch findings, to better develop an understanding of how the site was used and by whom. Meanwhile, Xavier is researching the oysters along the Chesapeake Bay, specifically their uses and responses of anthropogenic influences. He is also diving deeper into the use of oysters by European settlers and artifact dating techniques.  

This March, Kat and Xavier will be presenting their respective projects at the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference in Ocean City, MD.

For more information on the Washington College Archaeology Field School or the WC Archaeology Lab, check out the WC Department of Anthropology at: https://www.washcoll.edu/academic_departments/anthropology/index.php.

03/06/2023