Although most people think of 17th-century archaeology when they think of St. Mary’s City, its space contains many more stories from later eras.  One is the 19th-century story of slavery and freedom at a large slave plantation.  This story is being told on a digital exhibit and blog, All of Us Will Walk Together (www.stmaryscity.org/walktogether), published by MSU Department of Anthropology PhD candidate Terry Peterkin Brock.  Support for the project has been generously provided by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Ford Foundation, and the SRI Foundation.

Brock is studying the lives of the slaves and tenant farmers who live at the St. Mary’s Manor Plantation, which stood in what once was the heart of St. Mary’s City.  Brock is conducting the research project under the direction of Historic St. Mary’s City’s Director of Research, Henry Miller, who received his PhD from MSU’s Anthropology Program in 1984.  His objective is to open a window into lives that have been often neglected in the history of St. Mary’s City, yet were vital to the sustainability of its land and people.  Brock traces these African American laborers from the erection of the slave quarters in 1840, through the Civil War, and into the post-slavery era, where they lived and worked as tenant farmers.  One building, a duplex quarter, continued to serve as a tenant home until 1950.  St. Mary’s City is currently in the process of turning this structure into a physical exhibit through funding from the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture and the Maryland Historical Trust.  The digital exhibit and blog will include a discussion of the process.

Visit  All of Us Will Walk Together  to see the findings of Brock’s research and learn about how researchers use archaeology, history, and preservation to discover the African American past.  The website and blog are designed for audience participation: please comment and ask questions on the site, and learn how you can participate by sharing your stories, see if you are a descendant of those who lived on the plantation, or help to preserve the duplex quarter. Follow the project on Twitter at @WalkTogethr

The Geoarchaeology of Lake Michigan Coastal Dunes, the recently released book coauthored by Drs. William Lovis (MSU Anthropology), Alan Arbogast (MSU Geography), and G. William Monaghan (Indiana University), is the culmination of almost seven years of research and writing.  Published in the Michigan Department of Transportation Environmental Series, edited by MSU alumnus James Robertson, and produced by MSU Press, the volume explores the taphonomy and differential temporal and spatial preservation of archaeological sites in the Lake Michigan coastal dunes.  The research employed innovative approaches to paleoenvironmental reconstruction focusing on the relationship between changing climate and the activation of coastal sand supply.  With funding from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act or ISTEA, through the Michigan Department of Transportation, the research reported in this book has significant policy implications for land managers responsible for the protection of Michigan’s archaeological and heritage resources on public lands at the Federal, State, and more local levels.   The research complements prior work by Lovis and colleagues on site preservation on the alluvial floodplains of southern Michigan.

On Friday, April 13th, 2012, eight undergraduate students presented their research at the annual University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF) at MSU.

James Schwaderer: “Project Point Color at Morton Village” (Winning Poster) – Advisor: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman

Janine Baranski: “A Study of the Associations between Offspring Survival and Birth Order, Offspring Sex and Previous Siblings in Rural Communities of Kenya” – Advisor: Dr. Masako Fujita

Kaitlin A. Scharra: “Understanding Non-Elite Mississippian Societies: A Mortuary Analysis of the East St. Louis Stone Quarry Site Cemetery” – Advisor: Dr. Lynne Goldstein

Circe Wilson: “Using Ceramics to Understand MSUs Past” – Advisors: Dr. Lynne Goldstein and Katy Meyers

Ryan Jelso: “Architectural Variation at Morton Village” – Advisor: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman

Josh Lieto: “The Broad-Rimmed Bowl: A Descriptive Study and Analysis” – Advisor: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman

Josh Lieto: “Prehispanic Chocolate for Tarascan Kings: Detection of Cacao in Spouted Elite Serving Vessels” – Advisor: Dr. Helen Pollard

Rachel Wise: “Identifying Different Cultural Groups at a Multi-Ethnic Archaeological Village” – Advisor: Dr. Jodie O’Gorman