Luckenbach

Anne Arundel County archaeologists have uncovered an Algonquian Indian camp on a bluff above a lush bend in the Patuxent River, a find that includes the oldest human structure ever detected in Maryland. Artifacts show that the campsite - in a location favored by native people for hundreds of years for its bounty of fish, shellfish and game - was in use two centuries and more before Christopher Columbus set sail from Europe. The dig has uncovered traces of oval Algonquian wigwams; rare tools of stone, bone and antler; fragments of a highly decorated pot; an intact paint pot; and a broken gorget, a dark stone polished and drilled for use as personal decoration.

Anne Arundel County archaeologists have uncovered an Algonquian Indian camp on a bluff above a lush bend in the Patuxent River, a find that includes the oldest human structure ever detected in Maryland. Artifacts show that the campsite - in a location favored by native people for hundreds of years for its bounty of fish, shellfish and game - was in use two centuries and more before Christopher Columbus set sail from Europe. The dig has uncovered traces of oval Algonquian wigwams; rare tools of stone, bone and antler; fragments of a highly decorated pot; an intact paint pot; and a broken gorget, a dark stone polished and drilled for use as personal decoration.

Al Luckenbach In the news He identified a small Colonial-era burial ground with intact human remains at a construction site in Annapolis last week. Occupation Archaeologist for Anne Arundel County. Career Highlights Luckenbach is the founder and director of Anne Arundel County's Lost Towns Project and the author of Providence 1649: The History and Archaeology of Anne Arundel County Maryland's First European Settlement (1995). He earned his undergraduate degree in archaeology/anthropology at the University of Virginia and graduate degrees in archaeology/anthropology at the University of Kentucky.

DEALE -- Anne Arundel County archaeologists knew they were looking for one of 18th-century Maryland's rich and famous. Samuel Chew was a well-connected Quaker planter and merchant, and his home on a knoll above the Chesapeake Bay was an early landmark, used by ship captains to guide them into the tobacco port of Herrington, on Herring Bay. But no one expected this. Months of digging to uncover the foundation walls of the Chew House have revealed one of the largest, most opulent Colonial homes in the Chesapeake region during the early 18th century.

Al Luckenbach, who smokes several Tareytons a day, is within a few days of fulfilling his pipe dream. He intends to fire up -- at about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- a reproduction of a 17th- century clay pipe kiln. If he succeeds, he and his colleagues at Anne Arundel County's "Lost Towns" archaeological project will have effectively re-created the only kiln of its kind known to have been unearthed in the New World. The kiln remains were discovered in 1991 by Luckenbach and his colleagues on a plot of land that is known as Providence, a Colonial settlement along the Severn River.

A lucky glance by an archaeologist walking in a field near Annapolis has led to the discovery of a 17th-century home site that may have belonged to the commander of Anne Arundel County's first settlement.Archaeologists excavating the site in April discovered a broken plate bearing a blue design with the family crest of Edward Lloyd.Lloyd founded the fort and trading post at Providence in 1649 and signed a treaty with the Susquehannock Indians in 1652.It's the oldest, and "probably the most important Colonial site . . . found so far" in Anne Arundel County, said county archaeologist Al Luckenbach, who found the spot.

The "Lost Towns" project, an effort by archaeologists to unlock the secrets of Maryland's long-forgotten settlements, is hitting pay dirt this summer on two separate digs that have unearthed a more complete picture of Colonial life on the Chesapeake. At Providence, Anne Arundel County's oldest European settlement, the remains of a 17th-century tobacco farmer's clay pipes and kiln are what archaeologists call the earliest example of American manufacturing in the New World. The broken pieces in the dirt show that the farmer, Emanuel Drue, was running a handcrafted pipe business during the mid-1600s.

Archaeologists digging in the former Colonial port of London Town near Annapolis have come across the grave of a child about 6 years old, buried alone more than two centuries ago, apparently beneath the floor of a long-vanished dwelling. Discounting other explanations - including murder - Anne Arundel County archaeologist Al Luckenbach and his staff have tentatively concluded that the child was a slave, interred beneath the house in observance of traditions brought from Africa. If so, it would be the first such slave burial reported in the Chesapeake region, and perhaps the first in North America.

Finding the treasure believed buried in some Annapolis woods near Mill Creek would be an archaeological coup. Here, at the first European settlement in Anne Arundel County, Al Luckenbach and his team of archaeologists are digging their way through the domestic debris of Emanuel Drue, a 17th-century tobacco planter and pipe maker who lived on a piece of land called Swan Cove, in the village of Providence. Beneath the pottery shards, brass buttons and oyster shells embedded in the soil, Luckenbach, who heads the county's archaeology department, is looking for the pipe kiln where Drue fired his crude clay pipes.

Adam Crist and his family picked more than just tomatoes and squash from the Arnold field they farmed for 30 years.Besides bumper crops of vegetables, Mr. Crist and his grandchildren found pieces of history: twisted yellow bricks, Indian projectile points and shards of china and pottery.Mr. Crist, who died in 1986, always had his own theory about what may have existed in the field, says his grandson, Anthony Rezendes."He thought it was an Indian trading post because of the arrowheads we found," Mr. Rezendes says.

Al Luckenbach In the news He identified a small Colonial-era burial ground with intact human remains at a construction site in Annapolis last week. Occupation Archaeologist for Anne Arundel County. Career Highlights Luckenbach is the founder and director of Anne Arundel County's Lost Towns Project and the author of Providence 1649: The History and Archaeology of Anne Arundel County Maryland's First European Settlement (1995). He earned his undergraduate degree in archaeology/anthropology at the University of Virginia and graduate degrees in archaeology/anthropology at the University of Kentucky.

Archaeologists digging in one of their favorite kinds of pits -- a trash cellar -- figured its mix of coins, pottery shards and pipe- stems would tell them about one of the earliest European settlements along the Chesapeake Bay. But a unique and mysterious discovery along a cellar wall promises to be the most telling of all, offering insights into the difficulty of forging a new life in the New World settlement of Providence in the 1600s. "We did not expect to find this dead guy," said Anne Arundel County archaeologist Al Luckenbach.

Al Luckenbach, who smokes several Tareytons a day, is within a few days of fulfilling his pipe dream. He intends to fire up -- at about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit -- a reproduction of a 17th- century clay pipe kiln. If he succeeds, he and his colleagues at Anne Arundel County's "Lost Towns" archaeological project will have effectively re-created the only kiln of its kind known to have been unearthed in the New World. The kiln remains were discovered in 1991 by Luckenbach and his colleagues on a plot of land that is known as Providence, a Colonial settlement along the Severn River.

So many unanswered questions surround Asian oysters that several years of additional study are needed before deciding whether to let them loose in the waters off Maryland and Virginia, a Chesapeake Bay scientist warned yesterday. Speaking to a national conference of oyster experts in Annapolis, Mark W. Luckenbach said state officials and other supporters of the Asian oyster may be mistakenly inflating public expectation that the import will save the industry. "Our lack of knowledge about this species weighs as heavily on our ability to successfully raise it as it does on our ability to avoid undesired consequences," said Luckenbach, a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science who just returned from a trip to study the Asian oyster in its native waters.

Anne Arundel County archaeologists suspect that their hurried dig next to historic London Town park has unearthed the spot where the county's second courthouse stood three centuries ago. "I am more convinced than ever that it may be the courthouse," county archaeologist Al Luckenbach said yesterday. If it is the courthouse that served from 1684 to 1695, the find would corroborate sparse surviving records indicating that the building was perched along Scott Street, the main drag of the Colonial port of London Town, he said.

Archaeologists digging in the former Colonial port of London Town near Annapolis have come across the grave of a child about 6 years old, buried alone more than two centuries ago, apparently beneath the floor of a long-vanished dwelling. Discounting other explanations - including murder - Anne Arundel County archaeologist Al Luckenbach and his staff have tentatively concluded that the child was a slave, interred beneath the house in observance of traditions brought from Africa. If so, it would be the first such slave burial reported in the Chesapeake region, and perhaps the first in North America.

A site believed to contain the remnants of quarters for the 18th-century slaves of a colonial governor of Maryland has been found near the tip of the Broadneck peninsula.Archaeological researchers have unearthed domestic debris, shells, fragments of ceramics and glass, and pieces of brick about a mile from Whitehall, the mansion Gov. Horatio Sharpe built about 1765 overlooking the Chesapeake Bay."In my educated opinion, what we are looking at [are] slave quarters," said Al Luckenbach, Anne Arundel County archaeologist.

From The Sun Jan. 7-13, 1846Jan. 8: The Savings Bank of Baltimore -- The numerous depositors in this valuable and well conducted institution will find its annual report in our columns to-day.Jan. 12: On Saturday a man named George Taylor was arrested and brought before Justice Schaefer, on charges of stealing a cow and selling it to a citizen for four dollars.Jan. 13: A meeting of slave-holders was held in Centreville, on Tuesday last, for the purpose of taking some action in reference to the frequent loss of their slaves.

They're packed elbow-to-elbow around tables pushed together in a way reminiscent of a nursery school, surrounded by stuffed cubbyholes, pots of glue, paintbrushes and other paraphernalia. But these are not toddlers working on an art project. They are adults working in the Anne Arundel County archaeology lab, a cramped operation on the first floor of an Annapolis-area office building and destination for a wealth of artifacts from a heritage-rich county. The professionals, student interns and volunteers process artifacts from some of the earliest European settlements in North America - and barely have room to turn around in their claustrophobic space.

The "Lost Towns" project, an effort by archaeologists to unlock the secrets of Maryland's long-forgotten settlements, is hitting pay dirt this summer on two separate digs that have unearthed a more complete picture of Colonial life on the Chesapeake. At Providence, Anne Arundel County's oldest European settlement, the remains of a 17th-century tobacco farmer's clay pipes and kiln are what archaeologists call the earliest example of American manufacturing in the New World. The broken pieces in the dirt show that the farmer, Emanuel Drue, was running a handcrafted pipe business during the mid-1600s.