Press Release – Histroric Elk Landing Foundation
Elk Landing is proud to play host to the Archaeological Society of the Northern Chesapeake’s 2012 Field School from May 25th to June 5th 2012
It’s been forty years, but the Archaeological Society of the Northern Chesapeake’s “Archaeological Field School” is returning to Cecil County! And the Historic Elk Landing Foundation is proud to announce Elk Landing will be the site of this year’s field school!
The 2012 field school will have a War of 1812 theme to it. The Society’s President, Dan Coates says between fifteen and fifty members will participate in the effort. “Locating Fort Hollingsworth will be at the center of this year’s school. With this being the bicentennial of the War of 1812, there is much interest in everything ‘War of 1812’ and Fort Hollingsworth was a key to the defense of Elkton when the British attempted to invade and burn it in 1813. This represents a great opportunity,” Dan added, “for the northeast Maryland community to expand the discovery and preservation of local history.”
According to Dan, the school, which will operate between May 25th and June 5th at The Landing, will be open to the public. Area schools will be encouraged to participate too; but it will be more than just a field school. “There will be lectures during the day and some evenings explaining the history of the area, what artifacts the archaeologists are looking for, and what is found.”
Speaking of artifacts, anything found at the dig will be carefully logged, catalogued, and examined for significance. That effort could last as long as two years. Elk Landing will own the documentation resulting from the school and will post them on our web site. The artifacts would also be available to Elk Landing for future exhibit purposes at The Landing.
“We’re very excited about the project,” said Foundation President, Josh Brown. “This school represents a tremendous opportunity to generate interest in the War of 1812, reveal more about what happened here nearly 200 years ago, and hopefully focus much deserved attention on Historic Elk Landing. We look forward to working with Dan and his team.”
As a prelude to the May field school, Dan says several mechanical and digital studies will be done of the area prior to the dug. “During the month of March and April, the Society will conduct a couple of preliminary survey projects at Elk Landing. These should involve metal detection, ground penetrating radar, and soil core sampling. The Archeological Society of Maryland,” Dan noted, “will also manage the field session and its members are a large portion of the participants”
To learn more about the Archaeological Society of the Northern Chesapeake – CLICK HERE
For more information about archaeology at Historic Elk Landing, including all of the previous studies done there – CLICK HERE
For more information, please leave The Historic Elk Landing Foundation a voicemail at 410-620-6400.