News Release, Jefferson Patterson Park
$25,000 will support the research and study of cultural artifacts of the Chesapeake region
ARLINGTON, Va. (November 25, 2019) — The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory (MAC Lab) at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM) has been awarded a $25,000 Chesapeake Material Cultural Studies Grant presented by The Conservation Fund.
The grant will advance the MAC Lab’s work to add equestrian artifacts of the colonial mid-Atlantic to JPPM’s Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland website.
The Conservation Fund—a national nonprofit dedicated to providing environmental solutions that make economic sense for communities—presented grants to the MAC Lab and 10 other research, education and historical institutions and specialists to support the conservation, preservation, and study of cultural artifacts from the Chesapeake region dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
Ranging from $15,000 to $25,000, the Chesapeake Material Cultural Studies Grants will help further research and expand current knowledge of artifact collections from previously excavated archaeological sites at Jamestown, Martin’s Hundred, Carter’s Grove, Kingsmill and other locations in the Chesapeake region to better understand and interpret the colony’s first settlers and their response to the new environment and climate.
“American history is intrinsically connected to the land. In Virginia and especially in the Chesapeake region, our land can tell a variety of stories going back multiple centuries,” said Heather Richards, Virginia state director for The Conservation Fund. “While we at The Conservation Fund focus on protecting the places where history happens and conserving important natural resources, we depend on our peers in the archeological field to research and interpret how human lives intersected with these places. We are honored to support JPPM’s ongoing work.”
JPPM first launched the Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland webpage in 2002 to help archaeologists and the public identify colonial and Native American ceramics. Since 2007 MAC Lab Staff have expanded the site to include post-colonial ceramics, projectile points, table glass, and miscellaneous “small finds” such as marbles, cufflinks, and religious artifacts. This grant will allow the MAC Lab to build a new section of the website on equestrian artifacts such as spurs, bosses, stirrups, horseshoes, saddle parts, bits, and curry combs. These artifacts were incredibly important in the daily lives of Maryland’s colonists, but they are not always recognized by archaeologists. This grant will allow JPPM to help change that.
A full list of the eleven Chesapeake Material Cultural Studies Grant recipients can be found here: http://bit.ly/ChesapeakeGrants.
