An Intriguing Pit

The 2026 field season has opened with beautiful weather and a fascinating feature. For the past year, the field team has been examining a large circular pit near the mouth (or 'gorge') of St. Mary's Fort's west bastion. The pit was first identified via ground-penetrating radar during the 2018 geophysical survey that located the fort. The current campaign is focused on excavating the pit's western half to clear the way for the reconstruction of the fort's firing platform. Work was halted at the end of the 2025 field season because of a surprising discovery--charred wood!

Overhead view of the west bastion (excavated) showing the large circular pit (unexcavated) near its gorge

Site Director Jessica Edwards pointing to charred boards

Wood of any kind is a rarity on archaeological sites because like most organic materials, it decomposes very quickly once it has been buried. The chemical and physical changes that result from charring, however, can help to preserve some organic materials for longer durations. In the case of the pit feature, wood has only been found in large quantities on the pit's south side. Initially, the boards resembled a laid floor; they sit roughly parallel to one another at approximately the same elevation. This spring, the team has been working to clarify the areas around the wood, which has led to the identification of a trench dug around the pit's inner perimeter. Within that trench, the charred remnants of vertically-oriented boards were found. This supports the hypothesis that rather than floorboards, the wood found to date was part of wooden walls designed to hold back the surrounding clay and gravel walls from collapsing into the subterranean space.

HSMC has collaborated with Mick Worthington of the Oxford Dendrochronology Lab and Nichole Daub of the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab to learn as much as possible about the wood prior to removing it from the feature. Samples were taken for C-14 dating and sections of the wood have been consolidated and removed. Mick was able to identify the species of the wood as oak, likely white oak. We're incredibly grateful for Mick and Nichole's support on this unique project.

Profile of pit excavation showing many stratified layers

Thus far, more than 80 individual contexts have been identified within the pit. The team is still working to determine a date on the lowest layers of the pit feature, but we remain confident that additional excavation will help to place it in time. By contrast, the upper layers of the pit quite clearly date to the period of ca. 1680-1710s. These layers are visible in the image above (highlighted in red and blue on the second image), showing two discrete sub-periods of deposition. As the profile demonstrates, these layers were artifact-rich and point to a relatively wealthy household. Artifacts discovered in these layers include clock parts, a copper alloy seal, a wide variety of slip-decorated ceramics, religious artifacts, buttons, and more.

Stay tuned as we complete excavation of this intriguing feature and begin our analysis to investigate when it was constructed, by whom, and why.