In 2019, the Natural History Society of Maryland decided to add an archaeology club. We were just starting to get some real momentum going, and, well, you know….Covid. However, there is always tomorrow, and once this pandemic is over we are planning for some more great archaeology projects!
One project which the Archaeology Club was working on, and will hopefully be wrapped up soon, was the excavation of some soil test pits (STP)’s out at the Glen Ellen Castle in the Loch Raven Reservoir. Since this is city land, we worked with the great staff at Baltimore Environmental Police with the objective of getting this site officially recorded as an archaeology site in the Maryland Archaeology database.
One of the coolest things about archaeology is that the tiniest artifact can reveal so much information!! This tan sherd was discovered in one of the STP’s that we dug out at Glen Ellen. After cleaning and examination, we assumed it was a bottle of some kind, perhaps rum? Well, thankfully our bottle expert, and Curator at the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower, Ernie Dimler, identified this tiny bit of writing as a Herzogthum Selters Clay Mineral Water bottle from the Duchy of Nassau. The Duchy of Nassau was part of the German Confederation and existed for only 60 years from 1806-1866. It had a 1 liter capacity and was probably made in the German town of Mogendorf.
So, why would we find a mineral water bottle at the Glen Ellen Castle? Mineral water was widely regarded during the 19th century as an effective cure for a host of ailments. The logo has a picture of a lion with the word “Selters” wrapped around it. And Selters water was a luxury item during that time period. (In fact, Selters water was so popular, it’s responsible for our modern day term of ‘seltzer’ water.) Luckily, we know all of this because Nancy Buck Hoffman wrote about this exact type of bottle after one was discovered in an archaeological excavation at Fort Snelling. I’ve included the link below. What other interesting things will we be finding out from our collection of artifacts?!
Stay tuned!! And if you’re interested in Archaeology, please join us! No experience necessary!!! We have a great bunch of people, some are professional archaeologists, like our Team Mentors, Lisa Kraus and Jason Shellenhamer, but there are loads more who are avocational archaeologists, bottle experts, historians, or folks just interested in the history of Baltimore, of Maryland, or in the people who lived on this land before there was European Contact. You just have to be a member of NHSM and of Archaeology Club and you’re good to go!!