The user enters a search string in order to select matching records. In this case we will assume that the user enters a string such as the following: “Late Woodland” AND “Allegany County” AND “hearth.”

The results of such a search would likely produce multiple project records, but for the sake of simplicity, let's assume that only one report generates a “hit.” In this case, the matching report is from the “Mexico Farms” project. The results returned include the project cover sheet for Mexico Farms as well as the individual synopsis reports for each site examined where a hearth was encountered. The researcher can now click each link to see precisely what was encountered at each site and whether it is of any interest or not. The links to the right are active and if you click them, they will take you to the actual PDF cover sheet and synopsis reports generated by the database. You'll notice that the cover sheet indicates that a third site (18AG166) was also examined in that vicinity. This site does not have a hearth present and, thus, does not generate a “hit” when the search results are returned. The 18AG166 synopsis report can be viewed by clicking HERE.

Example 1: Diagnostic projectile point distributions in Allegany County, Maryland.

• Powerpoint Version (5.38MB)
  
  
• Windows Mediaplayer Version (2.09MB)

• Adobe PDF Version (30.1KB)

The MHT Archeological Synthesis Database is essentially a finding aid and a way for researchers to quickly compare and contrast sites within the State of Maryland. This work is NOT a replacement for viewing the original site reports, but a way to get a quick synopsis of report findings and identify questions for further research and inquiry. However, the potential questions that could be examined by researchers using this abbreviated data are quite numerous. To illustrate the utility of the database we have provided just two simple examples based on the limited amount of work that has been completed thus far.

The first example takes the data from Allegany County and uses it to generate maps of diagnostic stone projectile point distribution. While archeologists often have a general idea of where artifact types are distributed, this database can replace such subjective estimates with quantitative and spatial data. This is illustrated if you simply follow the links provided under “Example 1” to the left.

The second example uses data from the synopsis reports and linked files to compare ethnobotanical assemblages from the four Late Woodland villages where flotation samples yielded such information. While nothing earth shattering is discovered, there are some interesting trends that will be intriguing to explore as we continue to add similar sites from other counties to the database. Click the “Example 2” link to the left to explore the ethnobotanical example.