Learn More About Native-American Artifacts

PRESS RELEASE

From Westside Historical Society Inc.
P.O. box 194
Mardela Springs MD 21837
www.barrencreekheritage.org
westsidehistorical@gmail.com
410-726-8047
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Learn More About Native-American Artifacts

Folks on the Eastern Shore have known for generations that finding bits and pieces of artifacts left by the Native-Americans who lived here centuries ago was really easy! Collector Terry Crannell, who had been doing just that for more than fifty years, recalls riding his bike out to newly plowed fields after school most days when he was just a young boy, walking the field and simply picking up hundreds of items. So have others! And few can deny the lure, thrill, even disappointments of this traditional hobby. Though many have turned the hobby into a profession and occupation! 

There is an amazing wealth of knowledge about our earliest Delmarva residents’ way of life – what they ate, how they moved around, hunted, fought, played – that can be discerned from these artifacts. That is the realm of Dr. Ed Otter, professional archeaologist and historian and founder and principal of Edward Otter Inc. Otter earned his PhD in Archaeology from Catholic University and has for more than 30 years been conducting archaeological field studies for federal, state, and local governments and businesses, as well as writing about his findings. For Crannell, a Dorchester County native, this fascination with collecting led him to actively study prehistoric man and artifacts by attending conferences at the Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Conference, Ohio State symposiums and the Smithsonian Institute. For the last eight years he has been artifact curator for the Dorchester County Historical Society, and is past president of the Mid-Shore Archaeological Society. Together, Crannell and Otter will present a very special program on this topic on July 26, Sunday, from 1 to 4 in Mardela Springs. 


The Westside Historical Society presents this program for all collectors, would-be young collectors, or even those who simply would like to know more. Crannell will have displays to see from his own extensive collection, and both gentlemen will offer information from their special perspectives. Also, members of the audience who wish to bring in items they have collected or acquired, and would like to know more about them, can have them identified and evaluated by Crannell and Otter. Admission to the program is free, but there is a $10 per item to have it identified and evaluated. 

This program, part of the Saving Our Traditions Series presented by Westside Historical Ssociety, will be held on July 26, Sunday, from 1 to 4 in the Lodge Hall Building in the Adkins Historical Complex on Bratten Street in Mardela Springs MD. For more information on the program, contact Westside Historical Society by email at westsidehistorical@gmail.com or phone 410-726-8047.