On Sunday, Nov. 16, the Archeological Society of Maryland opened an exhibit in the Liriodendron Icehouse to display the culture of the Native Americans in the Northern Chesapeake region.

The Archeological Society of Maryland is an organization of professional and non-professional archeologists across the state whose main goals the discovery, investigation, and conservation of archeological resources; the creation of bonds between avocational and professional archeologists; and the public dissemination of information about Maryland’s buried heritage. The society was organized in 1954 as part of the Maryland Academy of Sciences and merged with various other state societies under the name of ASM, Inc. in December 1975.

The exhibit mainly shows how the Native Americans utilized their natural resources before the arrival of the pilgrims and features artifacts such as arrow heads, musical instruments, and hunting tools. The star attraction of the exhibit is an actual petroglyph (a prehistoric picture carved in stone) found in the Susquehanna River that is believed to depict a full moon and stars. Other notable displays are a recreation of the type of housing used by Native Americans and a large diorama depicting the Paleo migrations.

While the artifacts currently on display are interesting enough the volunteers who make up the staff are going to continue to add new displays to draw in visitors. Dan Coates, a volunteer at the exhibit, says that “We’re currently in the process of creating a rock wall to display the petroglyph with and we hope to have that done relatively soon. After we get everything completely set up we hope to be able to get some schools to plan field trips to the exhibit so we can show kids how the Native Americans lived and how they used their tools.”

The exhibit is located at 502 West Gordon Street, Bel Air and is open from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Sundays. For more information on the Archeological Society of Maryland visit www.marylandarcheology.org. If you would like more information on the exhibit contact Dan Coates at 410-273-9619.