Adjunct Professor of Anthropology
Biography
Mr. Silas D. Hurry is the Curator Emeritus of the Archaeological Laboratory for Historic St. Mary’s City. Additionally, he has served as adjunct faculty at St. Mary’s College of Maryland since 1988. He has nearly fifty years of experience in historical archaeology working in Maryland, Georgia, Michigan, and New Mexico. A native of the Southern Maryland region and an honors graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland in History and Anthropology, he subsequently attended graduate school at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. A past officer of the Council on Northeast Historical Archaeology, the Middle Atlantic Archeological Conference, and the Council for Maryland Archaeology, he for many years maintained the web sites for both councils. He is active in the Society for Historical Archaeology and also served on the Board of Directors for the St. Mary’s County Historical Society. He has received awards from the Maryland Historical Trust (2002 and 2009), the St. Mary’s County Commissioners (2003 and 2012) and the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology (2006). He is the author of numerous articles and essays on the archaeology of St. Mary’s City and other aspects of historical archaeology (see below). Hurry designed the new archaeological labs for HSMC located on the college campus and selected the specialized equipment which will make this new facility a truly state-of-the art institution. His research interests include historic ceramics, vernacular and formal architecture, African American history, and 17th-century material culture.
SELECTED REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS
2021 Ceramic Studies at Maryland’s First Capital in Unearthing St. Mary’s City Fifty Years of Archaeology at Maryland’s First Capital, Edited by Henry M. Miller and Travis G. Parno, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, with Henry M. Miller.
2021 The Archaeology of Maryland Indians at St. Mary's City and the Interactions of Cultures in Unearthing St. Mary’s City Fifty Years of Archaeology at Maryland’s First Capital, Edited by Henry M. Miller and Travis G. Parno, University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
2021 Soil Analysis at the St. John's Site: An Earthy View of Early Maryland Revisited in Unearthing St. Mary’s City Fifty Years of Archaeology at Maryland’s First Capital, Edited by Henry M. Miller and Travis G. Parno, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, with Robert W. Keeler.
2018 Top Ten Ceramics from Historic St. Mary’s City Ceramics in America, 2018 Chipstone Foundation and the University Press of New England.
2018 “Our Towne We Call St. Maries” Historic St. Mary’s City Foundation with contributions by Timothy B. Riordan, Regina Faden, Stephen Israel, and Henry M. Miller.
2016 Sourcing a Stone Paver from the Colonial St. Inigoes Manor, Maryland, Northeast Historical Archaeology Volume 45. with Marcus M. Key, Jr., Leslie P. Milliman, and Michael A. Smolek.
2015 Archaeological Excavations of the Print House Building, Slave Quarter Site (18ST1-14), St. Mary’s City, Maryland electronically published by Historic St. Mary’s City, with Timothy B. Riordan and with contributions by Katherine Cavallo and Sara Rivers Cofield,
2013 Fleeing the ‘Sad Face of Winter’: The Calverts and the Archaeology of Maryland’s First City in Exploring Atlantic Transitions, Society of Post-Medieval Archaeology Monograph Series, edited by Peter Pope and Shannon Lewis-Simpson
2012 J. C. Harrington Medal in Historical Archaeology 2012: George L. Miller, Historical Archaeology No. 46 Vol. 2
2007 Characterization of Building Materials from the Brick Chapel at Historic St. Mary's City by INAA and Petrographic Analysis. l in Archaeological Chemistry #968: Analytical Techniques and Archaeological Interpretation edited by Michael D Glascock, Robert J Speakman, and Rachel S Popelka-Filcoff, with Ruth Ann Armitage, Leah Minc, and David Hil
2007 The Whole Site is the Artifact: Interpreting the St. John’s Site, St. Mary’s City, Maryland. in Past Meets Present Archaeologists Partnering with Museum Curators, Teachers and Community Groups edited John H. Jameson, Sherene Baugher. with Dorsey Bodeman.
2006 Maryland: “…where the winters be shorter and less rigorous” in From the Arctic to Avalon Papers in Honour of Jim Tuck. Proceedings of the Conference: “From the Arctic to Avalon: Transforming the History of Northeastern North America”, St. John’s, Newfoundland, October 14-16 2004 edited by Lisa Rankin and Peter Ramsden
2005 What is "what" in St. Mary's City?
Ceramics in America, 2005 Chipstone Foundation and the University Press of New England
2004 The Lead Coffins of St. Mary’s City: An Investigation of Life and Death in Early Maryland, Maryland Historical Magazine Vol 99 Number 3, with Henry Miller and Timothy Riordan
2001 “once the Metropolis of Maryland” The History and Archaeology of Maryland’ First Capital Historic St. Mary’s City Foundation with contributions by Martin Sullivan, Timothy B. Riordan and Henry M. Miller
1999 Nineteenth-Century Material Life in the Chesapeake Countryside. The Archaeology of 19th-Century Virginia, Special Publication No. 36, Archaeological Society of Virginia and the Council of Virginia Archaeologists with Jessica Neuwirth
1998 Seeing: The Power of Town Planning in the Chesapeake. Historical Archaeology No. 32 Vol. 4, with Mark P. Leone
1991 Preface and Annotations to Excavation Report on the Angelica (Knoll) Area: A Colonial Historical Site on the Jones Farm in Calvert County, Maryland. By Robert A. Elder Jr., Maryland Archeology Vol. 27, No. 1 with Julia King
1991 A Descriptive Analysis of White Clay Tobacco Pipes from the St. John's Site in St. Mary's City, Maryland. British Archaeological Reports International Series 566 Oxford, with Robert W. Keeler.
1990 Archaeological Data Recovery at a Nineteenth Century Iron Workers' Dwelling at Harford Furnace, Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey, Division of Archeology File Report 217.
1990 Archaeological Survey of Proposed Impact Areas for Maryland Route 650, Randolph Road to Maryland 198, Montgomery County, Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey, Division of Archeology File Report 218
1987 Archaeological Reconnaissance and Testing: Maryland Route 2/4 Corridor, Calvert County, Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey, Division of Archeology File Report 211, with Dennis C. Curry and Maureen Kavanagh.
1985 Additional Intensive Archaeological Testing of the Oxon Hill Manor Site: An 18th through 19th Century Plantation in Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey, Division of Archeology File Report 189, with Maureen Kavanagh.
1984 Intensive Archaeological Testing of the Oxon Hill Manor Site: An 18th through 19th Century Plantation in Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey, Division of Archeology File Report 187.
1983 Ceramic Supply in an Economically Isolated Frontier Community: Portage County the Ohio Western Reserve 1800 to 1825. Historical Archaeology No. 17 2, with George L. Miller