Founded by Dr. Al Luckenbach in the early 1990's, the team began rediscovering a forgotten part of the County's past - the Lost Colonial Towns of the seventeenth century. Luckenbach's first "lost towns" excavation was at Broadneck - the first site discovered from the Lost Town of Providence (1649). With a stalwart team of volunteers, the story of Anne Arundel County's roots were uncovered shovelful by shovelful. Soon, with a larger corps of volunteers and a few contractors supported by Anne Arundel County and the Anne Arundel County Trust for Preservation, the team discovered and investigated several other homesites from the seventeenth-century founding of Providence.

In 1996, the team began intensive excavation at another Lost Town - the colonial seaport of Londontown, on the South River. Archaeological discoveries at this County-owned Park has fundamentally changed the history that visitors learn at Historic London Town and Gardens. With a dozen years of research to interpret, the Park has several reconstructed buildings, an expansive education program which teaches colonial history to schoolchildren, and a new Museum and Archaeology Lab. In 2003, the team went in search of the Lost Town of Herrington, purportedly located at "Town Point" in Fairhaven. After more than 600 STP's, a few signs of the short-lived and ephemeral town were uncovered in the side yard of a private residence.

Over the years, the Lost Towns team has used its expertise and manpower to provide an important service to Anne Arundel County. When existing legislation cannot protect the irreplaceable historic resources in the County from developers bulldozer's, this team of professionals with a corp of trained volunteers will descend on a threatened site to recover information before it is lost forever. These mitigation projects expand the team's repertoire of sites well beyond colonial towns. The Lost Towns Project has conducted data recovery excavations at more than 50 archaeology sites since 1996 and recorded many historic buildings prior to their demolition. The team also provides guidance and technical skills when County-owned properties and Parks require professional assistance on cultural resources matters.