Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18BA444 Grant
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Grant Site (18BA444) is a seasonally-occupied prehistoric base camp located near Owings Mills in Baltimore County. The site contains significant deposits associated with two contemporaneous Late Woodland (AD 1000 - 1600) components; Potomac Creek and Townsend. There is also a minor Late Archaic component present. The site is approximately 30 m long by 20 m wide, and is topographically constrained on a low, flat terrace or bench, located on the south side of a nearby tributary to the Patapsco River. The terrace/bench formation is situated at the base of a high bluff/upland. In modern times the site was wooded, with a light understory comprised of upland and water-tolerant species of northern hardwoods and scrub. Soil at the site are Cordus silt loams.
The site was first identified during the course of a Phase I survey in 1995 for a planned sewer interceptor installation. The project involved the construction of sewer interceptor pipes within 50 ft wide easements, including several stream crossings. The stream crossings required permits from the US Army Corps of Engineers, triggering section 106 compliance. The surveys were requested by the Maryland Historical Trust, pursuant to its review of project documents, and were specifically required under the terms of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended.
Phase I field testing consisted mainly of the systematic excavation of shovel test pits (STPs) at 10 and 20 meter intervals (conditions permitting) along the centerline of the sewer right-of-way. If ground visibility was greater than 50%, surface collection was initiated and all artifacts observed on the surface were plotted and collected. This only applied to a very small portion of the project area. Shovel tests were approximately 35 cm in diameter and were dug into culturally sterile subsoil, barring obstruction. All hand-excavated soil matrices were screened through hardware cloth.
Seven STPs were excavated in the near vicinity of the Grant site, two of which yielded prehistoric materials within A horizon soils. One contained a quartz flake and the other yielded a rhyolite flake and 2 small quartz-tempered pottery fragments. The discovery of the prehistoric materials led to the expansion of the project into the Phase II testing program at 18BA44.
Phase II testing of the Grant Site involved the excavation of 51 STPs placed systematically across the site at 5 and 2 m intervals, as well as the excavation of five 1 X 1 m test units. This represented a roughly 1% sample of the site deposits. STPs were excavated as described above, while test units were excavated stratigraphically by levels of natural deposition (when discernable), and by 10 cm arbitrary levels when the stratigraphy was not readily apparent. All soils were screened. Test unit soils were screened and all data was recorded on standardized forms.
Stratigraphy at the site was fairly uniform and straightforward. This consisted of an A Horizon (23-44 cm thick) with two discernable strata, overlying a culturally and organically sterile B Horizon. There was no indication that the site had ever been plowed and one feature, a small scattered hearth was identified in one of the test units.
A total of 362 artifacts were recovered 20 of the 51 STPs excavated at the site, as well as in all 5 of the test units. The assemblage consisted of 353 prehistoric artifacts and 9 miscellaneous historic and/or modern items (3 nails, a glass fragment, and 5 miscellaneous objects). Prehistoric artifacts in the Phase II assemblage included 4 non-diagnostic bifaces, 3 unifacial tools, 5 cores, 202 fragments of debitage, 14 pieces of fire-cracked rock, and 125 prehistoric sherds. The pottery sherds included 67 sherds of Potomac Creek pottery (2 rims), 24 sherds of Townsend ware, and 31 small, unidentifiable sherds. The distribution of pottery as it was recovered in STPs and test units, was highly patterned, with two concentrations consisting of a cluster of quartz-tempered/cord-marked Potomac Creek sherds in the southeast quadrant of the site, and a second concentration of Townsend ceramics located in the west/central portion of the site. The Townsend series ceramics include two variants of the ware, including Rappahannock Fabric-Impressed sherds and Rappahannock Incised sherds dating to ca. AD 1000 to 1300. Based on these findings, Phase III data recovery was recommended.
Researchers returned to the site later that year (July and August of 1995) to undertake the Phase III study. Data Recovery investigations at the Grant site consisted of the excavation of one-hundred 1 meter excavation units constituting a 20% sample of the total site area. The units were placed within the site area using both a stratified random sampling scheme, followed by a judgmental sample. These procedures were implemented in order to recover 100% of the significant deposits contained in identified “core areas”, and a 10% sample of the deposits from the remaining portions of the site. The “core areas” were delineated based on the analysis of mapped data from the Phase I and II work. The first consisted of the “Townsend Core Area” in the northern portion of the site, which accounted for 20% of the core areas sample (based on 20% of the Phase I/II artifacts being associated with the Townsend component), and the second was the “Potomac Creek Core Area” to the southeast, which accounted for the remaining 80% of the core areas sample. Overall, 40 units were selected at random, while the 60 remaining units were reserved for the judgmental components of the site sample.
Individual units were excavated by strata and also by arbitrary ten centimeter levels within the strata, at least during the excavation of the random stratified units. The arbitrary levels within strata were abandoned after it was observed that artifacts were cross-mending between levels, and excavation then proceeded by units corresponding to observed soil strata. Ten liter bulk samples of soil were retained from every fifth unit to obtain a sample of micro-organics using flotation. All of the fill from observed features were also retained for flotation. The remaining soil matrices were screened through hardware cloth and each unit was excavated to at least 5 to 10 cm into culturally sterile substrates.
The first units to be excavated were the 40 units comprising the random portion of the sampling strategy followed by the excavation of the 12 units reserved for judgmental excavation of the Townsend Core Area, and finally the 48 judgmental units reserved for the excavation of the Potomac Creek Core Area. This resulted in the excavation of two large blocks of contiguous units being excavated, including 13 contiguous units in the Townsend Area, and 55 contiguous units in the Potomac Creek Area. The excavations resulted in the recovery of a total of 4,730 artifacts including 4,674 items of prehistoric derivation and 56 artifacts of historic derivation.
Eight of the numbered features appeared to be natural in origin; three tree molds and five rodent burrows. Two of the features were historic in origin; a buried bucket that had rusted away, and a squared-off postmold which lined up with several remnants of barbed wire stapled to two nearby trees. The ten remaining features appeared to represent the actual remains of 6 features, including two intact hearths (Features 5 and 10), two slightly disturbed hearths (Features 1 and 6), one disturbed pit (Feature 9), and a severely disturbed hearth which was comprised of several small pockets of fire-cracked rock and artifacts individually designated as Features 11, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Features 6 and 9 were most likely associated with the Townsend component, while Features 5 and 10 were most likely associated with the Potomac Creek component.
The prehistoric assemblage recovered during Phase III data recovery at 18BA444 yielded 9 triangular points (8 Madison and 1 Levanna?), 31 other bifaces, 3 side scrapers, 5 retouched flakes, 8 utilized flakes, 49 cores, 29 chunks (flakes clearly removed but lacking the formal attributes of cores), 2,781 flakes, 1,487 ceramic sherds, and 270 pieces of fire-cracked rock. Two concentrations of burned bone (evidently counted as 2 artifacts) were also located in the Potomac Creek Core Area. The lithic assemblage was dominated by quartz (upwards of 80%), followed by lesser amounts of rhyolite, chert, chalcedony, and other materials. Some of these materials are not available locally, suggesting maintenance of curated tool kits brought to the site from elsewhere. The ceramic assemblage included 830 Potomac Creek sherds (including 53 rims), 239 Rappahannock incised and fabric-impressed sherds (10 rims), and 418 unidentifiable quartz/grit-tempered sherds (probably Potomac Creek).
Floral remains were also recovered from the flotation samples taken from the site. These included primarily root fungi, and a few recent seeds (chenopodium and grape). Thus, no ethnobotanical profile has been prepared for this site. The one exception is a few fragments of charred hickory nut hull recovered from secure unit and feature contexts, which are likely associated with the prehistoric components. These were subjected to C-14 dating and produced dates which fall within the acceptable ranges for the components represented at the site. The presence of the nutshells may represent a late fall/winter occupation at the site.
Absolute dates were obtained from three separate carbon samples recovered at the Grant Site, including two dates from hearth features in the Potomac Creek Core Area (one containing charred nut hull) and one from organics recovered from flotation samples taken from unit levels in the Townsend Core Area (including charred nut hull). The earliest date was associated with Rappahannock incised pottery; an uncalibrated date of 990 ± 70 radiocarbon years before present. When calibrated this translates to a calendrical date range from AD 896-1210. The two dates associated with the Potomac Creek component were 830 ± 80 years before present and 740 ± 70 years before present. When calibrated these translate to calendrical date ranges of AD 1030-1285 and AD 1157-1398 respectively. The three samples, therefore, overlap in the range of AD 1157 to AD 1210. Based on these date ranges and on the cultural data which suggest a single occupation during the Late Woodland period, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the data may relate to a single event or occupation of the site sometime in the late 12th or early 13th century.
Based on all of the data recovered in the course of the investigation, the Grant Site represents a seasonal basecamp occupied by Potomac Creek and Townsend peoples. It is believed that these components represent a single occupation of the site area, by both groups, at the same time. This is suggested by the distributions of artifacts cross-mended within each of the defined “core areas”. The fact that Potomac Creek and Townsend components co-occur on many western and eastern shore sites in Maryland, suggests that these peoples probably had social links, possibly involving kinship and/or trade. The Potomac Creek people clearly spent some length of time in the area, while the Townsend component appears to represent a more transient and ephemeral occupation, evidencing a short-term stay (based on size of artifacts, extent of the core areas, features, etc.). The probability that the Townsend peoples were probably just passing through is indicated by the narrow range of activities documented in association with that component.
Phase III data recovery at 18BA444 revealed intact deposits, features, diagnostic artifacts, and organic material capable of yielding radiocarbon dates. All portions of the site were well-documented because of the sampling strategy employed. However, portions of the site outside of the identified “core areas” ultimately yielded very little additional information. Thus, it is highly likely that all intact deposits have been excavated and the site’s research potential has been entirely exhausted, beyond examination of extant collections. No additional fieldwork is warranted.
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