Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18CA87 Tuckahoe
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Tuckahoe (18CA87) is a multicomponent site with an Early and Middle Woodland base camp, a Late Woodland artifact scatter, and a 19th and 20th century artifact scatter and 20th century refuse dump. It is located near Ridgely in Caroline County. The site is situated on a low terrace on the bank of Tuckahoe Creek, a tributary of the Choptank River. Soils in the site area generally conform to the Sassafras series, with a slightly higher percentage of rock found in the B horizon.
Phase I testing of the site was conducted in 1988 during a survey of Maryland Route 404 (MD 404). Dualization of MD 404 from US Route 50 to the Denton By-Pass was proposed and would involve adding an additional double-lane roadway along the north side of the existing two-lane alignment. The 19 km project area was divided into 40 segments. Site 18CA87 was identified in adjoining Segments 21 and 22. Field work consisted of random surface collection and shovel test pit (STP) excavation where ground visibility was obscured by vegetation. STPs were spaced 20 meters apart along a transect parallel to Route 404. A total of 24 STPs were excavated, 13 of which contained artifacts.
Subsurface excavation revealed the presence of artifacts buried within an undisturbed context below the plowzone in 5 of the STPs. A thick layer of fill up to 1 meter in depth was encountered along a linear strip in 5 other shovel tests, from which mixed historic and prehistoric artifacts were recovered. The fill may have been deposited during construction or improvements to existing MD 404 or the nearby Tuckahoe Creek Bridge. Excavation below the fill layer was not possible in three units and no artifacts were located below the fill layer in the other two tests. Other units yielded prehistoric artifacts from the plowzone.
A total of 40 prehistoric artifacts were recovered from STPs and the surface collection. There were 36 pieces of debitage (9 jasper, 8 chert, 18 quartz, 1 argillite) and 2 tools (1quartz Early Woodland Calvert point, 1 broken point). There were also 2 sand-tempered ceramic sherds. It was noted in the original report that fire-cracked rock was present at the site and likely represented at least short-term occupation and food processing activities.
A total of 83 historic artifacts were recovered from STPs and the surface collection. There was 1 activity item (a barbed wire fence fragment). There were 12 architectural items including 8 brick fragments, 2 wire nails, and 2 unidentified nail fragments. A total of 19 kitchen related items were collected including 5 fragments of bottle/container glass, 11 ceramic sherds (1 white salt-glazed stoneware, 1 gray stoneware, 2 porcelain and 7 ironstone), 1 bottle cap liner, and 2 oyster shells. Miscellaneous items included 51 pieces of coal and 1 oxidized wire fragment. The historic artifacts were suggested to represent re-deposited field scatter.
Because 75% of the site was within the proposed right-of-way, and because of the potential for intact features, further site evaluation was recommended if any earth moving activities were to be conducted in the site area. A Phase II investigation of 18CA87 was undertaken in 2007 ahead of MD 404 construction. The area encompassing site 18CA87 was designated as Area A. It was larger than the recorded size of the site to ensure that the horizontal boundaries of the site were accurately defined by the Phase II testing. The archeological testing consisted of the excavation of 161 STPs dug across a 10 m grid and ten 1 m² test units. All excavated soils were screened and all artifacts were retained. Testing resulted in the expansion of the site boundaries and an increase in site size from the 1.69 acres determined during the Phase I study to 2.57 acres.
The Phase II evaluation indicated that the stratigraphy was variable across the site. The eastern two-thirds of the site consisted of a shallow former plow zone underlain by a stratum of compact pebbles and cobbles. The A horizon in the western one-third of the site was much deeper where it was not covered by a fill stratum and was not underlain by the compact pebble and cobble stratum. Excavation of the test units revealed that soils were shallow in the eastern portion of the area as compared to the western portion of the area. Artifacts were confined to a shallow former plow zone in the eastern portion of the site. In the western portion of the site, fill stratum averaging 50 cm (19.7“) in thickness was identified in excavated test units and the vertical extent of cultural deposits under this fill stratum varied from 1 m (3.28’) to as deep as 1.6 m (5.24’) below ground surface.
Two distinct artifact concentrations were identified. The eastern and southwestern concentrations are fundamentally different in all aspects including density, diversity of artifact assemblages, composition of artifact assemblages, and lithic raw material types. Three test units were excavated in this portion of the site. The eastern concentration represented a low density, diffuse lithic scatter dominated by middle stage flakes of quartz and jasper. The data indicated that prehistoric use of the landform at this locus was ephemeral and limited in nature. Because there were no temporally diagnostic prehistoric artifacts from the eastern concentration, it was impossible to tell if activities at the eastern locale occurred concurrently with the activities that created the southwestern artifact concentration.
In contrast to the eastern concentration, the artifact assemblage from non-fill strata in the southwestern concentration consisted of multiple artifact classes (chipped stone artifacts, fire-cracked rock, ceramics, and organic materials) and a greater diversity within the chipped stone sub-assemblage. Seven of the 10 test units were excavated in this southwestern portion of the site. The bulk of the southwestern assemblage was recovered from TU 1 and was tentatively associated with a leached-out pit feature that was not evident at the time of excavation. Nearly all the Coulbourn sherds, fire-cracked rock, chipped stone artifacts, and all faunal material originated in TU 1 between 60 and 110 cm (23.6 and 43.3”) below the ground surface. Other nearby test units produced a great deal fewer artifacts, enhancing the perception of severe spatial concentration implying that the tentative feature in TU 1 was not part of an extant feature cluster. It is possible that any feature cluster originally present extended to the south and was destroyed by the original construction of MD 404.
In addition to the artifact concentrations, two areas of disturbance were also noted. A modern trash dump covered much of the northwest corner of the area and extended down the terrace slope toward Tuckahoe Creek. An earthen berm paralleled a small dirt road along the southern edge of the area. The visible portion of the berm was 10 m wide and 106.7 m long with a height up to 1.2 m. The berm was thought to represent an old rail bed, or to be related to the construction of MD 404.
A total of 528 artifacts were recovered. There were 203 pieces of debitage (118 chert, 21 jasper, 48 quartz, 7 quartzite, 8 rhyolite, 1 possible basalt), 3 cores, 1 utilized flake, 1 biface fragment, and 1 untyped biface. All of the rhyolite flakes, which represent the only non-locally available raw material, were middle stage biface flakes. In addition to the chipped stone artifacts, there were 13 pieces of fire-cracked rock (FCR) and 1 unmodified chert pebble (recorded as ‘other lithic’ in the table above). The majority of the FCR was sandstone, with some quartzite. A total of 268 ceramic sherds were recovered non-fill strata. Diagnostics included 220 Coulbourn (1 rim) and 12 Mockley. The remaining 35 untyped sherds had grit temper (n=11), shell temper (n=12), and sand temper (n=10), and 2 were too badly eroded to discern temper. Coulbourn sherds are generally associated with the Delmarva Adena complex. All of the ceramics were recovered from the southwestern artifact concentration at the site. A single Late Woodland Townsend rim sherd was recovered from the fill level in STP AA-2. Although not in primary context, the presence of the sherd introduced the possibility that a Late Woodland occupation may once have been discernable at the site prior to historical disturbances. In addition to the ceramics, there were 7 other fired clay fragments.
Eleven carbonized plant remains were collected from the site. Over 50% of the botanicals were associated with intact prehistoric deposits including 1 charred hickory nut shell and 5 pieces of charred wood that were recovered from non-fill strata. Nineteen pieces of calcined bone were recovered from non-fill strata while a rodent tooth was recovered from upper fill stratum. As the majority of the flora and fauna were recovered from non-fill, intact prehistoric deposits, they were recorded in the prehistoric artifacts table above.
A total of 246 historic and modern artifacts were recovered from the fill stratum or plowzone at the site. There were 9 architectural items including 8 brick fragments and 1 nail fragment. There were 218 kitchen related items including 211 bottle glass fragments, 1 whiteware, 1 creamware, 1 Rhenish, 1 redware, 1 white salt-glazed stoneware, 1 unidentified sherd, 1 metal can fragment, 1 metal lid liner. Almost half of the glass fragments represented modern road trash that was recovered from the upper stratum of TU 2. There were 16 miscellaneous items including 12 miscellaneous metal fragments and 4 pieces of coal. The single personal item was an 1883 penny. The only arms item was a .22 caliber shell casing.
Tuckahoe (18CA87) is a multicomponent site with distinct areas of stratigraphy and artifact concentrations. The temporal affiliation of the site is the transitional Early to Middle Woodland period based on the presence of the Calvert point and the Coulbourn and Mockley ceramics. A Late Woodland period affiliation was also possibly indicated for the site by the presence of the Townsend rim sherd. Based on the limited feature sample (a possible pit feature located in test unit 1), it was difficult to conclusively determine site type and function although the presence of even a tentative pit feature implied a more permanent occupation along the lines of a base camp. The historical affiliation of the site extends from the 19th century through the present day and represents a 19th and 20th century artifact scatter and 20th century refuse dump. Results of the archeological evaluations led to the assessment that site 18CA87 lacks the integrity and the quantity and quality of data sufficient to address research themes related to the Delmarva Peninsula that would otherwise make it eligible for listing on the National Register.
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