Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18CH377 Area A-1, Site J
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 18CH377 (Area A-1, Site J) is best characterized as an early eighteenth century site containing both Native American and European artifacts. The remains appear to constitute a domestic site, likely associated with a squatter occupation while the land was in escheat. The ethnic affiliation of the site’s inhabitant remains unclear, although the large number of Native American affiliated materials, indicates that these individuals may have been in part of Native stock. The site is located northeast of the town of Indian Head in Charles County, Maryland. The site occupies a relatively level area near the middle of a broad ridge. The head of an intermittent drainage lies to the north and the site measures approximately 50 X 60 m in size. Soils at the site are Beltsville silt loams.
The site was originally investigated as part of a large Phase I survey in 1994 prior to the onset of site preparation and construction for the Chapman’s Landing development. The development included the construction of extensive office and retail space, town houses, single-family houses, and a 200-acre golf course. In addition, roads, sewer lines, utilities, and other improvements would lead to significant impacts in the project area. Numerous archeological sites (both prehistoric and historic) were identified as a part of the 1994 study.
During the Phase I survey, a total of 5 shovel test pits (STPs) were initially excavated across the site at 20 meter intervals. These yielded 2 cores, 8 lithic flakes, 6 prehistoric ceramic sherds, and 2 pieces of unidentified shell. Eight additional Phase I STPs were excavated at 10 m intervals around the original positive shovel tests. One sherd of prehistoric ceramic was recovered from these supplemental shovel tests at a depth of between 0 and 16 cmbs. The remaining artifacts from Site 18CH377 were recovered from the second soil stratum, generally from depths of between 10 and 25 cmbs. Three ceramic sherds exhibited a coarse sand temper, and were identified as Moyaone ware. Three sherds tempered with coarse sand and crushed quartz were classified as Potomac Creek ware, as was the single crushed quartz tempered sherd. All of the sherds appear to have been burnished, a process that creates a smooth finished surface. Two of the Potomac Creek sherds also appear to have had a clay slip applied to their exterior surfaces to impart an even smoother finish to the completed vessels. Both Moyaone and Potomac Creek wares date from the Late Woodland period (ca. AD 1300 – 1700). A lack of traditional decoration (cordmarking or impression) on Native-made vessels, with replacement by burnishing is associated with the transition from the 17th to 18th centuries. Most of the lithic artifacts were composed of quartz and none exhibited any evidence of use or subsequent modification.
A thorough archival study was conducted to document land tenure at the site. The archival research reveals that in 1662, a John Wheeler patented a 400 acre tract known as Wheeler’s Choice, which appears to have included 18CH377. By 1667, it had been sold to Walter Peake (or Pake), an innkeeper from St. Mary’s County. In October 1668, Walter Peake became drunk and fatally stabbed a man named William Price. That December, Peake was brought to trial in Provincial Court and convicted of murder. He did not present any compelling reason to receive mercy, so the court sentenced him to death. He was hung in front of his inn in St. Mary’s County.
Following Peake’s execution, the land was escheated, or reverted to the proprietor. It remained proprietary property until 1730. In that year, a man named Henry Moore filed for a patent on the escheated property. The certificate that accompanied the patent indicated that a number of buildings already stood on the land including dwelling houses, tobacco houses, a kitchen, milk houses, hen houses, etc. The certificate provides no explanation of why these buildings were constructed. Because the tract was unpatented proprietary land, there is no legitimate explanation for any person to live on the land.
Henry Moore later married Sarah Smallwood and the land was subdivided amongst the members of the Moore/Smallwood family several times. Small parcels were sold off over time. In 1789, Cleon Moore (Henry’s grandson) sold off the last parcel owned by the family, as executor of his father’s estate, to Andrew and Elizabeth Grant. This deed contains an interesting notation that, “said residue was at the time of the said agreement and for many years before had been in the tenure and occupation of a certain John McAttu”. Cleon Moore was not living on the property, but no further information about John McAttu has been discovered. Sometime between 1783 and 1859, the land was acquired by the Chapman family (of Chapman’s Landing), but no deed has been located.
The stratigraphic context of the majority of artifacts recovered during the Phase I survey suggested the potential for resource integrity. Based on the recovered diagnostics, there was potential that the site consisted of a single component Late Woodland deposit. Furthermore, archival research indicated the potential for early historic activity at the site. Dwellings and farm outbuildings are mentioned in patents for the tract in 1730, 1783, and 1787. Accordingly, despite the absence of historic artifacts from the Phase I assemblage, the possibility existed that evidence of 18th century activity would appear in additional excavations. Thus, Phase II work was recommended for 18CH377.
Researchers returned to the site later that year to conduct Phase II testing in an effort to more carefully define the horizontal and vertical distribution of different quantities and categories of artifacts. Shovel tests measured approximately 30 cm in diameter, and were excavated to a minimum depth of 40 cmbs or 10 cm into sterile subsoil, except where ground conditions prevented complete excavation. These were placed at 10 meter intervals. Soils were removed by natural strata and screened through hardware cloth. A total of 28 shovel tests were excavated. Fifteen of the STPs produced artifacts. Some STPs produced prehistoric artifacts only, some historic, and some both.
Based upon the numerical concentrations and types of artifacts recovered during the Phase II intensive shovel testing, as well as data gathered from the Phase I investigation, four locations were subjected to formal test unit investigations. The units measured 1 X 1 m, and were excavated to a minimum of 10 cm into sterile subsoil. Soils were removed by arbitrary 10 cm levels following natural stratigraphy and were screened through hardware cloth. These locations fell within the areas of densest artifact concentration. The recovery of 18th century historic materials and a blue glass trade bead during the Phase II shovel testing also aided in the determination of unit placement. An additional location was later subjected to a 2 X 2 m block excavation in order to create a wide enough exposure in the area of high artifact density so that architectural traces, such as postmolds, might be detected. The block was excavated in four additional 1 X 1 m test units, further subdivided into 50 X 50 cm quadrants. The block was excavated to a minimum of 10 cm into sterile subsoil. Soils were removed by arbitrary 10 cm levels following natural stratigraphy and screened through hardware mesh. As a result of the recovery of the trade bead during shovel testing, an approximate 25 percent sample of unit matrix in each level was screened through smaller 0.318 cm (0.125 in) hardware mesh throughout the site.
Cultural material was recovered from each of the 8 test units (4 initial test units and 4 units from the 2 X 2 block). In addition, two apparent pit features were encountered at the site. A total of 240 prehistoric, or perhaps more accurately Native-made, artifacts were recovered during the Phase II survey. These were 69 lithics, 168 ceramic sherds, 1 daub fragment, 1 bone, and 1 shell. The lithic assemblage consisted of 1 quartzite bipolar core, 2 utilized flakes, 1 retouched flake, 45 flakes, 7 pieces of block/shatter, two hammerstones, an adze/celt fragment, and 10 pieces of fire-cracked rock. The ceramic assemblage consisted of 148 body sherds, 13 fragments, 1 spall, 1 base, and 2 rim sherds. Only three sherds were definitively assigned to diagnostic types; 1 Potomac Creek body sherd with cord wrapped dowel impressed decoration, and 2 Moyaone body sherds (one cordmarked, and one smoothed over). A decided lack of traditional decoration in favor of plain or burnished forms is evident in the non-diagnostic body sherds.
Little evidence of horizontal plowing disturbance was encountered. The main horizontal concentration of artifacts was found to lie within the central portion of the site, and a secondary clustering occurs at the northern end of the site. A comparison of the ceramic assemblage at Site 18CH377 with the Contact Period site 18CH281 (see synopsis report), suggests a late Contact Period date for 18CH377, perhaps during the 18th century. At 18CH377, only 5 of the 151 body sherds uncovered during Phase II work exhibited traditional cordmarked or impressed decorations. This percentage is even smaller than that at 18CH281, where 35 of the 586 total body shreds exhibited such decorations. This combined with the quantity of burnished sherds suggests an 18th century date. In addition, the lithic assemblage is rather sparse suggesting a late date. Some horizontal distinction appears possible within the prehistoric assemblage. The northern end of the site yielded no sherds, only lithic artifacts (and historic objects). This may imply a specialized activity area. Alternatively, the area reflects a separate occupational horizon.
Vertical artifact distribution was the same in the test units and shovel tests. The highest artifact concentration lay within stratum II, the A2 horizon. This peak was followed by an abrupt quantitative decline. The consistent clustering of artifacts within the same horizon and depths suggests a degree of vertical integrity. Vertical integrity seems to have been confirmed by the presence of two possible features. Both were pit-like in appearance, with roughly ovoid horizontal and vertical shape. Each was noticed in the B horizon because it contained soils form the A2 horizon. Artifacts were present within or adjacent to the features while surrounding soils were culturally sterile.
Medium range flake weights, and the presence of a core and two hammerstones suggest that activities at the site included secondary reduction of lithic materials. Raw materials appear to have been derived from relatively nearby sources (locally available quartz and quartzite). The low number of tools suggests that the tools produced or maintained at the site were, for the most part, taken away with the site occupants. The small number of flake tools suggests expedient activity related to slicing and scraping tasks. The adze/celt fragment indicates perhaps some woodworking. The presence of fire-cracked rock is indicative of limited heating/cooking activities, and the predominance of sherds over lithics also suggests that major activities may have included food processing and storage.
Five shovel tests and five of the eight test units yielded historic, or more accurately European-made, artifacts. A total of 21 such artifacts were recovered. Four historic materials were noted but discarded in the field. All of these artifacts, except for a single sherd (from the A1) came from the A2 horizon. The European-made artifacts include materials of both architectural and kitchen varieties. Among the former are a hand wrought nail, a cut or wrought nail, a shard of window glass, and three tiny brick fragments. Among the latter are 4 sherds of Buckley Ware, 2 of black-glazed redware, 2 of dark brown/black-glazed redware, 1 of Westerwald Stoneware, 1 of unidentified imported gray stoneware, 1 of Pearlware, 1 of North Devon thin coarse earthenware, 1 of Staffordshire coarse slipware, 1 of manganese-mottled earthenware, and 2 shards of non-machine made bottle glass. A blue glass trade bead was also recovered.
The bulk of diagnostic European-made ceramic types suggest an occupation date in the first half of the 18th century, with the single pearlware fragment either representing an extension of the occupation into the latter part of that century, or an isolated piece of scatter from a nearby site where such materials are more common. Since the low percentage of decorated/impressed prehistoric sherds and the application of burnishing to otherwise “prehistoric” ceramics suggest a date in the 18th century, and both the “prehistoric” and “historic” deposits are concentrated in the same strata, the two assemblages likely represent the same single occupation by late Contact period Native Americans or early European settlers who dealt extensively with nearby Native groups. A comparison between the numbers of Native and European artifacts indicates an overwhelming predominance of the Native-made materials. If the site does represent a single occupation, it seems likely that 18CH377 was a Native American occupation, not a European one. At the time of the 1730 patent the property is described as containing two farmsteads (likely squatters as the property was in escheat), and it seems likely that one of these early 17th century house sites is represented by 18CH377.
At 18CH377, there appears to be sufficient horizontal integrity to differentiate activity areas. Vertical integrity is suggested strongly by the uniformity of artifact concentrations within the deposit and the presence of features. Thus, Site 18CH377 constitutes a rare and important example of an early 18th century contact period site, a context with great potential to answer questions concerning European and Native interaction in a period of Native assimilation and migration. The site should be considered a significant resource with tremendous research potential.
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