Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18FR21 New Jersey Monument
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The New Jersey Monument site (18FR21) in Frederick County, MD is a small lithic scatter that was probably occupied throughout the Middle and Late Archaic, and into the Woodland. The site is situated on Huntington silt loams in the floodplain of the nearby Monocacy River and within the boundaries of the Monocacy Battlefield Park (an NPS property). The site has been known to local collectors for over 75 years. The field notes of John J. Snyder at the Maryland Historical Trust indicate that he was collecting in this vicinity as early as 1932. During a Phase I survey of the Monocacy Valley in the late 1970s, the site was re-identified and the researchers had an opportunity to interview local collectors and examine some collections of points from the site. According to one informant, a silicified sandstone fluted point was collected from the site several years ago. Seventeen other points are reported from amateur collections, including: 1 Neville, 1 Morrow Mountain I, 1 Otter Creek, 1 Lackawaxen, 1 Savannah River Stemmed, 1 Vernon, 1 Perkiomen, 3 Susquehanna Broadspears, 1 Meadowood, 3 Selby Bay stemmed, 1 Selby Bay side-notched (Variant A), 1 Selby Bay side-notched (Variant B), and 1 Levanna triangular point.
The first professional testing at the site was conducted by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates in the spring of 1990 as part of the Monocacy Interceptor Sewer Line project. The site was within the area of potential impact along the roughly 10.2 km sewer line which now stretches from the Ballenger Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant to the City of Frederick Waste Water Treatment Plant. Fifty-five shovel tests and four 1 X 1 m units were excavated within 18FR21. An auger test was placed in the bottom of each of four shovel test units at 20-40 m intervals; these tests extended to an average of 87.5 cm below ground surface. No intact cultural features were encountered.
Twelve of the shovel tests and all four of the test units recovered prehistoric materials. The assemblage from the 1990 Phase I and II work consisted of 45 unmodified flakes, 7 cores, 2 ground/pecked stone objects, 10 retouched/utilized flakes, 1 amorphous biface, and 101.3 g of fire-cracked rock. Most of the collection was of quartz; no diagnostic artifacts were found.
In the summer and fall of 2001, the National Park Service conducted a controlled surface collection at the site to refine the site's boundaries and chronology and, if possible, to determine to what extent the site had been compromised by the installation of the earlier sewer interceptor. The impetus to this research was the relocation of the Monocacy National Battlefield visitor’s center to the Best Farm portion of the park, which includes site 18FR21. A total of three diagnostic artifacts were collected from this site and include a Savannah River Stemmed point, a Selby Bay quarry blade, and a Halifax Side-Notched point. These diagnostic projectile points suggest a Late Archaic to Middle Woodland time period, which is consistent with the results of earlier work. Other artifacts were also recovered, but details and quantities are not provided in the body of the full report.
The site was revisited again in 2003 as part of a water main installation project along a corridor running parallel to the previously installed sewer line. Testing was undertaken at the site due to new information uncovered by NPS archeologists during the past several years concerning the nearby site 18FR110 and expansion in our understanding of the presence of deep alluvial deposits across much of the Monocacy River floodplain. Fourteen shovel tests and two 1 X 2 m test units were excavated within the portion of Site 18FR21 contained within the project corridor. From these excavations, 2 prehistoric period and 12 historic period artifacts were recovered.
The prehistoric artifacts that were recovered in 2003 are both chert debitage flakes. The historic artifact assemblage consisted of 11 kitchen-related items (1 sherd of whiteware and 10 pieces of bottle glass) and 1 arms-related item (a Minie ball).
The 2003 investigations concluded that there were major disturbances within the site from erosional scouring and trench excavations for the existing sewer interceptor trench, which have left few intact soils that might contain cultural features. Limited mechanical stripping of portions of the project corridor on the higher terrace landforms nearby failed to find any prehistoric features. The quantities and nature of the prehistoric assemblage within the project corridor, even in a primary context, are not sufficient to address important research questions. Thus, based on the 2003 work, the site was characterized as a heavily disturbed and very diffuse lithic scatter.
The site was revisited again during a 2013 Phase I survey associated with the planned replacement of Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration Bridge 1008400 on MD 355 over the CSXT railroad. The area of site 18FR21 investigated during the 2013 study had not been subsurface tested prior to this investigation. The Phase I consisted of the excavation of 30 shovel test pits and one 5 x 5 ft test unit. All soil was screened through ¼ inch mesh. The 2013 survey confirmed that large portions of site 18FR21 have experienced major disturbances associated with several utility corridors that traverse the southern portion of the site; however, the portion of the site located farther back from the river and within the project LOD appeared to be still intact. Prehistoric artifacts (n=10) recovered from 18FR21 during this survey include one rhyolite Selby Bay/Fox Creek projectile point, one rhyolite tool, three quartz flakes, one quartz utilized flake with unifacial retouching, two pieces of quartz shatter, one piece of quartz fire cracked rock, and one jasper core, most of which were found in a buried A horizon.
The site was subjected to further investigations in 2015 as part of a Phase II evaluation within the LOD for the planned replacement of Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration Bridge 1008400 on MD 355 over the CSXT railroad. Five 5 × 5 ft test units were excavated within this area to further investigate and evaluate the significance of a possible intact portion of the site located during the 2013 survey. Only six non-diagnostic, unmodified, prehistoric lithic artifacts were recovered from the 2015 excavations. These artifacts included three complete quartz flakes, a complete quartzite flake, a quartz flake fragment, and a single piece of quartz shatter. No features were observed. Excavations did confirm that a portion of this site is intact, but that this portion contains very low density deposits.
The diagnostic artifacts recovered to date at 18FR21, seem to indicate occupations ranging from the Middle Archaic through Late Woodland. There is also the possibility of a Paleo-Indian component, based on the one reported find of a fluted point from the site.
Archaeological investigations of the portion of site 18FR21 in the LOD for the planned replacement of Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration Bridge 1008400 on MD 355 over the CSXT railroad indicated that this portion of the Wiles I site is not likely to provide sufficient data to address substantive research issues. The portion of the site in the LOD does not contain archaeological deposits or features that would contribute new or significant information regarding the prehistoric and historic occupations in the area. Therefore, it was recommended that the portion of 18FR21 within the LOD should be considered not eligible for the NRHP, and no further work was recommended in this portion of the site.
Further archaeological investigations may be required if other intact areas of the site will be impacted by future development.
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