Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18HO190 Sorrell
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Sorrell Site (18HO190) is located south of Clarksville in Howard County, Maryland. The site appears to be a Transitional Archaic-Woodland short-term resource procurement camp. It is situated between two tributary streams that merge with a creek feeding the Middle Patuxent River to the east. Topography at the site consists of very level floodplain bounded on the west by a ridge with steeply graded flanks. Soils at the site consist of Comus silt loam in the floodplain and manor loam situated at the base of the aforementioned ridge.
The Sorrell Site was first identified in 1991 by Maryland State Highway Administration archeologists during a Phase I cultural resource survey of a proposed wetland mitigation site as part of the proposed construction of Maryland Route 32 south of Clarksville. The wetland mitigation plans called for grading of the floodplain several feet below its original level to reach the seasonal water table. The survey conducted by SHA included the excavation of 31 shovel tests, 19 of which yielded cultural resources. Prehistoric artifacts were concentrated on a low terrace 0.5 to 1.0 meter above the active floodplain, at the base of the ridge. Low frequencies of prehistoric artifacts were recovered from the upper portions of the floodplain and at the toe of the ridgeslope in areas where the soil profile is composed of colluviums and most likely included redeposited artifacts. Eight Phase I shovel tests yielded artifacts from subplowzone contexts.
The Phase I artifact assemblage consisted primarily of lithic waste flakes (56) along with a biface and five utilized flakes. No chronologically or culturally diagnostic artifacts were recovered, however. The assemblage suggested that the Sorrell Site represented a revisited campsite or small base camp at which chipped-stone tool production and/or maintenance occurred. Based on the site’s potential to contain intact subplowzone deposits and to provide significant information on site function and Piedmont settlement patterns, the SHA recommended that Phase II investigation of the site be undertaken to evaluate its potential for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.
Phase II testing was carried out in 1993 and included the excavation of fifteen 1 X 1 m test units and 20 shovel tests (STPs). The STPs each measured 40 cm in diameter. They were excavated following natural soil strata until sterile subsoils were encountered. All soils were screened through hardware cloth. Eleven of these tests were located inside the wetland mitigation site project area, while 9 were located north of the project area. Stratigraphy in the STPs typically consisted of an Ap-horizon of dark brown silt loam, a B-horizon of yellowish brown or strong brown clay loam, and a C-horizon of brown sandy clays with mica. Artifacts were found primarily in A-horizon deposits. A single shovel test produced a flake fragment from the B-horizon. Placement of the 1 X 1 meter test units was determined by the results of the Phase I and Phase II shovel testing programs, as well as by the results of first few 1 X 1 units put in during the Phase II investigations. Soil stratigraphy was similar to that observed in the STPs, but some units exhibited a degree of disturbance. Cultural resources were found in all units, with particularly high frequencies in units along the southern and southeastern margins of the project area. In general, however, the distribution and frequencies of cultural materials suggested a sparse distribution across the site. Again, few artifacts were found below the plowzone and no cultural features were located at the base of the plowzone. This situation suggests that the bulk of the site has been altered by plowing and that any intact remnants of the site are severely truncated.
The Phase II Sorrell Site artifact assemblage included 307 prehistoric artifacts, the majority of which (90.8%) consisted of lithic debitage. Low frequencies of possible fire-cracked rock, bifaces, unifaces, cores, and pottery were also recovered. Lithic raw material types recovered from the site included high frequencies of quartz along with moderate frequencies of rhyolite. Low percentages of chert, jasper, quartzite, and a metavolcanic material that resembled “Carolina slate” were also recovered from the site. The Phase II assemblage consisted of 1 Savannah River point, 5 projectile points or point fragments, 2 other bifaces, 3 cores, 3 unifaces, 279 fragments of debitage, 11 pieces of fire-cracked rock, 2 rimsherds of fine grit tempered pottery and 1 quartz tempered body sherd.
Flotation samples were also collected from three units. In each unit, samples were derived from the plowzone and from arbitrary 10 cm levels below it. The sample of artifacts recovered from each unit was homogenous. The 1,026 objects from the flotation samples were all fragments of microdebitage. It is likely that much of it derives from natural origins and, thus, it is not included in the artifact count in the table above. Evidence of botanical remains was recovered only from plowzone contexts and was not considered useful for studying prehistoric use of plant resources at the site.
Five artifacts from the site assemblage were also subjected to blood residue analysis to refine the functional ascriptions of the tool classes in the assemblage and determine what activities were undertaken at the site. The artifacts selected for such analysis consisted of the Savannah River projectile point, an untyped pentagonal point, a point tip, and an undetermined biface fragment, all of quartz. A possibly utilized rhyolite flake fragment was also tested. The Savannah River and pentagonal point yielded negative results. For the remaining artifacts, the test indicated the presence of deer antiserum on the biface, dog antiserum (domesticated dog or wolf) on the point tip, and cat antiserum (puma or bobcat) on the flake fragment. The presence of these blood types on a point tip and possible utilized flake suggest that these species were hunted and/or butchered.
Functional analysis of the Sorrell Site assemblage suggests that tool manufacture and maintenance, and hunting and hunting-related activities were conducted at the site. The low density and homogeneity of artifacts across the site indicate that the site was visited occasionally by individuals or small groups for hunting and processing of game. The site probably functioned as a short-term campsite during these visits. Blood residue analysis indicated that utilized species included deer, dog, and cat. The procurement of lithic resources for chipped-stone tool production was most likely not the chief purpose of these occupations, given a relatively low density of debitage representing the early stages of tool production. It is more likely that raw materials were procured from the stream beds north and south of the site as a subsidiary activity to hunting. Evidence of additional site functions, if any, was not discovered. Site 18HO190 is similar to many other sites in the region and thus represents redundant information about settlement-subsistence strategies in the Piedmont. This combined with the disturbed nature of the Ap-horizon (where most of the artifacts were encountered) and the lack of intact features, indicates that the Sorrell site does not appear to possess significant research potential.
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