Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18PR628 Site 2, Area A3
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
Site 2, Area A3, or 18PR628, is a series of Early, Middle, & Late Archaic and Early, Middle, & Late Woodland short-term camps (or even base camps) near Bowie in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The site encompasses an approximately 40 X 90 m bench overlooking the junction of Collington Branch of the Patuxent River and one of its minor tributaries. Modern vegetation in the project area compromises mature, high canopy forest. The mixed hardwoods and evergreens of the forest include black cherry, sassafras, beech, sycamore, poplar, and Virginia pine. Soils at the site belong to the Sandy Land series.
Site 18PR628 was first identified during Phase I testing of the vicinity in September of 2002. The Phase I survey examined approximately 97 acres of the (then) proposed Collington Center North Development for compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA. The Collington Center North Development plans included construction of buildings and roads, and the installation of utilities. Grading and construction would have an adverse impact upon the integrity of any cultural resources within the project area (including Site 18PR628).
Prehistoric cultural materials were identified in five shovel tests excavated at 20 m intervals across a finger ridge in the northwestern portion of the survey area. Delineation shovel tests (STPs) were conducted at 10 m intervals in all feasible directions around the initial positive tests yielding an additional 16 shovel tests that contained prehistoric cultural materials. The site boundary, as identified by these Phase I shovel tests, was an irregular shape approximately 80 m east-west by 40 m north-south, occupying nearly the whole landform.
A total of 119 lithic artifacts, 11 prehistoric ceramics, and 1 brass rifle cartridge were recovered from Site 18PR628 during the Phase I evaluation. One diagnostic biface appeared to be a Bare Island stemmed projectile point/knife. The remainder of the lithic assemblage was comprised of 2 unfinished bifaces , 3 cores, 9 utilized/retouched flakes, 98 pieces of debitage, 5 fire-cracked rock fragments, and 1 manuport. Five of the ceramics appear to represent Accokeek ware and the other 6 are Mockley. The Bare Island point, in conjunction with the presence of prehistoric ceramics, suggested the site represented multiple and/or long term occupations spanning the Late Archaic to Middle Woodland periods. The landform on which the site is situated is consistent with known habitation patterns for the Woodland period in Maryland; level terraces situated between two small drainages with ready access to the larger Collington Branch Creek. Site 18PR628 was recommended for Phase II evaluation based on the site location, the presence of diagnostic materials and the level of integrity of cultural deposits.
Phase II field investigations were carried out immediately in September of 2002. Field methods for the Phase II work were designed to provide data sufficient to assess the nature, integrity, and significance of the archeological deposits at this prehistoric site. The investigation was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved the excavation of close interval shovel tests within the existing site boundaries. STP transects were placed as necessary until a negative shovel test or significant slope was encountered. The shovel testing strategy was designed to establish the horizontal site boundaries and to identify concentrations of cultural materials as well as any cultural features that may be present on site. A total of 118 additional shovel tests were excavated at 5 m intervals as part of the Phase II investigations. Shovel tests that were on or near the location of Phase I STPs were not re-excavated. The STPs measured approximately 35 cm in diameter and were excavated (according to natural stratigraphy) to a minimum depth of 40 cm or approximately 10 cm into sterile subsoil.
Based on the results of the shovel testing, fourteen 1 X 1 m test units were excavated to investigate the nature and integrity of the cultural deposits. Test unit placement was mainly predicated on the results of the Phase II shovel tests, seeking to further investigate areas of high artifact density, or areas that contained large quantities of a certain artifact types such as ceramics or specific lithic raw materials. The subjective random placement of some test units was designed for site coverage, while more intensive placement of test units in the western portion of the site was designed to locate possible features in what appeared to be the most intensely occupied area of the site. Two of the test units identified what appeared to be intact prehistoric features of an unknown function. Test units were excavated by hand in 10 cm arbitrary levels within natural stratigraphy. All excavated soils (both STPs and formal test units) were screened through hardware cloth. Artifacts were bagged by provenience and data was recorded on standardized forms.
A total of 2,101 prehistoric artifacts were recovered from Site 18PR628 during Phase II investigations. These items included 2,024 lithic, 69 ceramic, and 8 organic artifacts. A total of 582 artifacts were recovered from 99 STPs, and the remaining 1,519 artifacts were recovered from the 14 test units. Two archeological features were identified, including a pebble/cobble lens and a fire-cracked rock feature.
The prehistoric assemblage collected during Phase II testing included 14 diagnostic points, 37 bifaces, 3 unifaces, 8 cores, 20 utilized/retouched flakes, 1,249 pieces of unmodified debitage (flakes and shatter), 631 pieces of fire-cracked rock, 15 heated cobbles, 33 manuports (including 7 pieces of hematite), 3 hammerstones, 1 anvil or nutting stone, 69 ceramic sherds, and 8 organic objects (5 burnt wood fragment and 3 unburnt bone fragments). The diagnostic points/bifaces were a serrated Kirk side-notched point, 2 Stanley points, 3 Normanskill-like points, 1 Vosburg point, 1 Perkiomen broadspear, 2 Adena points, 2 Piscataway points, and 2 Madison points. The dominant lithic raw material types were quartz, quartzite, and rhyolite, with much lesser amounts of sandy chert, sandstone, chert, ironstone, jasper, and unidentified metamorphic material. Identifiable ceramic sherds include 25 Accokeek, 1 Selden Island, 17 Mockley (including 1 rim), 6 Townsend (including 2 rims), and 2 Moyaone.
Data recovered during the Phase I and II investigations indicate that the prehistoric occupation of 18PR628 is associated with the Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, Early Woodland, Middle Woodland, and Late Woodland periods. These temporal categories are defined by the presence of the diagnostic materials described above.
Little evidence exists for historic plowing activity at 18PR628. Although it is possible that 18th to 19th century cultivation occurred within the site, the plowzone has long since been reabsorbed into the underlying natural stratum. In the shovel tests, the majority of artifacts were recovered from the second stratum, an A2 or B1 horizon. In the test units, the majority of artifacts were recovered from the first two 10 cm arbitrary levels below the Ao horizon. These data, combined with the identification of the two intact features, suggest that the site retains a certain degree of vertical integrity. However, the vertical distribution of temporally diagnostic artifacts suggests that land surface stability and/or post-depositional artifact movement have led to a vertical conflation of materials across several thousand years of episodic prehistoric occupation.
Differential use of horizontal space was also recognized at the site. Quartz was more prominent in the south-central portion of the site, rhyolite most prominent in the southeastern portion of the site, and quartzite more frequently reduced in the northwestern part of the site. In addition, the distribution of fire-cracked rock suggested that the western portion of the site sustained the most intensive hearth related activities, and approximately 66% of the fire-cracked rock is associated with a 40 m zone with the greatest amount of firing shatter, apparently a zone of ceramic production. Finally, the ceramic distribution suggested that it is possible to discern distinct areas of Early, Middle, and Late Woodland activity, and that the Middle Woodland (Mockley) ceramic concentration is the one associated with the possible zone of ceramic production.
Within Site 18PR628 there appears to be sufficient vertical and horizontal integrity to differentiate distinct activity areas, and to assess at least portions of Woodland period activity within their particular temporal contexts. Thus, the periods of greatest significance for the site include the Early Woodland, Middle Woodland, and Late Woodland. The site can provide important data concerning several general research issues. First, the unusually high percentage of rhyolite debitage at the site and the horizontally distinct rhyolite reduction area may be able to provide information on the nature of rhyolite use at the site and the nature of rhyolite distribution in the riverine Patuxent Drainage. Second, the presence of Selden Island, Accokeek, Mockley, Townsend, and Moyaone ware types may permit further research into the definition and date of various Woodland ceramic types. Third, the horizontal definition of a distinct Middle Woodland activity area associated with Mockley ceramic production suggests that the site can provide important data concerning Middle Woodland ceramic production within a small base camp setting. Finally, the lack of significant overlap between the concentrations of Early, Middle, and Late Woodland ceramic sherds suggests that the site may be able to provide some information about intrasite organization of activity during each of these periods.
Site 18PR628 retains significant archeological research potential in the above (and possibly other) areas of interest. It possesses sufficient stratigraphic integrity and quantities of diagnostic materials to distinguish discrete assemblage or activity areas, and to place them within a temporal framework. Additional work should be conducted at the site should an opportunity present itself, or if the site is threatened by development and cannot be avoided.
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