GRANT
18BA444

Introduction

The Grant site (18BA444) is a Late Woodland period base camp located on a low terrace of Red Run off the Patapsco River in Baltimore County.

Archaeological Investigations

The Grant site was recorded and investigated by MAAR Associates, Inc., during Phase I/II investigations of the Red Run Sewer Interceptor within the Owings Mills New Town development.

Phase III investigations, also by MAAR Associates, Inc., consisted of the excavation of 100 1-meter excavation units constituting a 20 % sample of the total site area. Data recovery resulted in the identification of six prehistoric pit features and/or hearths, and the recovery of 4,500 pottery sherds, stone tools, and pieces of debitage.

The earliest cultural occupation of the Grant site probably occurred during the Late Archaic and/or Early Woodland periods, ca. 3000 BC to AD 200. These occupations evidence very transient and specialized uses of the area by small groups of hunter/gatherers engaged in hunting and possibly tool maintenance activities. The major occupation of the site occurred during the Late Woodland period, ca. AD 1000 to AD 1600, and was comprised of two contemporaneous seasonal base camps. Investigations documented a wide range of site activities relating to subsistence, the manufacture of stone tools from locally-procured lithic materials, and the maintenance of curated tool kits brought to the site, as evidenced by the recovery of debitage from non-local lithic types and the manufacture of pottery vessels. Potomac Creek and Townsend ceramics suggest that Late Woodland period occupation of the site included contemporaneous use by both populations.

Archeobotanical Studies

Floral remains recovered during Phase III investigations at the Grant site consist of a few fragments of small hickory nut hulls and uncarbonized (modern) seeds, including grape and goosefoot. Analyst Roger Moeller reports a mix of native and introduced European seed species within the site assemblage, and suggests that given the contexts from which the plant remains were recovered and the shallowness of the site deposits, that the seeds cannot be reliably ascribed to the prehistoric period. Carbonized hickory nut hulls from unit and feature contexts were interpreted as being prehistoric in origin, and samples of nut material were subjected to C-14 dating and produced dates which fall within the acceptable ranges for components represented at the site.

References