W-T, CH-J1 (GUNTOWER SITE)
18CH155

Introduction

Site 18CH155 is a shell pit located on an eroding bank of Nanjemoy Creek in Charles County, Maryland. Recovered artifacts and radiocarbon dates place principal occupation during the Woodland period, with a Late Archaic period component also evident.

Archaeological Investigations

Originally mapped by Judge Graham and later documented by Wilke and Thompson, 18CH155 is the small remnant of what may have been a larger shell midden. The top has been plowed and the western edge eroded. No artifacts or vertebrate faunal remains other than bits of charcoal and fire-cracked rock were noted during a survey by Geo-Recon in 1980. Radiocarbon dates of 3260+/- 75 BP (SI-4554) and 3085+/- 70 BP (SI-4555) obtained for the basal and immediate sub-plowline portions of this site indicated a Terminal Archaic or Early Woodland period occupation. This represents one of the oldest radiocarbon-dated shell midden deposits in the Potomac drainage. Material observed on the beach below this midden included two quartzite flakes, one quartz flake, two fragments of highly eroded shell tempered ceramic, and four fragments of eroded sand tempered ceramic. The shell tempered ceramics may indicate a Late Woodland presence.

In 1993, a Phase I survey by MAAR Associates noted the presence of one fire-cracked rock, two brick fragments, and a small quantity of shell in two stps.

A single 1m-x-2m test unit was excavated during a Phase II investigation by Tetra Tech, Inc. in 2001, which found that 18CH155 consisted of one shell-filled pit. Artifacts included prehistoric lithics, ceramics, and floral and faunal remains. Pottery and radiocarbon dates indicated that the site dated to the Woodland period. Because of the disturbances to 18CH155 caused by shoreline erosion, no further investigations were recommended by the Phase II researchers.

Archeobotanical Studies

Flotation and soil samples were analyzed by Justine McKnight during Tetra Tech’s Phase II evaluation. Soil samples (10 to 15 liters) were retained for flotation and paleobotanical analysis, as well as radiocarbon dating. Five samples were taken, of which two were selected for paleobotanical study. These came from zone A2 (lower), at a depth of 29-35cm in intact midden, and from zone B (Feature Level 2), at a depth of 35-52cm in intact midden deposits in the western half of the unit. Very few paleobotanical remains were recovered through flotation. Cultivated plant remains were completely absent, and wild plant foods were generally under-represented. Wood charcoal recovery was limited to 1.99 grams, and included maple, hickory, red and white oak, ring porous, and osage orange (Maclura pomifera). Two burnt hickory shell fragments were found, along with the non-carbonized (modern) seeds of poke, raspberry/blackberry, viburnum, and an unidentifiable achene. Charcoal from the midden produced an uncalibrated radiocarbon date of 1850+/- 40 BP: AD 100 (Beta 140958), placing it temporally in the Middle Woodland period.

References