BURRALL SITE
18FR628

Introduction

The Burrall site (18FR628) is located in the Monocacy River drainage in Frederick County. Extensive archaeology at the site has documented Early Archaic, Late Archaic, and Middle Woodland period base camps, as well as an 18th-century refuse pit.

Archaeological Investigation

Phase I, II, and III archaeological investigations were conducted at site 18FR628. During Phase I testing, Hettie Ballweber found evidence for a large base camp with diagnostic artifacts, including a a rhyolite Kirk-like stemmed point (originally reported as a Savannah River), quartz LeCroy point, a rhyolite Brewerton eared point, a rhyolite Brewerton corner-notched point (originally described as stemmed), and a rhyolite fishtail point. All of the Phase I artifacts are included in the count below.

Phase II testing consisted of a surface collection with piece plotting of artifacts, and mechanical removal of topsoil in 11 trenches. A total of 616 artifacts were recovered in the surface collection, and 22 features were identified in 6 of the 11 trenches. Eight of the features contained cultural material, and one contained thick Middle Woodland period shell-tempered ceramic sherds and charred nut fragments. One was a large historic feature containing a tin-glazed earthenware sherd, a redware sherd, a white salt-glazed stoneware sherd, a brown stoneware tankard sherd, a pipestem fragment, a pig tooth, and deer bone fragments, which probably represented an 18th-century trash deposit associated with a farmhouse which is located 200m away.

Phase III testing consisted of 86 1x1m units and 8 mechanical trenches, one of which went the length of the pipeline right-of-way itself.

Diagnostic artifacts recovered from the site include one rhyolite Kirk-like stemmed point, one quartz LeCroy point, one jasper serrated-edge Early Archaic period point, five rhyolite Brewerton corner-notched points, one rhyolite Brewerton eared point, one quartz Brewerton-like point, three rhyolite Halifax-like side-notched points, one rhyolite fishtail point, two rhyolite stemmed point fragments, and four rhyolite eared point fragments. In addition to the lithics, five Mockley net-impressed pottery sherds from a single vessel were encountered in Feature 2 (an ovoid pit).

Archeobotanical Studies

Phase III data recovery included flotation and macrobotanical analysis of 21 flotation samples of unknown volume from 21 features. Cheryl Holt conducted the analysis. Wood charcoal was present in each of the 21 samples, but was not quantified or identified. Nine hickory nutshell fragments were recovered from a single feature (Feature 2). A site total of 93 charred seeds were recovered; species identified include: barberry (1), blackberry (1), carpetweed (8), chickweed (15), copperleaf (1), crabgrass (1), dandelion (1), false pennyroyal (19), goosegrass (23), greenbriar (2), hickory (9), knotweed (3), oxalis (1), pondweed (1), purslane (1), smartweed (1), solomonseal (1), sumac (10), thistle (1), winterberry (1), and yarrow (1). Uncharred seeds from the site include blackberry (3), carpetweed (242), chickweed (92), clover (1), copperleaf (5), crabgrass (30), elderberry (1), eriogonum (1), geranium (1), goosefoot/lambsquarters (7), goosegrass (61), grass (3), greenbriar (3), knotweed (12), oxalis (9), pigweed (399), purslane (76), ragweed (2), smartweed (15), solomonseal (5), spurge (1), thistle (1), and vetch (1).

References