KNOLL
18MO462

Introduction

The Knoll site (18MO462) is located on the campus of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda Campus in Montgomery County, Maryland. The site consists of concentrations of both historic and prehistoric artifacts documenting a late 18th- or early 19th-century farmstead and a Late Archaic and Early Woodland period camp.

Archaeological Investigations

The Knoll site was first recorded during a Phase I survey of the National Institutes of Health Bethesda Campus in 1996 by Elizabeth Comer. Phase II evaluation of the Knoll site was completed in 1997 by Comer. Twenty-one shovel test pits, eight 5x5 foot test units and one 21x2 foot trench were excavated.

A total of 2,258 prehistoric quartzite artifacts were recovered during excavations at the Knoll site. Based on these artifacts, prehistoric occupation of the Knoll site appears to date to the Late Archaic and Early Woodland periods. The site was likely used repeatedly as a hunting and collecting camp.

A small structure tentatively identified as a smokehouse (Feature 1) was the only surviving component of the historic farmstead at the Knoll site. Primary historic period occupations was likely during the late 1700s or early 1800s. Farming and construction activities have significantly altered subsurface deposits.

Archeobotanical Studies

Justine McKnight analyzed two flotation samples from the smokehouse (Feature 1) as part of Phase II evaluation. Nineteen liters of feature fill were flotation processed, yielding 16.96 grams of charcoal (an average density of 0.89 grams of charcoal per liter of soil). Recovered plant remains include 1,014 fragments of wood charcoal weighing 15.62 grams. White oak was the most common wood type identified, along with red oak, American chestnut, hickory, wild cherry, black locust, and elm. Nutshell remains total 15 specimens, weighing 0.78 grams. Hickory (11 fragments) and black walnut (4 fragments) were identified. Carbonized seeds total 208 specimens (0.26 grams). Poke seeds dominate the assemblage, with 189 specimens. Spurge, grape, pigweed, and grass were also identified. Cultivated plants include three maize cob specimens weighing 0.02 grams. The feature also contained miscellaneous plant materials, including fungi, rind, bud, twig, and amorphous carbon. Non-carbonized (modern) seeds were observed in low numbers.

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