SITE 1, STREAM A
18PR141

Introduction

Site 18PR141 describes a Middle and Late Woodland short-term resource procurement camp adjacent to an intermittent stream tributary to the Potomac River in Prince Georges County.

Archaeological Investigations

William Gardner of Catholic University identified the site in March 1976 during a Phase I survey of two streams for the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC).  The site occurs in a paleosol (buried A horizon) which has been covered over by a combination of alluviation and colluviation.  This has effectively capped Woodland-period occupations and prevented subsequent disturbance.  The overlying covering soil is presumed to have been derived from erosion following post-Contact era deforestation and cultivation.  Artifacts recovered from this site place it within the Late Woodland period.  The site appears to have been an outlying extractive camp related to Late Woodland base camps or villages along the Potomac and Piscataway shores.  Mitigation of the site was recommended.

Between May and July 1976 Phase II and III excavations were carried out by Catholic University.  Three 10x10 foot units were excavated within 18PR141.  Ceramics included 6 Potomac Creek, 8 Popes Creek, and 19 unidentified sherds, dating the site to the  Middle and Late Woodland periods.  Lithic artifacts included a complete side-notched point of brown chert and 2 corner-notched rhyolite points.  There were 2 chert bifaces and one quartzite biface, four cores (2 quartz and 2 quartzite), 8 retouched flakes, and 132 fire-cracked rock fragments.  Utilized flakes included 70 quartz, 44 quartzite, 14 rhyolite, 22 chert, 1 jasper, 1 sandstone, and 61 of an unidentified material type.  In addition, 3 “unspecific tools” were listed.

Archeobotanical Studies

Flotation samples were marked on the forms as analyzed by the Archeology Lab of Catholic University. However, no discussion is included in the preliminary report on the project nor in Michael Stewart's project report.

References