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Upper Kitten Branch (18AN23)

Site History

The Upper Kitten Branch site (18AN23) is a precontact period artifact scatter identified as a short-term resource procurement site located on Kitten Branch in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Archaeological Investigations

This site was initially identified in the early 20th century by Talbot D. Jones, an active avocational archaeologist. Artifacts collected by Jones included axes, a hammerstone, pestles and a projectile point. Richard Stearns collected from this site (#23) in the 1940s and Wayne Clark excavated test plots on this site in the late 1960s. Stearns did not identify the artifacts he collected (these artifacts are likely at the Smithsonian Institution), but Clark collected a knife, a scraper and a projectile point.

In 2012, additional work was done at the site in connection with mitigation connected with the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. The results of this work expanded the size of the site by 5.7 acres, making the entire site encompass 8.5 acres. Artifacts recovered during this project included flaked stone, bifaces, and a core. No temporally diagnostic artifacts were found during the 2012 project.

References

Fuess, Martin T., Ryan W. Robinson, Bryan C. Cunning, Denise Grantz Bastianini, Keith R. Bastianini, and Eric J. Filkins

2012   Phase I Geomorphological and Archeological Survey of the Kitten Branch Mitigation Site, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. (Michael Baker Jr., Inc.) MHT # AN 638.

Stearns, Richard E.

1949   "Some Indian Village Sies of the Lower Patapsco River." Proceedings of the Natural History Society of Maryland, Number 10. MHT # AN 20A.

(Edited from archeological site survey form, Maryland Historical Trust)