Heise Liberty, Loch Raven, and Prettyboy Reservoirs Survey (Baltimore County)
The following essay describes the archaeological sites recorded by David Heise in the 1980s and 1990s during repeated collecting visits along the shorelines of the Liberty, Loch Raven, and Prettyboy Reservoirs in Baltimore County, Maryland. These collections were donated to the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab in 2012. Fifteen sites are included in this summary, and each site is briefly described below, with its Maryland state site number and its name.
Archaeological Investigations
18BA207 (Heise 17) – This site is an Early Archaic and Late Archaic to Early Woodland short-term camp or base camp located along the shores of the Liberty Reservoir.
18BA211 (Heise 21) – This site is a Late Archaic, Early Woodland, and Middle Woodland short-term camp located along the shores of the Liberty Reservoir.
18BA212 (Heise 22) – This site is a Middle to Late Archaic lithic scatter located along the shores of the Liberty Reservoir.
18BA217 (Heise 28) – This site is a Middle Archaic short-term camp or base camp located along the shores of the Liberty Reservoir.
18BA218 (Heise 29) – This site is an Early and Late Archaic short-term camp located along the shores of the Liberty Reservoir.
18BA224 (Heise 16) – This site is a multicomponent site consisting of Late Archaic to Early Woodland short-term camps located along the shores of the Liberty Reservoir.
18BA248 (Heise 501) – This site is a Late Archaic and Early & Late Woodland short-term camp or possible base camp located along the shore of the Prettyboy Reservoir.
18BA263 (Heise 523) – This site is a precontact period site of unknown age located along the shore of the Prettyboy Reservoir.
18BA272 (Heise 1010) – This site is a precontact period site of unknown age located along the shore of the Loch Raven Reservoir. Heise also found a small amount of 19th-century historic period ceramic sherds at this location.
18BA273 (Heise 1011) – This site is a Late Archaic short-term camp located along the shore of the Loch Raven Reservoir.
18BA276 (Heise 1017) – This site is a Late Archaic lithic scatter located along the shore of the Loch Raven Reservoir.
18BA277 (Heise 1018) – This site is a precontact period lithic scatter of unknown age located along the shore of the Loch Raven Reservoir.
18BA290 (Heise 1032) – This site is a multicompenent site consisting of a Middle Woodland possible base camp and an 18th-century possible mill complex. This site may correspond to the larger Ridgely Grist Mill, Hampton Mill, Northampton Mill complex, which dates from at least the late 18th if not the mid-18th century, through the early 20th century when the property was acquired by Baltimore City prior to flooding by Loch Raven Reservoir. This site is located in the drowned stream valley of the Loch Raven Reservoir.
18BA301 (Heise 524) – This site is a precontact period site of unknown age located along the shore of the Prettyboy Reservoir.
18BA302 (Heise 1025) – This site is an Early, Middle, and Late Archaic and possibly Middle Woodland short-term camp located along the shore of the Loch Raven Reservoir.