Hallowing Point (18CV31)
Site History
Archaeological site 18CV31, a multi-component site consisting of a shell midden, Late Woodland village, and possible colonial site, was identified by Richard Stearns during collecting visits around 1936 and 1950. The great quantities of oyster shell at this site were noted as early as 1836, when Ducatal (1836) described this area, in addition to shell deposits to the north and south, as the "…most extensive shell bank on the Patuxent…." Stearns (1951:11) hypothesized that extensive use of these shell deposits for fertilizer must have occurred in the 19th century, because when he observed the site, the shell was not over two feet in depth where it was exposed along the riverbank. In the 1970s and 1980s houses were built in the Patuxent Heights community on much of this area.
Archaeological Investigations
Field investigations since Stearns' visits concentrated on properties needing shoreline control construction. Laurie Cameron Steponaitis of SUNY Binghamton catalogued the Stearns collection on behalf of MHT in 1980. Other work at the site took place in 1981, when Stephen Israel and ASM volunteers conducted test excavations on a portion of the site and Phase II test excavations undertaken by MAAR, Assoc. on an individual houselot.
Test excavations conducted on portions of the site indicate that there are portions of shell midden (soil with shell) immediately below the grass cover. In areas of higher elevation some plowzone remnants appear to overlie the shell midden layer. There also appears to be an artifact bearing layer of sandy soil intact below the shell stratum in some areas of the site. Components represented include Accokeek Phase, Late Woodland I, and Late Woodland II phases. Artifacts in the collection include 1 quartzite Calvert point, 1 rhyolite hammerstone, and 1 axe or celt (material type called "other").
The actual site dimensions still need to be determined and it appears that local residents also retain extensive collections from the site.
References
1987 Archeological investigation of the Hallowing Point site 18CV31 at the Riley shoreline property, Calvert Co., Md. along with a re-examination of the adjacent Pelagatti shoreline property archeological investigation. (MHT# CV 31).
1983 Archaeological investigation at the Thomas Pelagatti property, Calvert Co., Md. Newark, Delaware: Mid-Atlantic Archaeological Research Inc. (MHT# CV 16).
1980 A survey of artifact collections from the Patuxent River Drainage, Maryland. MHT Monograph Series No. 1. SUNY Binghamton. (MHT # AN 48).
Associated Artifacts
Accokeek
Sullivan Cove
