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Dorsey Run (18HO8)

Site History

The Dorsey Run site (18HO8) is a base camp or village, with a possible Adena component located northeast of Savage in Howard County, Maryland. It is likely that this location contained several smaller sites rather than being one large site.

Archaeological Investigations

This site was initially identified in 1905 by avocational archaeologist Talbot D. Jones. Jones’s collection and field notes were donated to Johns Hopkins University and in 1980 were analyzed by the Division of Archeology of the Maryland Geological Survey. The Jones collection is curated by the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab, although it is still owned by Johns Hopkins University. The Jones collection from the Dorsey Run site includes 165 artifacts and included a steatite bannerstone. The site may have been collected by J.D. McGuire prior to the work conducted by Jones.

Archaeologist Hettie Ballweber conducted testing of the site in 1992, but no report on that work exists in Maryland Historical Trust’s library. The form notes 99 shovel test pits within Jones's 5.6-acre field location; no artifacts were recovered from any of the shovel test pits.

The construction of several industrial parks and a railroad line has destroyed the site.

References

Bastian, Tyler

1978   T.D. Jones Collection Notes 1892-1908. (Maryland Geological Survey) MHT # BA 2.

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