Site 10001-1 (18CE153)

Site 10001-1 (18CE153) is a multicomponent site with Late Archaic and Late Woodland occupations representing short-term resource procurement camps, and a 19th-century artifact scatter. It is located near Rock Springs in Cecil County, Maryland.

This site was first recorded in 1981 during a pipeline corridor survey for the Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation. A pedestrian survey was conducted in 1981. The site was initially identified as a surface scatter, consisting of both prehistoric and historic materials. The prehistoric component of the site was interpreted to be a lithic processing site. The historic component was determined to be the result of re-deposition during fertilization of the fields and not relatable to discrete historic habitations or refuse deposits. No historic period structures were identified within site area although a farmstead built in the early 19th century is located some 80 m east of the site’s eastern boundary.

In May of 1981, archaeologists conducted a Phase II investigation. A 10 m x 10 m grid was placed over the portion of the site located within the pipeline corridor. Twelve grid units were surface collected. Subsurface testing consisted of the excavation of 25 shovel test pits and six 1 m x 1 m test units. A total of 146 artifacts were recovered during the Phase II testing. There were 130 prehistoric items and 16 historic items. The materials recovered indicated that the activities represented around the site centered on procurement and utilization of lithic resources, particularly quartz, and perhaps more minimally on gathering surrounding vegetation and hunting local wildlife. However, because of the absence of functionally, temporally, or culturally diagnostic artifacts, and the low density of cultural remains, the archaeologists determined that further excavation at the site would not contribute significantly to the study of prehistory in the region. No further work was recommended for 18CE153.

In 1999 the site was re-encountered during Phase I testing for a power generation plant. During this survey, a larger portion of the site was examined than previously. Non-systematic surface collection and the excavation of 2 STPs were undertaken. Because of the large number of artifacts observed at the site, a non-systematic grab sample of lithic tools and diagnostic artifacts was collected. Analysis of the artifact distribution indicated that a higher density of prehistoric artifacts was located in the southwestern portion of the site on an area of higher elevation. A higher density of historic artifacts was noted in the north-central portion of the site. The historic scatter may represent the remains of an outbuilding associated with the nearby farmstead; however, they were obviously disturbed by agricultural activity and considered to have little future research potential. A variety of prehistoric tool production occurred at the site, as evidenced by the presence of bifaces in several stages of manufacture, cores, and flakes. Dates of occupation at the site were determined by the presence of a Late Archaic Bare Island point and a Late Woodland Levanna point in the assemblage.

In 2006, a pipeline survey for the Sparrows Point Liquefied Natural Gas plant and pipeline corridor encountered the site again. A total of 14 STPs were dug at 15 m intervals along two transects within the site boundary in the right-of-way. The site was identified as a scatter of 6 quartz flakes in three positive STPs. No additional close interval testing was conducted as positive identification of the site was confirmed.

Site 10001-1 (18CE153) is a multicomponent site with Late Archaic and Late Woodland occupations representing short-term resource procurement camps, and a 19th-century artifact scatter. The dates for prehistoric occupation were determined by the only 2 diagnostic artifacts recovered from the various investigations. The historic component was generally considered to represent field scatter, although it may also have been associated with outbuildings related to the nearby farmstead. Over the course of several archaeological investigations, no cultural features were identified and temporally diagnostic artifacts were rare.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)