New Jersey Monument Site (18FR21)

The New Jersey Monument site (18FR21) in Frederick County, MD is a small lithic scatter that was probably occupied throughout the Middle and Late Archaic, and into the Woodland. The site is situated near the Monocacy River and within the boundaries of the Monocacy Battlefield Park. The site has been known to local collectors for over 75 years. During a Phase I survey of the Monocacy Valley in the late 1970s, the site was re-identified and the researchers had an opportunity to interview local collectors and examine some collections of points from the site. According to one informant, a silicified sandstone fluted point was collected from the site several years ago. Seventeen other points are reported from amateur collections, including: 1 Neville, 1 Morrow Mountain I, 1 Otter Creek, 1 Lackawaxen, 1 Savannah River Stemmed, 1 Vernon, 1 Perkiomen, 3 Susquehanna Broadspears, 1 Meadowood, 3 Selby Bay stemmed, 1 Selby Bay side-notched (Variant A), 1 Selby Bay side-notched (Variant B), and 1 Levanna triangular point.

The first professional testing at the site was conducted by R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates in the spring of 1990 as part of the Monocacy Interceptor Sewer Line project. Fifty-five shovel tests and four- 1 X 1 m units were excavated within 18FR21. An auger test was placed in the bottom of each of four shovel test units at 20-40 m intervals; these tests extended to an average of 87.5 cm below ground surface. No intact cultural features were encountered. Twelve of the shovel tests and all four of the test units recovered prehistoric materials. No diagnostic artifacts were found.

In the summer and fall of 2001, the National Park Service conducted a controlled surface collection at the site. A total of three diagnostic artifacts were collected and include a Savannah River Stemmed point, a Selby Bay quarry blade, and a Halifax Side-Notched point. These diagnostic projectile points suggest a Late Archaic to Middle Woodland time period, consistent with the results of earlier work.

The site was revisited again in 2003 as part of a water main installation project along a corridor running parallel to the previously installed sewer line. Fourteen shovel tests and two 1 X 2 m test units were excavated within the portion of Site 18FR21 contained within the project corridor. From these excavations, 2 prehistoric period and 12 historic period artifacts were recovered.

Disturbances within the site from erosional scouring and trench excavations for the existing sewer interceptor trench have left few intact soils that might contain cultural features. Limited mechanical stripping of portions of the project corridor on the higher terrace landforms nearby failed to find any prehistoric features. The quantities and nature of the prehistoric assemblage within the project corridor, even in a primary context, are not sufficient to address important research questions. Thus, the site can only be characterized as a heavily disturbed and very diffuse lithic scatter. The diagnostic artifacts recovered to date, seem to indicate occupations ranging from the Middle Archaic through Late Woodland. There is also the possibility of a Paleo-Indian component, based on the one reported find of a fluted point from the site.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)