Sorrell Site (18HO190)

The Sorrell Site (18HO190) is located south of Clarksville in Howard County, Maryland. The site appears to be a Transitional Archaic-Woodland short-term resource procurement camp.

The Sorrell Site was first identified in 1991 by Maryland State Highway Administration archaeologists during a Phase I cultural resource survey of a proposed wetland mitigation site as part of the proposed construction of Maryland Route 32 south of Clarksville. The survey conducted by SHA included the excavation of 31 shovel tests, 19 of which yielded cultural resources. Eight shovel tests yielded artifacts from subplowzone contexts.

The Phase I artifact assemblage consisted primarily of lithic waste flakes (56) along with a biface and five utilized flakes. No chronologically or culturally diagnostic artifacts were recovered.

Phase II testing was carried out in 1993 and included the excavation of fifteen 1 X 1 m test units and 20 shovel tests (STPs). Placement of the 1 X 1 meter test units was determined by the results of the Phase I and Phase II shovel testing programs, as well as by the results of first few 1 X 1 units put in during the Phase II investigations. All soils were screened through hardware cloth. Cultural resources were found in all units, with particularly high frequencies in units along the southern and southeastern margins of the project area. In general, however, the distribution and frequencies of cultural materials suggested a sparse distribution across the site. Again, few artifacts were found below the plowzone and no cultural features were located at the base of the plowzone. This suggests that the bulk of the site has been altered by plowing and that any intact remnants of the site are severely truncated.

The Phase II Sorrell Site artifact assemblage included 307 prehistoric artifacts, the majority of which (90.8%) consisted of lithic debitage. The assemblage consisted of 1 Savannah River point, 5 projectile points or point fragments, 2 other bifaces, 3 cores, 3 unifaces, 279 fragments of debitage, 11 pieces of fire-cracked rock, 2 rimsherds of fine grit tempered pottery and 1 quartz tempered body sherd.

Five artifacts from the site assemblage were subjected to blood residue analysis. Three of the artifacts tested positive with results for deer, dog (domesticated dog or wolf), and cat antiserum (puma or bobcat). The presence of these blood types on a point tip and possible utilized flake suggest that these species were hunted and/or butchered.

Functional analysis of the Sorrell Site assemblage suggests that tool manufacture and maintenance, and hunting and hunting-related activities were conducted at the site. The low density and homogeneity of artifacts across the site indicate that the site was visited occasionally by individuals or small groups for hunting and processing of game. The site probably functioned as a short-term campsite during these visits.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)