Beehive (18HO206)

The Beehive Site (18HO206) is a stratified, Late Archaic quarry-related extraction site in Howard County, Maryland. It served as a short-term lithic resource procurement and processing site, and also as a temporary campsite.

A walkover reconnaissance during a 1992 Phase I survey by Goodwin and Associates for a proposed wetland mitigation project along Route 100 identified the 4.6-acre Beehive Site. Fifty-eight shovel test pits, each measuring 50cm in diameter, were excavated on a grid at 10 or 20 meter intervals across the site. The pits were excavated in 10cm arbitrary levels within natural strata. All soil was screened through ¼-inch mesh. Phase I testing revealed the presence of undisturbed, multi-component contexts below the plow zone.

In June 1993, Phase II investigations were conducted by Goodwin and Associates. Fourteen one-by-one-meter units and four one-by-two-meter units were excavated where a sub-plow zone level was previously detected. In addition, a 50cm diameter shovel test was excavated in the base of each unit to check for the presence of any additional buried cultural strata. Twenty-five percent of the plow zone in the 15 one-by-one-meter units on the floodplain was screened through ¼-inch mesh. All of the plow zone from the seven one-by-one-meter units on the terrace and all sub-plow zone soils were screened through ¼-inch mesh. Soil samples for macrobotanical analysis were collected from the southwest corner of each unit.

Goodwin and Associates subsequently conducted Phase III excavations at the Beehive Site in 1994. Ten one-by-one-meter and three one-by-two-meter units were excavated at intervals between the Phase II test units. A trench was mechanically excavated to study stratigraphic relationships between the terrace and floodplain, and a 20m by 40m area on the terrace was mechanically stripped of its plow zone to look for cultural features. Four blocks containing 58 one-by-one-meter units were placed on the floodplain to sample activity areas encountered during earlier investigations. All cores, bifaces, and projectile points were piece-plotted when possible, and distinct clusters of flakes and cores were classified and excavated as features. All soil was removed in either 5 or 10cm intervals within natural stratigraphy, and was dry or wet screened through ¼-inch mesh. Six activity areas identified as the remains of primary reduction activities were found on the site.

Over 22,000 artifacts were recovered from the Beehive Site. This assemblage consists almost exclusively of lithics, predominantly quartzite. Evidence of wood/bone-working and hide and/or meat processing was found on flaked tools from edge damage/wear, edge angles, and protein residue analysis. Two utilized flakes tested positive for animal protein residue, one being associated with rabbit blood. Unfortunately, poor preservation of faunal materials and macrobotanical remains limited the amount of environmental data available about the Beehive Site.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)