Bladensburg Library (18PR1043)

This site is a multicomponent site consisting of a lithic scatter possibly representing a lithic reduction feature and a historic site with components from an 1860s school and the extant 1920s school/library. The site is located in the yard of the Bladensburg Public Library at the corner of Annapolis Road and Edmonston Road in Bladensburg, Maryland.

The site was identified during a phase I survey in January of 2012 based on the presence of 120 prehistoric and 197 historic artifacts (317 total) recovered from 15 shovel test pits. Phase II testing took place in February, 2012, and consisted of 11 test units and three shovel test pits. A total of 899 prehistoric artifacts were found during Phase II testing. A series of buried ground surfaces were identified across the site. Based on the stratigraphy and associated artifact assemblages the occupational sequence of the site consists of four components. The earliest occupation is a prehistoric camp dating to the Late Archaic or Transitional Period. A series of horizons represent the historic use and/or occupation of the property and three episodes of schoolhouse construction (ca. 1833, 1910 and 1925). The 19th- to early 20th-century schoolhouse components are associated with the Bladensburg Academy and the final schoolhouse was part of the Prince George's County public school system before being converted to use as a public library.

The prehistoric component of 18PR1043 represents a short-term or temporary camp that dates to the Transitional Period. Lithic tool manufacturing was a primary activity and was centered on the procurement and reduction of locally available quartz and quartzite cobbles into tools. The presence of other materials, such as chalcedony, jasper, and metarhyolite debitage and tools indicates tool maintenance and repair were conducted on-site as well. No cultural features were identified, but the presence of fire-cracked rock indicates the use of fire for heating, cooking, and perhaps preparation of stone for tool manufacture. Site 18PR1043 is near another Transitional Period site (18PR983), as well as other sites with prehistoric occupations (18PR96 and 18PR982). These sites indicate the area was attractive for habitation and resource procurement; their location near the Anacostia River would have provided abundant food resources (both plant and animal), a source of water, lithic material for tool making, and a means of transportation.

Four historic features were identified during the Phase II investigations, including a plow scar, a small historic postmold, an historic shell layer, and a possible pit feature which was determined to be a shallow pit resulting from the removal of a modern shrub.

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