Parker Berry 1 (18PR622)

The Parker Berry 1 Site (18PR622) is a Late Woodland to Contact period hamlet near Fort Washington in Prince George’s County, Maryland. A Late Archaic short-term camp occupation is also present.

The site was first identified in 2002, during the course of a Phase I survey of the area. The survey was conducted prior to creation of an artificial wetland as environmental mitigation for improvements to MD Route 210. Investigations uncovered 2 archaeological sites 18PR622 and 18PR623. Only Site 18PR622 would ultimately be determined to have any significance.

Phase I work at 18PR622 consisted of an intensive surface reconnaissance and the excavation of 67 shovel test pits (STPs), which revealed 5 different concentrations (or loci) of prehistoric artifacts. Three of these loci are characterized as small, no-diagnostic lithic scatters (Loci 2, 5, and 6). Locus 3 is a larger scatter that contained a Late Archaic Lamoka projectile point. Sixty-five lithic artifacts were recovered from Loci 2, 3, 5, & 6.

In Locus 4, a moderate-sized prehistoric pit was encountered, designated Feature 1. Phase II work was conducted in Locus 4. This included the excavation of 16- one m2 test units and block excavations in the vicinity of Feature 1. Five subsurface features were identified. A total of 371 artifacts were recovered, including 7 sherds of Potomac Creek pottery, 2 Late Woodland Madison projectile points, and a few historic artifacts recovered from subsurface feature contexts, which were likely associated with a Native American Contact period occupation.

Feature 1 was interpreted as a possible semi-subterranean house floor filled with midden materials. The block also revealed two postmolds (Features 2 and 3) and a small refuse or storage pit (Feature 5).

Two samples were selected from the deeper part of the Feature 1 midden for radiocarbon dating. One sample returned a modern date, suggesting contamination. The other sample produced a date range of AD 1670-1953. Four liters of fill from Feature 1 and one liter from Feature 5 were floated and submitted for ethnobotanical analysis.

The full artifact assemblage from both Phase I and II excavations at Locus 4 of 18PR622 consisted of 2 Madison points, 5 other lithic bifaces, 29 worked cobble pieces, 195 flakes, 8 pieces of shatter, 86 fragments of fire-cracked rock, 1 groundstone object, 34 Potomac Creek sherds, a ball of fired clay, a 20th Century ceramic toy lion, an iron box, 3 unidentified nails, a ball clay pipe stem, 5 unidentified iron fragments, and a piece of nutshell.

The Contact component at 18PR622 has the potential to offer significant and novel insights into 17th century Native American and European interactions. Only around 20% of Feature 1 was ultimately sampled and this small portion of the intact feature contained 97 artifacts and furnished an absolute date. Thus, this portion of the site appears to retain significant integrity. Based on the results of the Phase II investigations, researchers recommended that Locus 4 be avoided in developing the wetlands.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)