Aud Site (18ST634)

The Aud site (18ST634) was an Early Archaic to Late Woodland period short-term resource procurement camp. It is situated at the head of the St. Mary’s River estuary in St. Mary’s County, and was selected by the State Highway Administration as a wetland mitigation location in response to wetland loss incurred during road construction.

Phase I archeological investigations were conducted in March, 1993. Unsystematic surface collection and 96 shovel test pits were used to identify 18ST634. They indicated that sub-plowzone prehistoric deposits occurred over much of the project area. Lithic debitage was fairly evenly distributed across the site, while tools and fire-cracked rocks clustered in several distinct areas.

Phase II testing occurred in July-August, 1993, and consisted of additional surface collection and the excavation of 12 test units in areas of high artifact densities. Several features were uncovered, including a possible boiling stone dump and an in situ boulder identified as an anvil. Most of the artifacts found during the Phase II work were lithics, including 39 tools. There were also 22 ceramic sherds.

Phase III mitigation of the site began in 1994. Seventeen test units were hand excavated, then the plowzone was mechanically stripped from selected larger areas. Eight cultural features were exposed during the Phase III investigations. They included fire-cracked rock clusters, roasting pits, a hearth, and possible postmolds.

Analysis of macroplant remains, phytoliths, oyster shells, and blood residue on stone tools recovered at the Aud site, as well as pollen from a soil core taken in an adjacent bog, revealed information about the area’s environmental history from the Middle Archaic period to the present. It showed that the modern pine-dominated local forest differs from the primarily hardwood ecosystem present from the Late Archaic through the Colonial period.

A total of 3510 lithic artifacts and 81 ceramic sherds were recovered during the Phase III. They showed that the site was occupied throughout the Archaic period, but use greatly increased during the Early Woodland. The three prehistoric radiocarbon dates from the site clustered in the early Late Woodland period. The evidence suggests that the site was a seasonal camp, occupied periodically by small groups who exploited specific estuarine-wetland habitats.

(Edited from the Maryland Historical Trust Synthesis Project)