From September through November, 2022, St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) undertook Phase III... more From September through November, 2022, St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) undertook Phase III archaeological investigations at the Henry Brooks Site (44WM0205) located on the south shore of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Today, the Henry Brooks Site is part of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument and managed by the National Park Service. The purpose of these investigations was to recover archaeological information from a portion of the site considered at imminent threat of loss from shoreline erosion along the Potomac River. The investigations were authorized under ARPA Permit No. 2022.GEWA.01 in compliance with the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and its regulations. The Henry Brooks Site was first identified in the early 1930s with additional investigations undertaken in 1977. These investigations revealed a domestic occupation dating to the first quarter of the 18th century. In 1999, the site’s boundaries were expanded to include a narrow ridge running between the Potomac River and a body of water known since colonial times as the “Gut.” This portion of the site yielded both Indigenous and 17th-century artifacts. Additional investigations along the ridge undertaken in 2017 revealed extensive and ongoing shoreline erosion in this part of the site. The portion of the site determined to be at immediate risk of loss due to erosion was investigated in 2022. Within this area, SMCM excavated 45 shovel tests, 14 1.5-by-1.5m units and five slot trenches and sampled five features. SMCM’s work revealed a long history of use of this ridge beginning as early as c. 3500 BCE with an intensive occupation beginning c. 1200 BCE. This occupation probably consisted of campsites associated with the hunting of game, gathering of wild and domesticated plant resources, and the collection of oysters from the river. The site was vacated about 200 or 300 CE and remained vacant for the next five or six centuries and possibly longer. The site was reoccupied beginning as early as 900 CE. Potomac Creek and Moyaone wares predominate in the assemblage, also with principally plain surface treatments. These distributions could suggest a re-occupation as late as 1200 AD or even later. Sometime c. 1648, English settler and shipwright Henry Brooks acquired 658 acres in the vicinity, including the site bearing his name. Brooks, his wife, Jane, and their daughters lived on the property but the location of their dwelling has not been located and has probably eroded into the Potomac River. A smattering of 17th-century domestic artifacts, including tobacco pipes and ceramics along with the recovery of artifacts and features used for building boats, indicate that this area functioned as a mid-17th-century boat- or shipyard. This small shipyard is a rare archaeological discovery. Henry Brooks died in 1662 and the boatyard operation may have been abandoned at this time. Meanwhile, his family, including his wife, daughters, and their husbands and families continued to live elsewhere on the property. Artifacts suggest that this portion of the site was abandoned in the 1680s, probably when Jane Brooks died.
Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology, 2010
... 88 JA King and EE Chaney ... Using patterns in Chesapeake domestic architecture first identif... more ... 88 JA King and EE Chaney ... Using patterns in Chesapeake domestic architecture first identified by Cary Carson (Carson et al., 1981), James Deetz (1993, 1996), Henry Glassie (1975), and Dell Upton (1982, 1986), Bell concluded that changes in the construction and layout of ...
ABSTRACT This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in... more ABSTRACT This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in the lower Potomac River valley in order to understand how changes in bead assemblages between AD 1300 and 1712 expressed an ever-evolving Chesapeake cultural landscape. This analysis demonstrates clear differences in the types and distributions of beads from mortuary and domestic/nonmortuary contexts. Ossuary contexts contained the highest frequency of beads with the number of beads increasing over time. Following the arrival of English settlers in the 1620s, glass beads begin to appear in ossuary contexts. Beads from domestic or nonmortuary contexts are fewer in number, and those present were manufactured using local materials, including bone and clay, as well as shell. However, after 1680, there is a shift from shell beads being predominate on Native sites, to sites containing exclusively glass beads, red and black glass beads in particular. Post-1680 sites appear to reflect Piscataway displacement and the disruption of indigenous trade routes, leading Natives to obtain beads from colonial vendors. The distribution of bead color, an important attribute for communicating Native states of being, also shifts after 1680, with assemblages once dominated by white shell beads now dominated by black and red glass beads.
Page 1. JAMES G. GIBB JULIA A. KING Gender, Activity Areas, and Homelots in the 17th-century Ches... more Page 1. JAMES G. GIBB JULIA A. KING Gender, Activity Areas, and Homelots in the 17th-century Chesapeake Region ABSTRACT The colonial enterprise in the Chesapeake Tidewater region was first and foremost economic ...
Page 1. JULIA A. KING BRUCE W. BEVAN ROBERT J. HURRY The Reliability of Geophysical Surveys at Hi... more Page 1. JULIA A. KING BRUCE W. BEVAN ROBERT J. HURRY The Reliability of Geophysical Surveys at Historic-Period Cemeteries: An Example from the Plains Cemetery, Mechanicsville, Maryland ABSTRACT Remote-sensing ...
26 The SAA Archaeological Record March 2009 primary audience for digital collections from Maryla... more 26 The SAA Archaeological Record March 2009 primary audience for digital collections from Maryland: the academic and professional communities (including students) and, to a lesser extent, the general public. This does not mean the general public does not use or ...
Between July 2016 and February 2019 archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland undertook ... more Between July 2016 and February 2019 archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland undertook Phases I, II, and III archaeological investigations at the proposed site of the Jamie L. Roberts Athletic Stadium Complex, located on the east side of Mattapany Road across from the main campus. The project area, consisting of approximately 23 acres, is a part of the historical St. Barbara’s Freehold tract, which first appears in the Maryland records in 1638 when it was acquired by Mary Troughton. St. Barbara’s Freehold was eventually incorporated into the property known as St. John’s by John Hicks and renamed St. John’s with Addition. In 1774, the property became part of the Mackall Plantation and, in 1839, part of John Mackall Brome’s plantation. The purpose of the Phase I and II investigations was to determine the presence of archaeological sites, assess their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and make recommendations for avoidance or mitigation of adverse effects in the event avoidance was not possible. To that end, archaeologists excavated 1,359 shovel tests systematically spaced at intervals of 25 and 50 ft. All artifacts were collected and each shovel test’s stratigraphy recorded. In addition to the shovel testing, a geophysical survey of the project area was conducted, including magnetic susceptibility, magnetometer, and ground-penetrating radar. Detailed historical research and a review of previous archaeology in the vicinity were also undertaken to develop a broader context for the interpretation of the archaeological findings. Distributions of artifacts along with the remote sensing data and documentary research indicated the presence of at least six loci of human activity, including an early 20th-century Slavonic schoolhouse (18ST1-257), a slave quarter complex dating ca. 1750-1815 (18ST1-270), a 19th-century agricultural building (18ST1-271A), a 19th-century site, possibly a spinning house or work house (18ST1-271B), a possible isolated slave quarter occupied from ca. 1780 through ca. 1820 (18ST1-271C), and a scatter of late 18th-century artifacts that appears to represent a service structure or service location (18ST1-272). This information guided the Phase II work, with 50 five-by-five-ft test units excavated in areas of greatest artifact concentration. Thirty-five test units were excavated in the slave quarter complex (the largest site in the field) (18ST1-270) and five units each were excavated in the remaining five areas of artifact density. This additional testing yielded a greater number of artifacts for interpretive purposes and revealed surviving features below the plow zone.
The Slavonic Schoolhouse (18ST1-257) is located at the north end of the project area in a wooded area and consists predominantly of bottle glass and other 20th-century materials. While the schoolhouse and other above-ground structures no longer remain, a mounded area probably contains traces of the building’s foundations or its ruins. Documents indicate that the Slavonic Schoolhouse was built in 1915 or 1916 and served the community of Slavs who had recently located to St. Mary’s City. The schoolhouse was abandoned in the 1930s and reused as a tenant house until the mid-20th century when it was relocated to a farm south of St. Mary’s City. The Slavonic Schoolhouse site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, sites that have yielded or are likely to yield information about the past, in this case, early 20th-century rural education practices and lifeways of the Slavonic community. The Slave Quarter Complex (18ST1-270) consists of concentrations of brick, ceramics, and bottle glass dating from ca. 1750 through ca. 1815; these distributions represent traces of the earliest historic occupation in the project area. The property had been acquired first by John Hicks, then his son George, then John Mackall, and, finally, James Brome. The dwelling sites of these landowners are known and are located outside of the project area. Therefore, the materials recovered from this location probably represent a compound of domestic quarters associated with enslaved laborers. The Quarter Complex’s abandonment ca. 1815 could suggest that these structures were occupied by the enslaved families on the farm who, in 1814, self-emancipated by joining the British Navy during the War of 1812. Those families who left the Mackall and Brome farms are known thanks to surviving records seeking compensation for these losses. By 1814, the Slave Quarter Complex consisted of dwellings nearly 70 years old and it is also possible that they were abandoned simply due to age. The large numbers of people self-emancipating from the Mackall plantation, however, and the site’s abandonment ca. 1815 are certainly suggestive. The Slave Quarter Complex is considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D and is likely to yield additional significant data about this property and time period, specifically about the enslaved individuals who self-emancipated to join the British Army during the War of 1812. Archaeological site 18ST1-271 consists of three spatially discrete components, including a 19th-century agricultural building characterized by a large number of cut nails and little else, traces of a slave quarter occupied from the last decade of the 18th century through the first decade or two of the 19th century, and an unidentified domestic or service site (possibly a spinning or work house) occupied from the early through the late 19th century. All three sites are considered potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, likely to yield additional information about the sites, the time period, and the place where they are located. Archaeological site 18ST1-272, located in the southwest portion of the project area, is a multi-component site consisting of a low-density scatter of brick and coal deriving from nearby sites and a low-density cluster of coarse earthenware ceramic fragments located on a slight slope toward Mill Creek. The component containing the ceramic cluster is considered potentially eligible for the National Register under Criterion D.
The ruins and relics of Jamestown, the first settlement (1607) and capital of the Virginia colony... more The ruins and relics of Jamestown, the first settlement (1607) and capital of the Virginia colony, were important elements in the old town’s remaking as a historical landscape beginning in the early nineteenth century. Visitors made their way to Jamestown to see, touch, and sometimes pilfer the ruins, articulating a story of Jamestown as the birthplace of the United States. This article examines that story, or founding myth, and the role the Jamestown landscape played in the story’s creation. Race sits at the core of the Jamestown myth, from the colonists’ initial encounters in Native territory to the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in 1619 to how those events are commemorated and memorialized. Of the many ruins, relics, and artifacts associated with Jamestown, four in particular—the church tower, the 1608 fort, the powder magazine, and the statehouse ruin—appear or are referenced most consistently in the commemorative accounts. These features are the signs and symbols of the colonial project, their material reality reinforcing the truth of the Jamestown founding narrative.
This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in the lowe... more This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in the lower Potomac River valley in order to understand how changes in bead assemblages between AD 1300 and 1712 expressed an ever-evolving Chesapeake cultural landscape. This analysis demonstrates clear differences in the types and distributions of beads from mortuary and domestic/nonmortuary contexts. Ossuary contexts contained the highest frequency of beads with the number of beads increasing over time. Following the arrival of English settlers in the 1620s, glass beads begin to appear in ossuary contexts. Beads from domestic or nonmortuary contexts are fewer in number, and those present were manufactured using local materials, including bone and clay, as well as shell. However, after 1680, there is a shift from shell beads being predominate on Native sites to sites containing exclusively glass beads; red and black glass beads in particular. Post-1680 sites appear to reflect Piscataway displacement and the disruption of indigenous trade routes, leading Natives to obtain beads from colonial vendors. The distribution of bead color, an important attribute for communicating Native states of being, also shifts after 1680, with assemblages once dominated by white shell beads now dominated by black and red glass beads.
During the late spring and early summer of 2015, archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryla... more During the late spring and early summer of 2015, archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) undertook a Phase I archaeological survey of selected portions of Newtowne Neck State Park. Newtowne Neck State Park, acquired by the State of Maryland in 2009, was once part of Newtown Manor, a plantation owned by the Society of Jesus (or the Jesuits) since 1668. The plantation included a relatively large enslaved population, the members of which were sold in 1838 to planters in Louisiana in order to support Georgetown College (now Georgetown University). The Jesuits acquired the land from William Bretton, who, along with his wife, had previously donated land for a church. The Brettons, both Catholic, had acquired the property in 1640. Before then, and for centuries, the property had been home to Native Americans. The property’s history has long been a focus of interest, with archaeological investigations beginning in the early 20th century.
The purpose of the 2015 archaeological survey was to identify archaeological sites in areas where park development is planned, including in the vicinity of the Russell house and Lacey house complexes. As part of that effort, detailed background research was conducted, including an analysis of previous archaeological investigations on the property. This information along with the results of the 2015 archaeological survey were synthesized in an effort to define interpretive linkages as well as planning information for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Maryland Park Service, the state agency which manages the park.
For the archaeological survey, a program of shovel testing at systematically spaced intervals of 25 and 50 feet, covering an area of approximately 68 acres, was chosen. The work was undertaken by students in the Introduction to Archaeological Survey field school at SMCM. A total of 2,106 shovel tests were excavated over a period of eight weeks, generating more than 42,000 artifacts. These materials came from three archaeological sites, including two previously documented sites and one newly identified site.
The earliest site, 18ST169, is a small Native American shell midden dating perhaps as early as 200 CE and as late as Contact with Europeans. The site may have functioned primarily as an oyster collecting spot rather than as a residential site. 18ST169 is located west of the Russell house complex on St. Clement’s Bay.
18ST451, which includes the Russell house complex, is a multi-component site with both pre-Contact Native occupation and post-Contact occupation from the early to mid-18th century through the 20th century. The earlier historic-period sites are almost certainly the locations of slave quarters, scattered around a small, unnamed creek or inlet off St. Clement’s Bay. Sometime in the mid-19th century, possibly following the sale of the labor force south, occupation constricted to a single locus, probably by tenants of the Jesuits. Archaeological evidence indicates that the head of the unnamed creek in this area was filled in, probably in the 1970s before the standing brick ranch house was built. Both modern and historic-period features were identified at the site.
The newly discovered site, 18ST891, is also a multi-component site and is located at the Lacey house complex. 18ST891 is a small site repeatedly visited by Native Americans beginning as early as 900 BCE through the Late Woodland (900-1600 CE) period. The site was also occupied from the mid-18th century through c. 1800, probably serving as one or more quarters for enslaved households. Finally, 18ST891 was occupied again in the mid- to late 19th century through the 20th century by tenant families.
All three sites are potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D for their potential to yield information important in prehistory and history.
Interpretive possibilities for Newtowne Neck State Park include Native history, Jesuit history, the history of slavery, and the relationship between natural and cultural history. The Maryland Park Service has the opportunity to connect with other initiatives, including the Through Piscataway Eyes project, the Religious Freedom Tour, and the Georgetown Slavery Archive Project.
This report documents archaeological investigations undertaken at the Clifton site (18ST794) over... more This report documents archaeological investigations undertaken at the Clifton site (18ST794) over a period of several years beginning in 2005. The Clifton site, located near Bushwood, Maryland, is almost certainly the manor house of St. Clement’s Manor and the residence of Thomas Gerard, manor lord of St. Clement’s (1638-1673). Artifacts recovered from the site date between 1636 and 1680, and the presence of red and yellow brick and fancy tablewares suggests an occupant of high status. The documentary record also points to this location as Mattapany, the tract of land at St. Clement’s Manor where Gerard had established his residence.
From September through November, 2022, St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) undertook Phase III... more From September through November, 2022, St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) undertook Phase III archaeological investigations at the Henry Brooks Site (44WM0205) located on the south shore of the Potomac River in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Today, the Henry Brooks Site is part of the George Washington Birthplace National Monument and managed by the National Park Service. The purpose of these investigations was to recover archaeological information from a portion of the site considered at imminent threat of loss from shoreline erosion along the Potomac River. The investigations were authorized under ARPA Permit No. 2022.GEWA.01 in compliance with the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and its regulations. The Henry Brooks Site was first identified in the early 1930s with additional investigations undertaken in 1977. These investigations revealed a domestic occupation dating to the first quarter of the 18th century. In 1999, the site’s boundaries were expanded to include a narrow ridge running between the Potomac River and a body of water known since colonial times as the “Gut.” This portion of the site yielded both Indigenous and 17th-century artifacts. Additional investigations along the ridge undertaken in 2017 revealed extensive and ongoing shoreline erosion in this part of the site. The portion of the site determined to be at immediate risk of loss due to erosion was investigated in 2022. Within this area, SMCM excavated 45 shovel tests, 14 1.5-by-1.5m units and five slot trenches and sampled five features. SMCM’s work revealed a long history of use of this ridge beginning as early as c. 3500 BCE with an intensive occupation beginning c. 1200 BCE. This occupation probably consisted of campsites associated with the hunting of game, gathering of wild and domesticated plant resources, and the collection of oysters from the river. The site was vacated about 200 or 300 CE and remained vacant for the next five or six centuries and possibly longer. The site was reoccupied beginning as early as 900 CE. Potomac Creek and Moyaone wares predominate in the assemblage, also with principally plain surface treatments. These distributions could suggest a re-occupation as late as 1200 AD or even later. Sometime c. 1648, English settler and shipwright Henry Brooks acquired 658 acres in the vicinity, including the site bearing his name. Brooks, his wife, Jane, and their daughters lived on the property but the location of their dwelling has not been located and has probably eroded into the Potomac River. A smattering of 17th-century domestic artifacts, including tobacco pipes and ceramics along with the recovery of artifacts and features used for building boats, indicate that this area functioned as a mid-17th-century boat- or shipyard. This small shipyard is a rare archaeological discovery. Henry Brooks died in 1662 and the boatyard operation may have been abandoned at this time. Meanwhile, his family, including his wife, daughters, and their husbands and families continued to live elsewhere on the property. Artifacts suggest that this portion of the site was abandoned in the 1680s, probably when Jane Brooks died.
Contributions To Global Historical Archaeology, 2010
... 88 JA King and EE Chaney ... Using patterns in Chesapeake domestic architecture first identif... more ... 88 JA King and EE Chaney ... Using patterns in Chesapeake domestic architecture first identified by Cary Carson (Carson et al., 1981), James Deetz (1993, 1996), Henry Glassie (1975), and Dell Upton (1982, 1986), Bell concluded that changes in the construction and layout of ...
ABSTRACT This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in... more ABSTRACT This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in the lower Potomac River valley in order to understand how changes in bead assemblages between AD 1300 and 1712 expressed an ever-evolving Chesapeake cultural landscape. This analysis demonstrates clear differences in the types and distributions of beads from mortuary and domestic/nonmortuary contexts. Ossuary contexts contained the highest frequency of beads with the number of beads increasing over time. Following the arrival of English settlers in the 1620s, glass beads begin to appear in ossuary contexts. Beads from domestic or nonmortuary contexts are fewer in number, and those present were manufactured using local materials, including bone and clay, as well as shell. However, after 1680, there is a shift from shell beads being predominate on Native sites, to sites containing exclusively glass beads, red and black glass beads in particular. Post-1680 sites appear to reflect Piscataway displacement and the disruption of indigenous trade routes, leading Natives to obtain beads from colonial vendors. The distribution of bead color, an important attribute for communicating Native states of being, also shifts after 1680, with assemblages once dominated by white shell beads now dominated by black and red glass beads.
Page 1. JAMES G. GIBB JULIA A. KING Gender, Activity Areas, and Homelots in the 17th-century Ches... more Page 1. JAMES G. GIBB JULIA A. KING Gender, Activity Areas, and Homelots in the 17th-century Chesapeake Region ABSTRACT The colonial enterprise in the Chesapeake Tidewater region was first and foremost economic ...
Page 1. JULIA A. KING BRUCE W. BEVAN ROBERT J. HURRY The Reliability of Geophysical Surveys at Hi... more Page 1. JULIA A. KING BRUCE W. BEVAN ROBERT J. HURRY The Reliability of Geophysical Surveys at Historic-Period Cemeteries: An Example from the Plains Cemetery, Mechanicsville, Maryland ABSTRACT Remote-sensing ...
26 The SAA Archaeological Record March 2009 primary audience for digital collections from Maryla... more 26 The SAA Archaeological Record March 2009 primary audience for digital collections from Maryland: the academic and professional communities (including students) and, to a lesser extent, the general public. This does not mean the general public does not use or ...
Between July 2016 and February 2019 archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland undertook ... more Between July 2016 and February 2019 archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland undertook Phases I, II, and III archaeological investigations at the proposed site of the Jamie L. Roberts Athletic Stadium Complex, located on the east side of Mattapany Road across from the main campus. The project area, consisting of approximately 23 acres, is a part of the historical St. Barbara’s Freehold tract, which first appears in the Maryland records in 1638 when it was acquired by Mary Troughton. St. Barbara’s Freehold was eventually incorporated into the property known as St. John’s by John Hicks and renamed St. John’s with Addition. In 1774, the property became part of the Mackall Plantation and, in 1839, part of John Mackall Brome’s plantation. The purpose of the Phase I and II investigations was to determine the presence of archaeological sites, assess their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and make recommendations for avoidance or mitigation of adverse effects in the event avoidance was not possible. To that end, archaeologists excavated 1,359 shovel tests systematically spaced at intervals of 25 and 50 ft. All artifacts were collected and each shovel test’s stratigraphy recorded. In addition to the shovel testing, a geophysical survey of the project area was conducted, including magnetic susceptibility, magnetometer, and ground-penetrating radar. Detailed historical research and a review of previous archaeology in the vicinity were also undertaken to develop a broader context for the interpretation of the archaeological findings. Distributions of artifacts along with the remote sensing data and documentary research indicated the presence of at least six loci of human activity, including an early 20th-century Slavonic schoolhouse (18ST1-257), a slave quarter complex dating ca. 1750-1815 (18ST1-270), a 19th-century agricultural building (18ST1-271A), a 19th-century site, possibly a spinning house or work house (18ST1-271B), a possible isolated slave quarter occupied from ca. 1780 through ca. 1820 (18ST1-271C), and a scatter of late 18th-century artifacts that appears to represent a service structure or service location (18ST1-272). This information guided the Phase II work, with 50 five-by-five-ft test units excavated in areas of greatest artifact concentration. Thirty-five test units were excavated in the slave quarter complex (the largest site in the field) (18ST1-270) and five units each were excavated in the remaining five areas of artifact density. This additional testing yielded a greater number of artifacts for interpretive purposes and revealed surviving features below the plow zone.
The Slavonic Schoolhouse (18ST1-257) is located at the north end of the project area in a wooded area and consists predominantly of bottle glass and other 20th-century materials. While the schoolhouse and other above-ground structures no longer remain, a mounded area probably contains traces of the building’s foundations or its ruins. Documents indicate that the Slavonic Schoolhouse was built in 1915 or 1916 and served the community of Slavs who had recently located to St. Mary’s City. The schoolhouse was abandoned in the 1930s and reused as a tenant house until the mid-20th century when it was relocated to a farm south of St. Mary’s City. The Slavonic Schoolhouse site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, sites that have yielded or are likely to yield information about the past, in this case, early 20th-century rural education practices and lifeways of the Slavonic community. The Slave Quarter Complex (18ST1-270) consists of concentrations of brick, ceramics, and bottle glass dating from ca. 1750 through ca. 1815; these distributions represent traces of the earliest historic occupation in the project area. The property had been acquired first by John Hicks, then his son George, then John Mackall, and, finally, James Brome. The dwelling sites of these landowners are known and are located outside of the project area. Therefore, the materials recovered from this location probably represent a compound of domestic quarters associated with enslaved laborers. The Quarter Complex’s abandonment ca. 1815 could suggest that these structures were occupied by the enslaved families on the farm who, in 1814, self-emancipated by joining the British Navy during the War of 1812. Those families who left the Mackall and Brome farms are known thanks to surviving records seeking compensation for these losses. By 1814, the Slave Quarter Complex consisted of dwellings nearly 70 years old and it is also possible that they were abandoned simply due to age. The large numbers of people self-emancipating from the Mackall plantation, however, and the site’s abandonment ca. 1815 are certainly suggestive. The Slave Quarter Complex is considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D and is likely to yield additional significant data about this property and time period, specifically about the enslaved individuals who self-emancipated to join the British Army during the War of 1812. Archaeological site 18ST1-271 consists of three spatially discrete components, including a 19th-century agricultural building characterized by a large number of cut nails and little else, traces of a slave quarter occupied from the last decade of the 18th century through the first decade or two of the 19th century, and an unidentified domestic or service site (possibly a spinning or work house) occupied from the early through the late 19th century. All three sites are considered potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, likely to yield additional information about the sites, the time period, and the place where they are located. Archaeological site 18ST1-272, located in the southwest portion of the project area, is a multi-component site consisting of a low-density scatter of brick and coal deriving from nearby sites and a low-density cluster of coarse earthenware ceramic fragments located on a slight slope toward Mill Creek. The component containing the ceramic cluster is considered potentially eligible for the National Register under Criterion D.
The ruins and relics of Jamestown, the first settlement (1607) and capital of the Virginia colony... more The ruins and relics of Jamestown, the first settlement (1607) and capital of the Virginia colony, were important elements in the old town’s remaking as a historical landscape beginning in the early nineteenth century. Visitors made their way to Jamestown to see, touch, and sometimes pilfer the ruins, articulating a story of Jamestown as the birthplace of the United States. This article examines that story, or founding myth, and the role the Jamestown landscape played in the story’s creation. Race sits at the core of the Jamestown myth, from the colonists’ initial encounters in Native territory to the arrival of the first enslaved Africans in 1619 to how those events are commemorated and memorialized. Of the many ruins, relics, and artifacts associated with Jamestown, four in particular—the church tower, the 1608 fort, the powder magazine, and the statehouse ruin—appear or are referenced most consistently in the commemorative accounts. These features are the signs and symbols of the colonial project, their material reality reinforcing the truth of the Jamestown founding narrative.
This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in the lowe... more This article examines over 7,500 beads from eight Native archaeological sites located in the lower Potomac River valley in order to understand how changes in bead assemblages between AD 1300 and 1712 expressed an ever-evolving Chesapeake cultural landscape. This analysis demonstrates clear differences in the types and distributions of beads from mortuary and domestic/nonmortuary contexts. Ossuary contexts contained the highest frequency of beads with the number of beads increasing over time. Following the arrival of English settlers in the 1620s, glass beads begin to appear in ossuary contexts. Beads from domestic or nonmortuary contexts are fewer in number, and those present were manufactured using local materials, including bone and clay, as well as shell. However, after 1680, there is a shift from shell beads being predominate on Native sites to sites containing exclusively glass beads; red and black glass beads in particular. Post-1680 sites appear to reflect Piscataway displacement and the disruption of indigenous trade routes, leading Natives to obtain beads from colonial vendors. The distribution of bead color, an important attribute for communicating Native states of being, also shifts after 1680, with assemblages once dominated by white shell beads now dominated by black and red glass beads.
During the late spring and early summer of 2015, archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryla... more During the late spring and early summer of 2015, archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) undertook a Phase I archaeological survey of selected portions of Newtowne Neck State Park. Newtowne Neck State Park, acquired by the State of Maryland in 2009, was once part of Newtown Manor, a plantation owned by the Society of Jesus (or the Jesuits) since 1668. The plantation included a relatively large enslaved population, the members of which were sold in 1838 to planters in Louisiana in order to support Georgetown College (now Georgetown University). The Jesuits acquired the land from William Bretton, who, along with his wife, had previously donated land for a church. The Brettons, both Catholic, had acquired the property in 1640. Before then, and for centuries, the property had been home to Native Americans. The property’s history has long been a focus of interest, with archaeological investigations beginning in the early 20th century.
The purpose of the 2015 archaeological survey was to identify archaeological sites in areas where park development is planned, including in the vicinity of the Russell house and Lacey house complexes. As part of that effort, detailed background research was conducted, including an analysis of previous archaeological investigations on the property. This information along with the results of the 2015 archaeological survey were synthesized in an effort to define interpretive linkages as well as planning information for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Maryland Park Service, the state agency which manages the park.
For the archaeological survey, a program of shovel testing at systematically spaced intervals of 25 and 50 feet, covering an area of approximately 68 acres, was chosen. The work was undertaken by students in the Introduction to Archaeological Survey field school at SMCM. A total of 2,106 shovel tests were excavated over a period of eight weeks, generating more than 42,000 artifacts. These materials came from three archaeological sites, including two previously documented sites and one newly identified site.
The earliest site, 18ST169, is a small Native American shell midden dating perhaps as early as 200 CE and as late as Contact with Europeans. The site may have functioned primarily as an oyster collecting spot rather than as a residential site. 18ST169 is located west of the Russell house complex on St. Clement’s Bay.
18ST451, which includes the Russell house complex, is a multi-component site with both pre-Contact Native occupation and post-Contact occupation from the early to mid-18th century through the 20th century. The earlier historic-period sites are almost certainly the locations of slave quarters, scattered around a small, unnamed creek or inlet off St. Clement’s Bay. Sometime in the mid-19th century, possibly following the sale of the labor force south, occupation constricted to a single locus, probably by tenants of the Jesuits. Archaeological evidence indicates that the head of the unnamed creek in this area was filled in, probably in the 1970s before the standing brick ranch house was built. Both modern and historic-period features were identified at the site.
The newly discovered site, 18ST891, is also a multi-component site and is located at the Lacey house complex. 18ST891 is a small site repeatedly visited by Native Americans beginning as early as 900 BCE through the Late Woodland (900-1600 CE) period. The site was also occupied from the mid-18th century through c. 1800, probably serving as one or more quarters for enslaved households. Finally, 18ST891 was occupied again in the mid- to late 19th century through the 20th century by tenant families.
All three sites are potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D for their potential to yield information important in prehistory and history.
Interpretive possibilities for Newtowne Neck State Park include Native history, Jesuit history, the history of slavery, and the relationship between natural and cultural history. The Maryland Park Service has the opportunity to connect with other initiatives, including the Through Piscataway Eyes project, the Religious Freedom Tour, and the Georgetown Slavery Archive Project.
This report documents archaeological investigations undertaken at the Clifton site (18ST794) over... more This report documents archaeological investigations undertaken at the Clifton site (18ST794) over a period of several years beginning in 2005. The Clifton site, located near Bushwood, Maryland, is almost certainly the manor house of St. Clement’s Manor and the residence of Thomas Gerard, manor lord of St. Clement’s (1638-1673). Artifacts recovered from the site date between 1636 and 1680, and the presence of red and yellow brick and fancy tablewares suggests an occupant of high status. The documentary record also points to this location as Mattapany, the tract of land at St. Clement’s Manor where Gerard had established his residence.
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The Henry Brooks Site was first identified in the early 1930s with additional investigations undertaken in 1977. These investigations revealed a domestic occupation dating to the first quarter of the 18th century. In 1999, the site’s boundaries were expanded to include a narrow ridge running between the Potomac River and a body of water known since colonial times as the “Gut.” This portion of the site yielded both Indigenous and 17th-century artifacts. Additional investigations along the ridge undertaken in 2017 revealed extensive and ongoing shoreline erosion in this part of the site.
The portion of the site determined to be at immediate risk of loss due to erosion was investigated in 2022. Within this area, SMCM excavated 45 shovel tests, 14 1.5-by-1.5m units and five slot trenches and sampled five features.
SMCM’s work revealed a long history of use of this ridge beginning as early as c. 3500 BCE with an intensive occupation beginning c. 1200 BCE. This occupation probably consisted of campsites associated with the hunting of game, gathering of wild and domesticated plant resources, and the collection of oysters from the river. The site was vacated about 200 or 300 CE and remained vacant for the next five or six centuries and possibly longer.
The site was reoccupied beginning as early as 900 CE. Potomac Creek and Moyaone wares predominate in the assemblage, also with principally plain surface treatments. These distributions could suggest a re-occupation as late as 1200 AD or even later.
Sometime c. 1648, English settler and shipwright Henry Brooks acquired 658 acres in the vicinity, including the site bearing his name. Brooks, his wife, Jane, and their daughters lived on the property but the location of their dwelling has not been located and has probably eroded into the Potomac River. A smattering of 17th-century domestic artifacts, including tobacco pipes and ceramics along with the recovery of artifacts and features used for building boats, indicate that this area functioned as a mid-17th-century boat- or shipyard. This small shipyard is a rare archaeological discovery.
Henry Brooks died in 1662 and the boatyard operation may have been abandoned at this time. Meanwhile, his family, including his wife, daughters, and their husbands and families continued to live elsewhere on the property. Artifacts suggest that this portion of the site was abandoned in the 1680s, probably when Jane Brooks died.
The purpose of the Phase I and II investigations was to determine the presence of archaeological sites, assess their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and make recommendations for avoidance or mitigation of adverse effects in the event avoidance was not possible. To that end, archaeologists excavated 1,359 shovel tests systematically spaced at intervals of 25 and 50 ft. All artifacts were collected and each shovel test’s stratigraphy recorded. In addition to the shovel testing, a geophysical survey of the project area was conducted, including magnetic susceptibility, magnetometer, and ground-penetrating radar. Detailed historical research and a review of previous archaeology in the vicinity were also undertaken to develop a broader context for the interpretation of the archaeological findings.
Distributions of artifacts along with the remote sensing data and documentary research indicated the presence of at least six loci of human activity, including an early 20th-century Slavonic schoolhouse (18ST1-257), a slave quarter complex dating ca. 1750-1815 (18ST1-270), a 19th-century agricultural building (18ST1-271A), a 19th-century site, possibly a spinning house or work house (18ST1-271B), a possible isolated slave quarter occupied from ca. 1780 through ca. 1820 (18ST1-271C), and a scatter of late 18th-century artifacts that appears to represent a service structure or service location (18ST1-272). This information guided the Phase II work, with 50 five-by-five-ft test units excavated in areas of greatest artifact concentration. Thirty-five test units were excavated in the slave quarter complex (the largest site in the field) (18ST1-270) and five units each were excavated in the remaining five areas of artifact density. This additional testing yielded a greater number of artifacts for interpretive purposes and revealed surviving features below the plow zone.
The Slavonic Schoolhouse (18ST1-257) is located at the north end of the project area in a wooded area and consists predominantly of bottle glass and other 20th-century materials. While the schoolhouse and other above-ground structures no longer remain, a mounded area probably contains traces of the building’s foundations or its ruins. Documents indicate that the Slavonic Schoolhouse was built in 1915 or 1916 and served the community of Slavs who had recently located to St. Mary’s City. The schoolhouse was abandoned in the 1930s and reused as a tenant house until the mid-20th century when it was relocated to a farm south of St. Mary’s City. The Slavonic Schoolhouse site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, sites that have yielded or are likely to yield information about the past, in this case, early 20th-century rural education practices and lifeways of the Slavonic community.
The Slave Quarter Complex (18ST1-270) consists of concentrations of brick, ceramics, and bottle glass dating from ca. 1750 through ca. 1815; these distributions represent traces of the earliest historic occupation in the project area. The property had been acquired first by John Hicks, then his son George, then John Mackall, and, finally, James Brome. The dwelling sites of these landowners are known and are located outside of the project area. Therefore, the materials recovered from this location probably represent a compound of domestic quarters associated with enslaved laborers. The Quarter Complex’s abandonment ca. 1815 could suggest that these structures were occupied by the enslaved families on the farm who, in 1814, self-emancipated by joining the British Navy during the War of 1812. Those families who left the Mackall and Brome farms are known thanks to surviving records seeking compensation for these losses. By 1814, the Slave Quarter Complex consisted of dwellings nearly 70 years old and it is also possible that they were abandoned simply due to age. The large numbers of people self-emancipating from the Mackall plantation, however, and the site’s abandonment ca. 1815 are certainly suggestive.
The Slave Quarter Complex is considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D and is likely to yield additional significant data about this property and time period, specifically about the enslaved individuals who self-emancipated to join the British Army during the War of 1812.
Archaeological site 18ST1-271 consists of three spatially discrete components, including a 19th-century agricultural building characterized by a large number of cut nails and little else, traces of a slave quarter occupied from the last decade of the 18th century through the first decade or two of the 19th century, and an unidentified domestic or service site (possibly a spinning or work house) occupied from the early through the late 19th century. All three sites are considered potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, likely to yield additional information about the sites, the time period, and the place where they are located.
Archaeological site 18ST1-272, located in the southwest portion of the project area, is a multi-component site consisting of a low-density scatter of brick and coal deriving from nearby sites and a low-density cluster of coarse earthenware ceramic fragments located on a slight slope toward Mill Creek. The component containing the ceramic cluster is considered potentially eligible for the National Register under Criterion D.
of the first enslaved Africans in 1619 to how those events are commemorated and memorialized. Of the many ruins, relics, and artifacts associated with Jamestown, four in particular—the church tower, the 1608 fort, the powder magazine, and the statehouse ruin—appear or are referenced most consistently in the commemorative accounts. These features are the signs and symbols of the colonial project, their material reality reinforcing the truth of the Jamestown founding narrative.
The Jesuits acquired the land from William Bretton, who, along with his wife, had previously donated land for a church. The Brettons, both Catholic, had acquired the property in 1640. Before then, and for centuries, the property had been home to Native Americans. The property’s history has long been a focus of interest, with archaeological investigations beginning in the early 20th century.
The purpose of the 2015 archaeological survey was to identify archaeological sites in areas where park development is planned, including in the vicinity of the Russell house and Lacey house complexes. As part of that effort, detailed background research was conducted, including an analysis of previous archaeological investigations on the property. This information along with the results of the 2015 archaeological survey were synthesized in an effort to define interpretive linkages as well as planning information for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Maryland Park Service, the state agency which manages the park.
For the archaeological survey, a program of shovel testing at systematically spaced intervals of 25 and 50 feet, covering an area of approximately 68 acres, was chosen. The work was undertaken by students in the Introduction to Archaeological Survey field school at SMCM. A total of 2,106 shovel tests were excavated over a period of eight weeks, generating more than 42,000 artifacts. These materials came from three archaeological sites, including two previously documented sites and one newly identified site.
The earliest site, 18ST169, is a small Native American shell midden dating perhaps as early as 200 CE and as late as Contact with Europeans. The site may have functioned primarily as an oyster collecting spot rather than as a residential site. 18ST169 is located west of the Russell house complex on St. Clement’s Bay.
18ST451, which includes the Russell house complex, is a multi-component site with both pre-Contact Native occupation and post-Contact occupation from the early to mid-18th century through the 20th century. The earlier historic-period sites are almost certainly the locations of slave quarters, scattered around a small, unnamed creek or inlet off St. Clement’s Bay. Sometime in the mid-19th century, possibly following the sale of the labor force south, occupation constricted to a single locus, probably by tenants of the Jesuits. Archaeological evidence indicates that the head of the unnamed creek in this area was filled in, probably in the 1970s before the standing brick ranch house was built. Both modern and historic-period features were identified at the site.
The newly discovered site, 18ST891, is also a multi-component site and is located at the Lacey house complex. 18ST891 is a small site repeatedly visited by Native Americans beginning as early as 900 BCE through the Late Woodland (900-1600 CE) period. The site was also occupied from the mid-18th century through c. 1800, probably serving as one or more quarters for enslaved households. Finally, 18ST891 was occupied again in the mid- to late 19th century through the 20th century by tenant families.
All three sites are potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D for their potential to yield information important in prehistory and history.
Interpretive possibilities for Newtowne Neck State Park include Native history, Jesuit history, the history of slavery, and the relationship between natural and cultural history. The Maryland Park Service has the opportunity to connect with other initiatives, including the Through Piscataway Eyes project, the Religious Freedom Tour, and the Georgetown Slavery Archive Project.
The Henry Brooks Site was first identified in the early 1930s with additional investigations undertaken in 1977. These investigations revealed a domestic occupation dating to the first quarter of the 18th century. In 1999, the site’s boundaries were expanded to include a narrow ridge running between the Potomac River and a body of water known since colonial times as the “Gut.” This portion of the site yielded both Indigenous and 17th-century artifacts. Additional investigations along the ridge undertaken in 2017 revealed extensive and ongoing shoreline erosion in this part of the site.
The portion of the site determined to be at immediate risk of loss due to erosion was investigated in 2022. Within this area, SMCM excavated 45 shovel tests, 14 1.5-by-1.5m units and five slot trenches and sampled five features.
SMCM’s work revealed a long history of use of this ridge beginning as early as c. 3500 BCE with an intensive occupation beginning c. 1200 BCE. This occupation probably consisted of campsites associated with the hunting of game, gathering of wild and domesticated plant resources, and the collection of oysters from the river. The site was vacated about 200 or 300 CE and remained vacant for the next five or six centuries and possibly longer.
The site was reoccupied beginning as early as 900 CE. Potomac Creek and Moyaone wares predominate in the assemblage, also with principally plain surface treatments. These distributions could suggest a re-occupation as late as 1200 AD or even later.
Sometime c. 1648, English settler and shipwright Henry Brooks acquired 658 acres in the vicinity, including the site bearing his name. Brooks, his wife, Jane, and their daughters lived on the property but the location of their dwelling has not been located and has probably eroded into the Potomac River. A smattering of 17th-century domestic artifacts, including tobacco pipes and ceramics along with the recovery of artifacts and features used for building boats, indicate that this area functioned as a mid-17th-century boat- or shipyard. This small shipyard is a rare archaeological discovery.
Henry Brooks died in 1662 and the boatyard operation may have been abandoned at this time. Meanwhile, his family, including his wife, daughters, and their husbands and families continued to live elsewhere on the property. Artifacts suggest that this portion of the site was abandoned in the 1680s, probably when Jane Brooks died.
The purpose of the Phase I and II investigations was to determine the presence of archaeological sites, assess their eligibility for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, and make recommendations for avoidance or mitigation of adverse effects in the event avoidance was not possible. To that end, archaeologists excavated 1,359 shovel tests systematically spaced at intervals of 25 and 50 ft. All artifacts were collected and each shovel test’s stratigraphy recorded. In addition to the shovel testing, a geophysical survey of the project area was conducted, including magnetic susceptibility, magnetometer, and ground-penetrating radar. Detailed historical research and a review of previous archaeology in the vicinity were also undertaken to develop a broader context for the interpretation of the archaeological findings.
Distributions of artifacts along with the remote sensing data and documentary research indicated the presence of at least six loci of human activity, including an early 20th-century Slavonic schoolhouse (18ST1-257), a slave quarter complex dating ca. 1750-1815 (18ST1-270), a 19th-century agricultural building (18ST1-271A), a 19th-century site, possibly a spinning house or work house (18ST1-271B), a possible isolated slave quarter occupied from ca. 1780 through ca. 1820 (18ST1-271C), and a scatter of late 18th-century artifacts that appears to represent a service structure or service location (18ST1-272). This information guided the Phase II work, with 50 five-by-five-ft test units excavated in areas of greatest artifact concentration. Thirty-five test units were excavated in the slave quarter complex (the largest site in the field) (18ST1-270) and five units each were excavated in the remaining five areas of artifact density. This additional testing yielded a greater number of artifacts for interpretive purposes and revealed surviving features below the plow zone.
The Slavonic Schoolhouse (18ST1-257) is located at the north end of the project area in a wooded area and consists predominantly of bottle glass and other 20th-century materials. While the schoolhouse and other above-ground structures no longer remain, a mounded area probably contains traces of the building’s foundations or its ruins. Documents indicate that the Slavonic Schoolhouse was built in 1915 or 1916 and served the community of Slavs who had recently located to St. Mary’s City. The schoolhouse was abandoned in the 1930s and reused as a tenant house until the mid-20th century when it was relocated to a farm south of St. Mary’s City. The Slavonic Schoolhouse site is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, sites that have yielded or are likely to yield information about the past, in this case, early 20th-century rural education practices and lifeways of the Slavonic community.
The Slave Quarter Complex (18ST1-270) consists of concentrations of brick, ceramics, and bottle glass dating from ca. 1750 through ca. 1815; these distributions represent traces of the earliest historic occupation in the project area. The property had been acquired first by John Hicks, then his son George, then John Mackall, and, finally, James Brome. The dwelling sites of these landowners are known and are located outside of the project area. Therefore, the materials recovered from this location probably represent a compound of domestic quarters associated with enslaved laborers. The Quarter Complex’s abandonment ca. 1815 could suggest that these structures were occupied by the enslaved families on the farm who, in 1814, self-emancipated by joining the British Navy during the War of 1812. Those families who left the Mackall and Brome farms are known thanks to surviving records seeking compensation for these losses. By 1814, the Slave Quarter Complex consisted of dwellings nearly 70 years old and it is also possible that they were abandoned simply due to age. The large numbers of people self-emancipating from the Mackall plantation, however, and the site’s abandonment ca. 1815 are certainly suggestive.
The Slave Quarter Complex is considered eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D and is likely to yield additional significant data about this property and time period, specifically about the enslaved individuals who self-emancipated to join the British Army during the War of 1812.
Archaeological site 18ST1-271 consists of three spatially discrete components, including a 19th-century agricultural building characterized by a large number of cut nails and little else, traces of a slave quarter occupied from the last decade of the 18th century through the first decade or two of the 19th century, and an unidentified domestic or service site (possibly a spinning or work house) occupied from the early through the late 19th century. All three sites are considered potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D, likely to yield additional information about the sites, the time period, and the place where they are located.
Archaeological site 18ST1-272, located in the southwest portion of the project area, is a multi-component site consisting of a low-density scatter of brick and coal deriving from nearby sites and a low-density cluster of coarse earthenware ceramic fragments located on a slight slope toward Mill Creek. The component containing the ceramic cluster is considered potentially eligible for the National Register under Criterion D.
of the first enslaved Africans in 1619 to how those events are commemorated and memorialized. Of the many ruins, relics, and artifacts associated with Jamestown, four in particular—the church tower, the 1608 fort, the powder magazine, and the statehouse ruin—appear or are referenced most consistently in the commemorative accounts. These features are the signs and symbols of the colonial project, their material reality reinforcing the truth of the Jamestown founding narrative.
The Jesuits acquired the land from William Bretton, who, along with his wife, had previously donated land for a church. The Brettons, both Catholic, had acquired the property in 1640. Before then, and for centuries, the property had been home to Native Americans. The property’s history has long been a focus of interest, with archaeological investigations beginning in the early 20th century.
The purpose of the 2015 archaeological survey was to identify archaeological sites in areas where park development is planned, including in the vicinity of the Russell house and Lacey house complexes. As part of that effort, detailed background research was conducted, including an analysis of previous archaeological investigations on the property. This information along with the results of the 2015 archaeological survey were synthesized in an effort to define interpretive linkages as well as planning information for the Maryland Department of Natural Resource’s Maryland Park Service, the state agency which manages the park.
For the archaeological survey, a program of shovel testing at systematically spaced intervals of 25 and 50 feet, covering an area of approximately 68 acres, was chosen. The work was undertaken by students in the Introduction to Archaeological Survey field school at SMCM. A total of 2,106 shovel tests were excavated over a period of eight weeks, generating more than 42,000 artifacts. These materials came from three archaeological sites, including two previously documented sites and one newly identified site.
The earliest site, 18ST169, is a small Native American shell midden dating perhaps as early as 200 CE and as late as Contact with Europeans. The site may have functioned primarily as an oyster collecting spot rather than as a residential site. 18ST169 is located west of the Russell house complex on St. Clement’s Bay.
18ST451, which includes the Russell house complex, is a multi-component site with both pre-Contact Native occupation and post-Contact occupation from the early to mid-18th century through the 20th century. The earlier historic-period sites are almost certainly the locations of slave quarters, scattered around a small, unnamed creek or inlet off St. Clement’s Bay. Sometime in the mid-19th century, possibly following the sale of the labor force south, occupation constricted to a single locus, probably by tenants of the Jesuits. Archaeological evidence indicates that the head of the unnamed creek in this area was filled in, probably in the 1970s before the standing brick ranch house was built. Both modern and historic-period features were identified at the site.
The newly discovered site, 18ST891, is also a multi-component site and is located at the Lacey house complex. 18ST891 is a small site repeatedly visited by Native Americans beginning as early as 900 BCE through the Late Woodland (900-1600 CE) period. The site was also occupied from the mid-18th century through c. 1800, probably serving as one or more quarters for enslaved households. Finally, 18ST891 was occupied again in the mid- to late 19th century through the 20th century by tenant families.
All three sites are potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion D for their potential to yield information important in prehistory and history.
Interpretive possibilities for Newtowne Neck State Park include Native history, Jesuit history, the history of slavery, and the relationship between natural and cultural history. The Maryland Park Service has the opportunity to connect with other initiatives, including the Through Piscataway Eyes project, the Religious Freedom Tour, and the Georgetown Slavery Archive Project.