Pine Hill Run, Phase I Investigations, Naval Air Station Patuxent River (2012.042)

On behalf of the Department of the Navy, Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Washington, The Louis Berger Group, Inc. (LBG), carried out a Phase I archaeological survey of three tracts at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. The survey areas are along the north bank of a stream known as Pine Hill Run. The survey was conducted as part of compliance efforts for Sections 110 and 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended. The Navy is planning to construct new laboratory facilities on two of the tracts. The purpose of the archaeological survey was to determine the presence or absence of archaeological sites in the survey areas and to assess the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility of the sites, to the extent possible at the Phase I level.

Archaeological survey was conducted on three survey areas totaling 26.5 hectares (65.5 acres). Survey Areas 1 and 2 measure 8.1 and 12.7 hectares (20.1 and 31.4 acres), respectively, located south of Shaw Road. Survey Area 3 measures 5.7 hectares (14.0 acres), on the north side of Shaw Road. The field investigations were conducted in May and June 2011. The primary means of site identification was through the excavation of shovel tests, and a total of 1,043 shovel tests was completed during the survey.

The archaeological survey identified five sites (Sites 18ST854, 18ST855, 18ST856, 18ST857, and 18ST1858), all located in Survey Areas 1 and 2. Sites 18ST856 and 18ST857 are prehistoric tool reduction sites of unknown age. Sites 18ST854, 18ST855, and 18ST858 are late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century artifact scatters. The sites may be associated with domestic refuse dumping; there is a possibility the sites may also be associated with late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century farmsteads pre-dating Navy acquisition in 1942. No features were identified at any of the sites during the Phase I survey.

This collection contains the official investigation report, along with photographs, a photograph log, artifact inventory, and the cataloging methods used when analyzing the artifacts.