Archaeological Survey Proposed Forestry Activities Training Areas 21, 23, 24, and 30, Fort A.P. Hill (AP2012.001)

The Fort A.P. Hill Cultural Resource Manager, under the Environmental Division of the Directorate of Public Works within Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, has completed Phase I archaeological survey in association with proposed forestry activities in 10 forestry blocks located in Training Areas 21, 23, 24, and 30, Fort A.P. Hill, Caroline County, Virginia. The proposed forestry activities will include two pine selection cuts (Blocks 24A06PS and 30A06PS), four pine thinnings (Blocks 21A06TH, 23A06TH, 23B06TH, and 23C06TH), and four pine shelterwood cuts (Blocks 24A06PW, 30B06PW, 30C06PW, and 30D06PW). The Project Area consists of approximately 139.26 hectares (344.1 acres) of forestland.

The objective of the archaeological survey was to identify any historic properties that may be located within the proposed forestry blocks and evaluate the potential eligibility of any such resources for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. As a result of the investigations, two previously unrecorded archaeological sites (44CE0476 and 44CE0477) and one isolated artifact location (IA-0601) were identified.

Site 44CE0476 is a late eighteenth- to mid nineteenth-century farmstead site, with domestic vegetation including yucca plants and cedar trees. Although all of the artifacts were encountered in Ap-horizon deposits, and no intact cultural features were identified at the site during the current survey, the cultural materials recovered from Site 44CE0476 may be attributable to a relatively confined temporal period (ca. 1780-1830). Brick fragments were encountered throughout the site, as was vegetation suggestive of a historic house site (e.g., yucca plants and cedar trees). It is possible that portions of the site have experienced relatively limited disturbance from previous agricultural and military activities and that cultural deposits at the site may reveal the presence of extant or former subsurface features. Consequently, the artifacts recovered from the site may represent intact (or partially intact) cultural deposits that may provide information relative to site age and function. Site 44CE0476 is eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criterion D, as the site may yield additional information relative to colonial settlement in Caroline County during the Colony to Nation (1750 to 1789) and Early National (1789 to 1830) periods. The site does not appear to be eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criteria A, B, or C.

Site 44CE0477 represents a very low density, nineteenth- or twentieth-century historic domestic artifact scatter that accumulated along a former fenceline. As (1) all of the artifacts were recovered from Ap-horizon soils, (2) no cultural features or intact cultural deposits were encountered at the site, and (3) no natural features typical of historic sites (e.g., domestic vegetation) were identified in the vicinity, Site 44CE0477 does not maintain integrity relative to the National Register Criteria. Consequently, Site 44CE0477 is not eligible for inclusion in the National Register under Criteria A, B, C, or D.

This collection contains the Archaeological Survey Proposed Forestry Activities Training Areas 21, 23, 24, and 30, Fort A.P. Hill (AP2012.001) project. This includes a report from the investigation (which contains an artifact catalog in the appendices), a photo log and photographs.