Archaeological Investigations at the Posey Site (18CH281) and 18CH282 Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Charles County, Maryland

Summary

This report summarizes the results of a program of background research, archaeological fieldwork, and analysis conducted for the Department of Natural Resources of the Indian Head Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Charles County Maryland. The subject of the project was the Posey Site (18CH281) and 18CH282, two archaeological sites located near Mattawoman Creek aboard the Surface Warfare Center. The investigation was undertaken by the Maryland Historical Trust’s Southern Maryland Regional Center at the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.

The two sites were located and initially tested during a survey of limited portions of the facility in 1985. At that time, the Posey Site was interpreted as a probable Contact Period deposit thought to date from ca. 1600 A.D. to an unknown terminal point. Several intact subsurface features were discovered, one of which yielded material radiocarbon dated to 1575 +/- 90 years A.D.

The fieldwork conducted during the present investigation consisted of the excavation of 510 shovel test pits and 37 1.5-by-1.5-meter units. Several features - including postmolds, a possible pit, and sections of an intact midden deposit - were located and some were excavated or tested. This report describes the results of this fieldwork as well as a reanalysis of the 1985 materials.

Approximately 8000 artifacts and 4000 fragments of faunal material were recovered during the present project. Artifacts included large amounts of ceramic, lithic materials, hand wrought nails, brass fragments and other metal artifacts, bottle glass, shell and glass beads, and other materials. The majority of the ceramic assemblage was Potomac Creek Plain, although lesser amounts of Camden, Yeocomico, and several types of wheel thrown wares were also recovered. Lithic materials included European flint as well as local quartz, quartzite, and chert. Faunal materials consisted primarily of indigenous bone fragments, and indicated exploitation of adjacent woodland and riverine environments. Five pig tooth fragments, however, raise important questions about the diet of the site’s occupants, although the majority of the faunal materials were recovered from plow disturbed contexts.

Artifacts recovered from the site indicate a single occupation component, probably Native American, dating to the period between 1650 and 1700 A.D. The site functioned as a locus for the manufacture of trade goods, and for the reprocessing of materials acquired through trade. Changes in the morphology of ceramic vessels produced on the site have been interpreted as indicative of a transitional phase in a process of Native American cultural change that occurred through the second half of the 17th century.

The results of the fieldwork and subsequent analysis support a determination of National Register significance for the Posey Site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• US Naval Support Facility, Indian Head, Maryland   •
• Archaeological Investigations at the Posey Site (18CH281) and 18CH282 Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (2005.012)   •
• Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory   •
• Navy Collections for Colonial Encounters Project

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory Federal Curator

Contributor(s): Environmental Division Indian Head Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center

Principal Investigator(s): Julia A. King; Edward E. Chaney

Sponsor(s): Navy

Repository(s): Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory

Prepared By(s): Southern Maryland Regional Center

Record Identifiers

Maryland Historical Trust Report #(s): CH 89

MAC Lab Accession Number(s): 2005.012

Notes

General Note: The following physical records are held at MAC Lab: Field Notes, Lab Notes, Maps,Oversized Maps, Black & White Negatives, Black and White Contact Sheets, Kodachrome Slides, Photologs, List of Documentation

General Note: Date Collected:5/29/1996-8/6/1996

General Note: DISCLAIMER: The following report is a DRAFT that was never officially finalized. The project ended and project staff moved on to other positions before the editing process was completed. However, this report had been through at least one round of edits between 1996 and 1999. The work left undone primarily involved fine tuning of text and figures, integration of figures in the body of the report, reference checks, and the compilation of the appendices. When the report was first written in 1996, the inclusion of the figures and appendices in the final formatting were not easily done in one document because of technological limitations. In preparation for inclusion in tDAR, this document was therefore updated in 2014 so that figures and appendices could be incorporated into one file where possible. Additionally, hand-written comments on the 1999 version were incorporated. This effort made it possible to edit and integrate the body of this document into a nearly complete report, but the appendices proved to be more of a challenge. Appendices A (Scope of Work) and B (Safety Documents) could not be located in digital form and are therefore not included in the document. Appendix C contains an artifact catalog for the 1996 excavations, but it does not include the revised catalog of artifacts recovered in 1985 that is mentioned in the report. That revised catalog could not be located in digital or paper form for incorporation in this draft. However, the catalog presented does include revisions to lot numbers that were added in 2005 as the result of ongoing curatorial work. Finally, the digital files that comprise Appendix E, the faunal analysis by Landon and Shapiro, were rendered obsolete by generations of software changes, but it was available as a scanned PDF. In the interest of efficiency, the PDF is available as a separate file but the original appendix was not re-created in the report. It should also be noted that the Posey collection is frequently accessed by researchers interested in the early interactions between American Indians and European Colonists in Maryland. As a result, analysis of the collection is ongoing, and some results and artifact identifications included in this report have been superseded by later studies. This makes finalizing the 1996 report increasingly problematic, since it presents the editors with decisions about which interpretations to include: the original analysis or later studies. Still, as dilemmas go, this is a welcome one, because it speaks to the importance of the archaeological resource and the value of ongoing collections-based research. There will never be a “final” word about the Posey site as long as people are still interested in examining it, so keeping the report in a not-quite-finished state leaves room for incorporating new discoveries. Sara Rivers-Cofield Curator, Federal Collections, Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory July 25, 2014

Redaction Note: To request access to a nonredacted copy, contact the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.

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