Page 155 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD
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figure 13
Potomac Creek plan view
Opanient settlement, one of the smaller settle- ments shown by Smith on his map. The palisade at this settlement measured approximately 200 by 150 feet. Like the palisade at the Accokeek Creek Site, the palisade at the Cumberland site forms an arc extending out from and back to the shoreline. It is unlikely that this shape was caused by ero- sion of a once fully encircled compound.The bank along the shore itself may have served as a form of barrier, though exposed.
The Cumberland site was occupied primarily in the Late Woodland period, though lithic and ceramic evidence does show the site was utilized in a limited capacity by native people as far back as the Early Archaic period.36 All of the identi- fiable Late Woodland ceramics at the Cumber- land site were Townsend-type ceramics. No grit/ sand-tempered wares such as Potomac Creek or Moyaone were identified. The site would have been quite far removed from the Piscataway
figure 14
Stone pile at Accokeek Creek (highlighted).
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IMAGE ADAPTED FROM STEPHENSON AND FERGUSON (1963).
IMAGE COURTESY OF COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS (COLONIALENCOUNTERS.ORG).
