Page 157 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

TABLE 5 — Native ceramics, Accokeek Creek.
Ware Type Count
Marcey Creek 277
Accokeek 9726
Popes Creek 2347
Total Early Woodland 12350
Albermarle 738
Mockley 7979
Total Middle Woodland 8717
Townsend 308
Potomac Creek 34788
Moyaone 1105
Total Late Woodland 36201
Poss. Accokeek 69
Poss. Popes Creek 84
Poss. Townsend 21
Poss. Potomac Creek 177
Poss. Keyser 695
Total UID 1046
TOTAL CERAMICS 58314
(18CV24) sites are considered possible contend- ers. These two shell midden sites were identified by Richard Stearns in 1951 and were originally thought to be parts of the Opanient settlement.38 No systematic survey of these sites has been undertaken to date. More recent interpretations of the sites suggests that rather than being the Opanient site, the sites on Battle Creek are parts of the larger Pawtuxent village.39 Despite being recorded as separate sites, they are only separat- ed by a small cove and likely represent a single occupation.
A satellite site of the Pawtuxent village lo- cated further up Battle Creek has been investi- gated more thoroughly.40 The Torp’s Lament site (18CV495), located on a bend of Battle Creek known as Cat Hole, was a small hamlet or re- source procurement site associated with the Paw- tuxent town. The footprint of this site is notable for its small size but high density of artifacts, lo- calized primarily on a high bluff above a bend in Battle Creek — a prime fishing location. The site extent is marked by a thick and dense shell mid- den that measures roughly 100 by 50 feet. Subsur- face features identified at the site include, hearths, smudge pits, and postmolds (see figures 17 and 18). Smudge pits are a feature type described as small, slightly oval pits with mean lengths of about a foot and widths of 0.9 feet. These pits would have been used for hide smoking and have been observed on Mississippian sites dating mostly after AD 1000. They are described in documentary accounts in the historic period throughout North America.41
In all, the site appears to have been where highly specialized activity was taking place. The presence of smudge pits suggests that people may have been smoking hides. The overall small foot- print of the site does not suggest that the site was used for extensive settlement activity. Agricul- turally, the land is not an ideal spot for planting crops. Its proximity to the conjectured Pawtuxent town and the lack of evidence of substantial set- tlement activity point to this site being a satellite operation for the larger town where hunting and fishing activity persistently occurred.
The Torp’s Lament site dates to the Middle and Late Woodland periods. Like the Cumber- land site, the Late Woodland ceramic assemblage consisted primarily of Townsend-type wares, though Potomac Creek and/or Moyaone wares appear in small quantities as a minority ceram- ic. The Patuxent River drainage and portions of the Chesapeake Bay shore in Calvert and Anne
Arundel Counties are exceptional for the pres- ence of a ceramic type rarely found anywhere else known as “Sullivan Cove.” Sullivan Cove, like Townsend, was a shell-tempered ware that is usually thinner and has surface treatments and decorative motifs much more similar to Potomac Creek. These wares appear influenced by Poto- mac Creek and thus appear sometime after its introduction into the Patuxent valley. The lack of examples from this site may point to an abandonment sometime shortly after AD 1300, when Potomac Creek first appears in the region.
Sullivan Cove wares have been found in relatively large numbers at the probable location of the Mattapanian settlement further upriver in present-day Prince George’s County. The Not- tingham South site (18PR18) was first identified by Richard Stearns in 1936, who conducted a surface collection of the site. The site has been studied through additional testing or review of private collections several times since then. A bell-shaped feature was excavated by Thomas Mayr in 1950. A private collection was reviewed by archaeologist Tyler Bastian in 1973 and Wayne Clark conducted another surface survey of the property in 1974.42
The number of artifacts recovered from the surface surveys alone are impressive. Diagnos-
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