Page 163 - Maryland Historical Trust - Archaeology Colonial MD

TABLE 7 — Artifacts recovered from shovel tests, Choptico Indian Town.
Artifact type
Count
Accokeek
1
Pope’s Creek
1
Mockley
2
Townsend
71
Yeocomico
44
Yeocomico or Townsend
7
Potomac Creek
19
Moyaone
8
Unidentified ceramic
11
Total Native Ceramics
164
Lithic shatter/flake
173
Projectile point/scraper/core/uniface
27
Fire-cracked rock
14
Hammerstone
2
Total lithics
216
Tobacco pipe, red
4
Tobacco pipe, white
19
Total pipes
23
Copper
5
English flint gun flints/strike-a-lite
2
English flint flakes
3
Colonial ceramics
12
Colonial glass
28
Nails & corroded iron
20
Other iron
12
Brick/Daub
26 (13.9g)
Animal bone
216 (121.8g)
Oyster shell
56,549 (74,287.6g)
TOTAL ARTIFACTS
57,276
Choptico came in 1712.
The land where the Choptico settlement was
located still bears the name Indiantown Farm. Where exactly the reservation settlement was located was uncertain until 2014, when it was rediscovered as such by archaeologists from St. Mary’s College of Maryland.57 Materials recov- ered from the site (18ST153) correspond and date to the period of the Choptico reservation settlement. The artifacts tell a tale of Native ma- terial culture that was both similar to, and differ- ent from, earlier settlements.
The artifact assemblage consists of predom- inantly Native-made materials, including lithics and ceramics, with some artifacts of European origin. This is notable considering that land and other documentary records suggest the reserva- tion was surrounded by English plantations. This demonstrates that, in spite of these difficulties and increased availability of European goods, the Choptico and others on the reservation were maintaining familiar practices and traditions.
Only a few artifacts date prior to the Late Woodland/Contact periods, indicating that the site was not heavily utilized in the time leading up to the Late Woodland or the establishment of the reservation. These include a single sherd of Accokeek ware (Early Woodland), a single sherd of Popes Creek (Early Woodland to Early Mid- dle Woodland), two Mockley sherds (Middle Woodland), and one Lehigh/Koens-Crispin pro- jectile point (Late Archaic). The remaining iden- tifiable projectile point fragments were all small Late Woodland period quartz triangular points (known as Potomac points) that would have been contemporary with the reservation occupation.
Native-made ceramics make up 91% of the ceramic assemblage with those of European ori- gin making up the remainder. The majority of the Native-made ceramics were shell-tempered wares such as Townsend and Yeocomico wares. Sand and/or crushed quartz-tempered Potomac Creek and Moyaone ceramics make up a minority part of the assemblage. European-made wares includ- ed two North Devon earthenware fragments, two Staffordshire slipware sherds, a possible Morgan Jones fragment (a local ware typically found in 1670s contexts), and a single fragment of Rhen- ish brown stoneware. White clay tobacco pipes of European origin, however, were recovered in greater frequency than Native or locally-made tobacco pipes.
Other artifacts of European origin include
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