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Potomac Creek (44ST2)

Introduction

The Potomac Creek site (44ST2) is situated on a relatively high, defensible bluff above the creek of the same name. Located in Stafford County, Virginia, on the south shore of the Potomac River, "Potowomeke" was an important ceremonial place for centuries. The site was likely first occupied by Owasco immigrants ca. 1300 AD and was abandoned ca. 1550 AD, prior to European contact. The site has been a focus of archaeological interest since at least the 1930s.

The site derives particular significance from the presence of multiple palisade lines erected at different times during the site's approximately 250 year occupation. Such repeated fortification suggests that the village would have been the chief residence of the werowance, or leader, during its period of occupation. The site and the people who built and lived there are considered by some archaeologists as intrusive, migrants from the Piedmont who were pushed into the inner Coastal Plain by still more migrants from further west. The Potomac Creek site offers an important opportunity to examine Indigenous life in the Potomac valley during these presumed migrations and movements, including the arrival of European explorers and immigrants beginning in the late 16th century.

The material included in the database was generated in 1996 and 1997 by the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research (WMCAR). The purpose of the excavations, driven in part by septic field construction, focused on determining the function of the site, assigning relative dates and functions to features around the perimeter of the site (including palisade lines, trenches, and a ditch), documenting diet and subsistence patterns, and analyzing changes in material culture.

Archaeological Investigations

The Potomac Creek site was first identified in 1934 by two avocational archaeologists, Hugh Stabler and Richard G. Slattery. Their survey was continued in the following year, when Judge William J. Graham, also an avocational archaeologist, assumed intellectual leadership of the project alongside archaeologist T. Dale Stewart of the Smithsonian Institution. The next few years of excavation resulted in the recovery of a collection of artifacts, which were delivered to Smithsonian Institution upon Judge Graham's death in 1937. Stewart then conducted formal excavations on the site between 1938 and 1940. Excavations were resumed in 1957 by Carl Manson and again in 1983 by Howard MacCord.

Plans to construct a 34-by-18.5-meter septic drain field in the site's northwestern quadrant prompted the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to sponsor further archaeological research at Potomac Creek. In May of 1996, the CRM firm Cultural Resources, Inc (CRI) performed a preliminary survey of the area, parts of which had previously been excavated by Graham and Stewart. During this season, CRI stripped the plow zone and mapped all features uncovered, including "five palisade lines, eight narrow trenches, a midden-filled ditch, two possible hearths, numerous scattered posts, and other unidentified anomalies" (Blanton et al. 1999). The lack of evidence for distinct house patterns has lead archaeologists to conclude that this portion of the site was used primarily for ceremonial purposes.

In November and December of 1996, WMCAR under the direction of Dennis Blanton mapped and excavated features and conducted artifact analysis. Exposed features were re-troweled, mapped, and prioritized based on information potential. At least 50 percent of the exposed features were excavated through a program of systematic sampling. Feature fill was screened through ¼-inch hardware cloth (reported as 0.64 cm hardware cloth) and soil samples were collected for flotation. Palisade features were generally excavated in 2-by-2-meter units. Stratigraphy was recorded with scale drawings and photographs. Samples for radiocarbon dating and paleobotanical analyses were also collected. From this work, a final plan of the site was produced.

The WMCAR team continued research in 1997 with additional analysis of lithic artifacts and paleobotanical remains. Radiocarbon dating placed the majority of the site's features within the date range of 1260-1655 AD.

Features

Twenty-four cultural features were identified in 1996.

Eleven of these were palisade features, which included trenches (Features 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 11), palisade post lines (Features 2 and 8), and a ditch with two extensions (Feature 1; Features 15 and 24). From these features, a total of 18,743 artifacts were recovered. Features 1 (ditch) and 15 (borrow pit) yielded the largest numbers of artifacts at 14,891 and 1,492, respectively. An additional palisade trench, Feature 27, was noted but not excavated. The outermost palisade lines (Features 11 and possibly 9) are those associated with the earliest period of occupation, ca. 1300-1400 AD. Feature 15 is interpreted as a soil borrow pit, likely also constructed during this time period. Palisade Features 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are all attributed to 1400-1500 AD, a period the archaeologists interpret as one of economic and social stability.

Five refuse pits were also excavated yielding a total of 2,962 artifacts.

Three structural features were also excavated, including two trenches (Features 21 and 23) and a building pattern (Structure 1). A total of 85 artifacts were recovered from Feature 23, which comprised a portion of a wall trench intersecting Features 3 and 4. Feature 21, which yielded 38 artifacts and ran perpendicular to (but did not intersect) the Feature 11 palisade trench, may have been part of a defensive bastion. Located in the site's southeastern quadrant, the rectilinear outline of Structure 1 was drawn by connecting postholes on the north and west walls. Structure 1 was measured at 4 by 6 meters, and its construction has also been dated to the second stage of occupation, ca. 1400-1500 AD.

Four likely non-cultural features were identified, including Features 13, 16, 20, and 22. The first three were interpreted as tree disturbances while the last feature was irregular in shape and contained only 31 artifacts.

Artifacts

A total of 22,137 artifacts were recovered from the Potomac Creek site during WMCAR's 1996 field season. This includes "6,946 ceramic sherds, 99 other ceramic artifacts, 2,497 flaked stone artifacts, 797 other stone artifacts, 23 ground stone artifacts, and 11,701 faunal/floral remains (most of which [n=9,872] is animal bone)" (Blanton et al. 1999).

Ceramic finds were initially sorted by size to enable partial analysis, with all fragments greater than 2.5 cm in size grouped by temper and surface treatment. This form of sampling yielded 214 rim sherds, 1,490 body sherds, 243 basal sherds, three vessels, and one appendage. Blanton et al. (1999) report that "cord marking was the prominent surface treatment; smoothed or plain surfaces were also common. Grit or sand and grit were the most ubiquitous tempers recorded." Two ceramic fragments were designated as Middle Woodland types, while the vast majority (n=1,884) were classified as Late Woodland types. This included 1,807 Potomac Creek ware sherds (of which 1,285 were cord-marked and 413 were plain/smoothed), 60 sand-tempered Moyaone sherds, 19 Townsend sherds, 11 Kaiser cord-marked sherds, 19 Page cord-marked sherds, one Gaston sherd, 14 unidentified Late Woodland micaceous sand-tempered sherds, and 49 fragments that could not be typed. The majority of the vessels (82.6%) were recorded as jugs, 7.8% were miniature vessels, 6.7% were bowls, and 2.8% were beakers. The majority of these vessels are Potomac Creek wares.

Fifty-one red tobacco pipe fragments were also recovered. Thirty-two percent of these fragments were decorated, while the remainder did not include visible decorations. Pipes were generally recorded as belonging to one of two categories. The first of these categories was defined by tapered stems, small bore diameters, and few decorations, while the second was defined by untapered stems, large bore diameters, and frequent decorations. Only nine pipe fragments were assigned to the untapered group.

Three clay beads, one clay ladle fragment, and 44 pieces of unidentifiable ceramic were also recovered. The clay beads were likely produced locally, as their clay and texture closely resemble that of Potomac Creek ceramics. The same may be said for the clay ladle.

Of the 3,270 lithic artifacts recovered, 2,568 consist of flaked stone, 23 groundstone, and 679 fire-cracked rock. The majority of these artifacts were likely procured locally, with quartz (95%) representing the most common material. Seventy-eight percent of the hafted bifaces in the collection were recovered from Features 1 and 15, both of which were associated with the palisade line. Ninety-three lithic artifacts were recorded as staged bifaces or preforms. The four remaining types of formal tools represented in this assemblage are unifacial, steep-angled endscrapers (81.3%, n=26), two flaked drill bits, one sidescraper, an axe or hoe fragment, and two discoidal scrapers. Twenty-four informal tools were also recovered, as were 84 lithic cores and 2,285 fragments of lithic debitage.

One percent (n=97) of all faunal remains recovered were "recognized as having been modified for or by use." The faunal remains recovered include 67 identified bone tools (including awls), two bone beads, 15 cut bones, 3 polished bone fragments, and 26 modified deer antler fragments. The remainder of the analyzed faunal remains include 4,587 bone fragments recovered from six features. These were concentrated in the palisade ditch of Feature 1, with 66 percent of the analyzed bone recovered from that feature. Of these, most are from medium or large mammals, with whitetail deer (24%) the most common species represented. According to Blanton et al. (1999), "the [faunal] assemblage overall is reflective of year-round, permanent occupation."

Ethnobotanical data were recovered from flotation samples of 16 features, and samples of unprocessed soil from five features were submitted for phytolith analysis. According to phytolith analysis, "phytoliths specifically diagnostic of maize were not abundant (5-10%), but other phytolith types are believed to represent maize."

References

Blanton, Dennis B, et al. 1999. The Potomac Creek Site (44ST2) Revisited. Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

MacCord, Howard A., Sr. 1991. The Indian Point Site, Stafford County, Virginia. Archeological Society of Virginia Quarterly Bulletin 46(3):117–140.

MacCord, Howard A., Sr. 1992. The Potomac Indians: A Brief Culture History. Archeological Society of Virginia Quarterly Bulletin 47(2): 71–84.

Potter, Stephen R. 1993. Commoners, Tributes, and Chiefs: The Development of the Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.

Schmitt, Karl. 1965. Patawomeke: An Historic Algonkian Site. Archeological Society of Virginia Quarterly Bulletin 20:1–36.

Stewart, T. Dale. 1939. Excavating the Indian Village of Patawomeke (Potomac). In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1938, pp. 87–90. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Stewart, T. Dale. 1940. Further Excavations of the Indian Village Site of Patowomeke (Potomac). In Explorations and Fieldwork of the Smithsonian Institution in 1939, pp. 79–82. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Stewart, T. Dale. 1941. An Ossuary at the Indian Village Site of Patawomeke (Potomac). In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1940, pp. 67–70. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Stewart, T. Dale. 1992. Archaeological Exploration of Patawomeke: The Indian Town (44ST2) Ancestral to the One (44ST1) Visited in 1608 by Captain John Smith. Contributions to Anthropology 36. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

What You Need To Know To Use This Collection

The Potomac Creek site was occupied c. 1300-1550 A.D. Only materials recovered from WMCAR's 1996-97 investigations are included in the database.

Further Information About the Collection

The Potomac Creek archaeological collection is owned by the State of Virginia and curated by the Department of Historic Resources in Richmond. For more information about the collection and collection access, contact Laura Galke at 804-367-2323, ext 134 or by email at laura.galke@dhr.virginia.gov.