ANNAPOLIS, Md.—Is this a case of prehistoric sprawl?
County archaeologists over the past several years have uncovered centuries of Native American history at Pig Point along the Patuxent River, now they think a vast settlement surrounded the ceremonial gathering spot.
“We thought of Pig Point as a central, ceremonial place,” C. Jane Cox, county chief of cultural resources, said Wednesday. “There have been hints of other settlements, people have found artifacts in the area, but it looks now like there might have been thousands of people here for a long, long time.”
She was standing near the shore near the southernmost end of the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Lothian where two primary areas are being studied, one along the shoreline and the other upland near Two Run Branch that flows into the river. Crews have been digging all summer unearthing evidence of Pig Point’s “suburbs.”
The biggest surprise has been the wide distribution of artifacts. “It’s everywhere,” Cox said.
The archaeology team’s approach begins with the digging of shovel-test-pits a couple of feet deep that are set up in a grid across the potential study area. A promising site will have clusters of shovel pits with some artifacts or other evidence in spots scattered across the grid.
Not this site.
“We dug 450 test pits over a quarter-mile area,” Cox said. “Nearly every one of them had artifacts.”
Pig Point itself has become vital in the understanding of pre-Columbian settlement and ceremony. The initial discoveries were of projectile points and pottery up to 8,000 years old, and evidence of wigwams built centuries apart.
But then a large burial ground was discovered across the road from the original digs, which started in 2009. Evidence uncovered there in 2012—smashed human bones of over 1,000 individuals and other artifacts, points to some form of ritual mortuary practice, perhaps spanning thousands of years.
Layers and layers of history were uncovered, all in roughly the same location. “Finding deep sites, with multiple periods of occupation through time, are really, really rare,” said Matt McKnight, research archaeologist with the Maryland Historic Trust, which oversees two primary grants funding the fieldwork at Pig Point. “That is the importance of the find. We should be able to learn about cultural change over time.”
