JMT Cultural Resources Completes Reporting and Curation of 60,000 Artifacts: Unveiling the Cultural Heritage Along Nice/Middleton Memorial Bridge

November is Native American Heritage Month. JMT Cultural Resources recently completed the reporting and curation of over 60,000 artifacts from the excavation of a Native American shell midden and historic plantation at the Barnesfield Plantation site (44KG0171) as part of the Maryland Transportation Authority ’s (MDTA) Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas “Mac” Middleton Bridge Replacement project (“Nice/Middleton Bridge”).?The new Bridge opened to traffic on October 13, 2022—three months ahead of schedule—and delivered a wider, safer, and improved bridge across the Potomac River between Charles County, MD, and King George County, VA.

The Barnesfield Plantation site is located on the west bank of the Potomac River in Dahlgren, VA, at the freshwater-saltwater transition zone. At the site, JMT archaeologists identified multiple Native American occupations dating from 13,000–400 years ago (Paleoindian Period to the Late Woodland Period) as well as a historic period (1710–1940) plantation house and outbuildings. Early Native American activity included short-term hunting and resource procurement camps during the Archaic Period. Later Woodland period Indigenous occupations included semi-permanent seasonal camps in pursuit of oysters as a food source, which led to the development of a vast shell midden covering most of the project area’s shoreline along the Potomac River.

A shell midden is an archaeological site consisting of an accumulation of primarily oyster shells that humans processed for subsistence. In the Chesapeake region of Virginia, Native Americans began settling in seasonal camps along estuaries in pursuit of oysters during the Woodland period (3200–2300 BP). Highlights of the Woodland period in Eastern North America include clay pottery production on a large scale, increased semi-sedentary settlements, and horticulture. JMT carbon dated the Barnesfield shell midden, and the results returned dates of the Early and Middle Woodland periods, approximately 2,400–1,240 years ago. Additional subsurface features associated with the Native American occupation of Barnesfield include pits and postholes, suggesting longer-term Woodland period settlement of the site.

Archaeobotanical specialist Dan King of JMT identified plant species native to the region within the shell midden, including nettles, goosefoot, catchfly, yellow wood sorrel, buckwheat, mints, grasses, brambles, and common plantains. These species reflect the general ecological conditions of the region, but they also have known edible and medicinal uses. JMT also recovered a large grinding stone or metal from the site, which is used for processing plant remains—another indication of the semi-permanent Native American settlement of the site.

JMT subcontracted a faunal specialist, Stefanie Perez of New South Associates, Inc. , to analyze the vertebrate and invertebrate remains identified from the excavation of Barnesfield. Faunal analysis revealed shell deposits were relatively evenly distributed across the northern and eastern portions of the site, as well as vertically within the shell midden. These deposits included a large amount of both whole and highly fragmentary shell, suggesting an ongoing and gradual accumulation of material over a long period of time.

Oysters not only served as a food source for Woodland period residents of Barnesfield, but their shells were also utilized as a temper for ceramics. Native potters added tempers made from sand, crushed oyster shell, crushed rock, and other stabilizers to the clay to prevent the ceramics from exploding during the firing process. Mockley ceramics were manufactured around the Chesapeake region during the Middle Woodland period and were characterized by their oyster shell tempers. JMT identified 73 sherds of Mockley ceramic sherds at Barnesfield. The exteriors of Mockley pottery can be plain, but they are often decorated with cord markings, net impressions, and punctations.

The precontact Native Americans who lived at Nice/Middleton Bridge are the ancestors of present-day sovereign Indigenous nations. Federally and state-recognized tribal nations involved in consultation for the Nice/Middleton Bridge project included the Oneida Indian Nation, Upper Mattaponi Tribe, Chickahominy Indian Tribe, Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Nansemond Indian Nation, Rappahannock Tribe, Chickahominy Indians Eastern Division, Nottoway Indian Tribe, Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Tribe, Patawomeck Tribe, and Mattaponi Tribe. These tribal nations have past and present obligations to steward the land on which Nice/Middleton Bridge sits.

For more information about Native American Heritage Month, please visit?the White House’s Proclamation,?the Bureau of Indian Affairs website, and?the National Native American Heritage Month website.

For more information about JMT Cultural Resources, please contact Lauren Gryctko at?[email protected].?