Refining Interpretations of the Conowingo Site (18CE14): Ground Stone Analysis of the Stearns Collection

Abstract

The Conowingo site (18CE14) is described in the literature as a Late Archaic-Late Woodland seasonal base camp supported by a series of exploitive procurement camps supplying non-local lithic materials. This description of one of the largest pre-contact sites in Maryland has been de rigueur since the site was excavated by the Archaeological Society of Maryland in 1981–1982. Multiple severe flooding episodes have ensured that later excavations have not supplied much data to alter this narrative. However, the currently accepted time of occupation and interpretation of site function do not include data from over 100 years of avocational archaeologists collecting artifacts from the site. Analysis of the Stearns collection from the 1930s indicates the presence of Early and Middle Archaic components, and a much heavier reliance on local lithic materials than initially inferred.