Accokeek Creek Site

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Accokeek Creek Site
Accokeek Creek Site.jpg
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Location of the burial site of Turkey Tayac, in the Accokeek Creek Site [1]
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Accokeek Creek Site (the United States)
Nearest city Accokeek, Maryland
Coordinates 38°41′45.7″N77°03′06.6″W / 38.696028°N 77.051833°W / 38.696028; -77.051833
NRHP reference No. 66000909
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966 [2]
Designated NHLJuly 19, 1964 [3]

Accokeek Creek Site, also known as Moyaone, is an archaeological site in Prince George's County, Maryland, located along the Potomac River across from Mount Vernon in today's Piscataway Park, which was inhabited intermittently since 2000 BC. [3] Accokeek Creek Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. [3]

Contents

Description

The National Park Service describes the site as "remarkable for its variety and concentration of human occupation sites. Accokeek included a palisaded village that was occupied from ca. A.D. 1300 to ca. 1630. The site has been used by archeologists to define a culture-history sequence in prehistoric archaeology for the Mid-Atlantic region." [3] The site dates from the Late Archaic Period, ca. 3,000 BC, to the historic period. During the Middle Woodland Period, ca. AD 800, small horticultural villages were established.

The village called Moyaone appeared during the late-16th/early-17th centuries. Moyaone, also named the Accokeek Creek site, is the sister site of Potomac Creek, 44ST2 and it is thought that they were settled around the same time. [4] This village had many palisade lines and faced the Potomac. [5] The formations of this site and Potomac Creek are similar in that the outermost system of the village is the only one to include an interior ditch or borrow pits. There are no bastions found at the Moyaone village. A maximum population for Moyaone is calculated to be 300-320 with the size of the village being 6,100 m². [4] Archaeology has indicated numerous building periods which leads to believing these people had a long occupation at the site. Four ossuaries were found near the village and hold the remains of over 1,000 people. The village was abandoned before Contact (clarification needed). At the north end of the area near the Piscataway Creek there was a rectangular fort that was occupied by the Susquehannocks in 1674-75. [5]

Ceramics

Moyaone ceramics are a Late Woodland ware and date from ca. AD 1300-AD 1650. They are found throughout the Western Shore Coastal Plain of Maryland. The ceramics are characterized by fine grained sand and mica temper, soft texture, compact paste, and smoothed interior and exterior surfaces. The paste is made of a fine-grained clay and has a texture that is soft, smooth, and compact. The temper is made from a fine-grained sand that has mica in it, which gives off a slight glitter appearance.

There are three defined types named Moyaone Plain, Moyaone Cord-Impressed, and Moyaone Incised. Moyaone Plain is undecorated. The Cord-Impressed is a simple ceramic and decoration is limited to the rim and lip. Decorations include stamped, rolled onto the vessel, or a cord that is horizontal, vertical, or diagonal to the rim. The Incised decoration is limited to the lip, rim, and upper body area. The decoration used on this type of ceramic consists of incised lines that are made with a sharp tool or a wide, dull tool. [6]

Significance

The site was excavated by Alice L.L. Ferguson in the 1930s-1940s and the material was analyzed by Robert L. Stephenson in the 1950s. [7] The site served as a basis for understanding the ceramic chronology that appears in the Middle Atlantic region. The chronology that was made was the Early Woodland Marcey Creek/Accokeek/Popes Creek, Middle Woodland Mockley, Late Woodland Potomac Creek continuum. The Moyaone village represents the largest and last-occupied Piscataway village before the arrival of Europeans. [5]

Piscataway leader Turkey Tayac "supported the creation of Piscataway Park [at the site], on one condition: that he could be buried there, and that his people could always visit freely, for cultural and spiritual purposes." Because there was no record of this verbal agreement and handshake, he was not buried at Moyaone until 1979, a year after his death, when Congress passed legislation [8] permitting his burial in a national park area. [1] [9]

See also

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

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Accokeek, "at the edge of the hill" in Algonquin, is a census-designated place (CDP) located in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The CDP is located on the Potomac River, borders Charles County and is approximately 17 miles from Washington. It is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. The population of the CDP, as of the 2020 United States Census was 13,927.

Turkey Tayac, legally Philip Sheridan Proctor (1895–1978), was a Piscataway leader and herbal medicine practitioner; he was notable in Native American activism for tribal and cultural revival in the 20th century. He had some knowledge of the Piscataway language and was consulted by the Algonquian linguist, Ives Goddard, as well as Julian Granberry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory</span> State-recognized tribe in Maryland that claims descent from the historic Piscataway tribe

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piscataway Park</span> Park in Maryland

Piscataway Park is a National Park Service-protected area located 20 miles (32 km) southwest of downtown Washington, D.C. in and around Accokeek, Maryland. It protects the National Colonial Farm, Marshall Hall, and the Accokeek Creek Site. The park is located across the Potomac River from George Washington's Mount Vernon estate.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potomac Creek, 44ST2</span> Archaeological site in Virginia, United States

Potomac Creek, or 44ST2, is a late Native American village located on the Potomac River in Stafford County, Virginia. It is from the Woodland Period and dates from 1300 to 1550. There is another Potomac Creek site, 44ST1 or Indian Point, which was occupied by the Patawomeck during the historic period and is where Captain John Smith visited. This site no longer exists, as it eroded away into the river. Site 44ST2 has five ossuaries, one individual burial, and one multiple burial. Other names for the site are Potowemeke and Patawomeke. The defining features include distinctive ceramics, ossuary burials, and palisade villages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer Island site</span> Archaeological site in Michigan, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kittamaqundi</span> Piscataway village in Maryland

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumaw Creek Site</span> Archaeological site in Michigan, United States

The Dumaw Creek Site is an archaeological site designated 20OA5, located along Dumaw Creek northeast of Pentwater, Michigan, that was the location of a 17th-century village and cemetery. It is one of the youngest pre-historic sites in Michigan, dating to the terminal Late Woodland Period just prior to European contact. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The history of Native Americans in Baltimore and what is now Baltimore dates back at least 12,000 years. As of 2014, Baltimore is home to a small Native American population, centered in East Baltimore. The majority of Native Americans now living in Baltimore belong to the Lumbee, Piscataway, and Cherokee tribes. The Piscataway people live in Southern Maryland and are recognized by the state of Maryland. The Lumbee and Cherokee are Indigenous to North Carolina and neighboring states of the Southeastern United States. Many of the Lumbee and Cherokee migrated to Baltimore during the mid-20th century along with other migrants from the Southern United States, such as African-Americans and white Appalachians. The Lumbee are state recognized in North Carolina as the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, but have no state recognition in Maryland. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina are a federally recognized tribe. There are three state recognized tribes in Maryland; the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe of Maryland, the Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory, and the Accohannock Indian Tribe. Maryland has no federally recognized tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hard Bargain Farm</span> United States historic place

Hard Bargain Farm is the former country estate and working farm of Alice and Henry Ferguson. It is located at 2001 Bryan Point Road in Accokeek, Maryland, overlooking the Potomac River. The property, now a smaller portion of the 330 acres (130 ha) they purchased, was developed by them into a "country garden". Alice Ferguson, an artist, produced a significant body of her work here, and oversaw both the operations of the farm they established, and studied the prehistoric archaeological remains found on the property. The Fergusons established the Ferguson Foundation in 1954 to manage the property. The foundation operates the property as an educational center focused on land stewardship and historical farming practices in the region. The property includes a heavy timber frame tobacco barn originally constructed between about 1830 and 1850, and rebuilt in the post-American Civil War era. Popular events include the annual Oktoberfest, and "theater in the woods" productions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moccasin Bluff site</span> Archaeological site in Michigan, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry G. Ferguson</span> American geologist (1882-1966)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moyaone Reserve</span> Historic District in Maryland

The Moyaone Reserve is a neighborhood adjacent to Piscataway Park in Accokeek and Bryans Road, Maryland. The neighborhood was given National Register of Historic Places status in 2020 and is within the historic viewshed of Mount Vernon. It is split between Prince George's County, Maryland and Charles County, Maryland. The name Moyaone is derived from name of the town Moyaone, the major town of the Piscataway Native American tribe. The archaeological remains of Moyaone are at the Accokeek Creek Site, within Piscataway Park.

References

  1. 1 2 Rebecca Sheir (Director) (December 16, 2011). "Rediscovering The Piscataway Hub Of Moyaone". Metro Connection. WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Accokeek Creek Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
  4. 1 2 William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research. "Return to Potomac Creek (44ST2): Archaeology at a Late Prehistoric Native American Village Archived August 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ." Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
  5. 1 2 3 "National Register Listings in Maryland." Maryland Historical Trust.
  6. "Moyaone Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine ." Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland. Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.
  7. The Accokeek Creek Site, A Middle Atlantic Seaboard Culture Sequence. Robert L. Stephenson and Alice L. L. Ferguson, with sections by Henry G. Ferguson. (Anthropological Papers No. 20, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan) Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1963.
  8. "Chief Turkey Tayac, burial in Oxon Hill, Md." 93  Stat.   665 Title III; October 12, 1979
  9. Hodge, Paul (November 12, 1979). "Chief Is Buried in Piscataway". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 20, 2015.