Archaeological Investigations of A Lithic Reduction Activity Area, Herring Island (18 Ce 146), Cecil County, Maryland

Abstract

Salvage archaeological investigations at the Herring Island site revealed a major base camp dating to Middle Archaic—Late Woodland times. During the Late Archaic and Early Woodland periods there is a clear distinction between a quarry-reduction area associated with ironstone outcroppings and habitation areas on the southwest section of the island. The high quality ironstone outcrops, the only identified to date in the Upper Chesapeake Bay region, and the intensive quarry-reduction activities suggest that Herring Island was a major center of ironstone artifact production which supplied the regional exchange networks that spread this lithic material throughout the Upper Chesapeake Bay region during Late Archaic—Early Woodland times.