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Archaeology in your Back Yard
Prehistoric Times
It is hard to imagine prehistoric people camping in your back yard but they most certainly did. For 12,000 years before settlers arrived in America from Europe, nomadic bands of native peoples roamed our parklands. They lived near streams valleys for access to drinking water and used stream valleys as "trails" in and out of the area to hunt and gather natural resources throughout the county on seasonal food-gathering rounds.
Paleo-lithic hunters came first. They made exotic fluted (spear) points to stalk roving herds of woodland bison, elk, and moose. About 6000 B.C., a more modern climate dominated and deer became a major food source. The new Archaic or hunting and gathering peoples' change to smaller notched points may reflect this new deer-hunting strategy.
We have yet to uncover why three-fourths of the spear points found in the county come from these Late Archaic groups (4000 to 1000 B.C.). Was it the growing population or a more favorable environment that attracted them?
After 1000 A.D., more westerly peoples expanded down the Potomac and lived in Woodland agricultural villages, which all but disappeared by 1500 A.D. Between then and European contact, the county was a buffer zone or "no man's land" between the Algonquian tribes of Southern Maryland and the western Shawnee or more northern Iroquoian ones, such as the Seneca.
Drawing by John White
Modern Settlements
Modern settlers used the same fast-flowing creeks for agriculture and rural industries. This is evidenced by the mill roads and many mill sites that dot the landscape. As our County becomes more urbanized, these archaeological resources will be preserved within public trusts.
First expanding into the Piedmont in the 17th century, land speculators carved out large tracts along our creeks which were so important for farming and milling. Thus, our stream valley parks are among the oldest settled areas.
Eventually, the over-cultivation of tobacco wore out the land. It only recovered when farmers switched to growing grains and cerals in the 1840s. In the twentieth century, the emphasis changed to dairy production. Early in those times, Montgomery County was the third largest agricultural producer in the nation.
Our parks contain reminders of all those peoples who used the land before us and built: mills, farmsteads, slave cabins, Civil War forts, tenant farms, Reconstruction-era villages, dairy farms, quarries, and even gold mines so long ago.
Volunteers make digs possible.
Last updated:
April 1, 2011
Montgomery County Department of Parks