An Archaeological Overview and Assessment of the
Main Unit, Petersburg National Battlefield, Virginia

Chapter Three:  Paleoenvironment and Prehistoric Occupation (Part B)

Recorded Sites within and near the Main Unit

No prior archaeological survey has been undertaken within the Main Unit, although historic site investigations have occurred.  During the course of these investigations, evidence of two prehistoric sites has been observed.  A coarse pebble-tempered pottery sherd of Woodland origin was recovered in 1978 from the ground surface near Confederate Battery 5 on the 100 foot terrace north of the visitor center.

The second site was recorded at the Taylor house site, also on the 100 foot terrace, during the 1978 excavations.  Various excavation units yielded 114 lithic artifacts, weighing a total of 551 grams.  The artifacts were concentrated in the western portion of the excavated area, specifically in units 405, 406, and 414.  The raw materials were dominated by quartzite, with limited quantities of quartz and chert, and possible rhyolite.  Rounded cobble cortical surfaces were observed on 19 debris fragments, suggesting exploitation of fluvial deposits for various raw materials.  One flake fragment of chalcedony weighing only 0.6 grams was present, possibly indicative of a more exotic material.

One diagnostic quartzite point, a Halifax-type associated with Middle or Late Archaic occupation, was recovered, in addition to two quartz and one quartzite preform fragments.  Two retouched quartzite flakes and one retouched jasper blade were present.  The majority of the lithics are reduction debitageC flakes, broken flakes, flake fragments, and pieces of debris.  The Halifax-type point and the absence of pottery suggest the occupation was associated with Archaic groups that were reducing materials obtained from fluvial deposits.  The high proportion of unretouched fragments suggest most materials were obtained in the local vicinity of the site (Blades 1993:18).

An archaeological "site" represents a physical location where past cultural activities have occurred, but a given site may have been the location of such activities during one or numerous temporal phases.  A "component" represents an individual temporal phase at a particular site.  Since sites may reflect occupation during multiple prehistoric or historic phases, the total number of cultural components exceeds the number of sites.

Attribution to a particular cultural phase is based upon the presence of certain temporally-diagnostic artifacts, such as specific projectile points for the Archaic and ceramic types as well as points within the Woodland.  Prehistoric sites are often indicated by the presence of varying quantities of lithic flake debris without associated diagnostic artifacts, so a more specific attribution may not be possible.  Some archaeologists who filed site forms considered such flake debris loci to be Archaic if no pottery was present.