ALLUVIAL GEOARCHAEOLOGY OF THE SOUTH BRANCH POTOMAC RIVER AT THE ROMNEY BRIDGE REPLACEMENT PROJECT, HAMPSHIRE COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA

In this paper, we describe the results of geoarchaeological studies conducted for a cultural resource management investigation on the South Branch of the Potomac River, and place these findings in a regional context. The Romney Bridge replacement project is located at the U.S. Route 50 crossing of the South Branch of the Potomac River, Hampshire County, West Virginia, in the Ridge and Valley physiographic province. The South Branch Potomac River meanders across a 0.7- to 1.2-km-wide valley floor, with one to three alluvial terraces fringing both valley walls, and a flood plain consisting of a main channel with several branching active channels and cobble bar islands. A prominent 4.3-m-high cut bank o the T1 terrace on the east side of the river was investigated during the earliest phase of the project, and revealed at least three discontinuities and two to three buried soils. We used this observation to develop a model of Holocene stratigraphy in the project area and then performed backhoe trenching followed by deep testing via hand-excavated block excavations on the east side of the river. The trenching revealed a sequence of four buried soils overlain by historic/recent flood deposits. The buried soils vary in number and degree of development across the terrace. In places, a weak fragipan Bx horizon overprinted the deeper buried soils. Deep testing recovered prehistoric Native American artifacts associated with a buried soil at 2.44 m below ground surface. A cobble hearth at that depth produced a radiocarbon date of 3550 +/- 80 B.P. from charcoal, and a Middle or Late Archaic stemmed biface. A second cobble hearth, discovered at 2.26 m below ground surface, yielded a radiocarbon date of 2940 +/- 100 B.P. and a Late/Terminal Archaic projectile point. Both hearths are associated with the same buried soil, designated S4, and are interpreted as products of multiple occupations of the same prehistoric ground surface during latter portions of the Archaic period. These findings, combined with results of other recent archaeological studies that also included deep testing, expand our understanding of the potential for buried, stratified prehistoric sites in the Potomac basin.