History In The Backyard

An archaeological dig at the Bladensburg Public Library has uncovered artifacts that date from 2000 BC to the 19th century said State Highway Administration archaeologist Dr. Julie Schablistky.

The dig is part of the administration’s Route 450 streetscape project, a planned revamping of Route 450 which will widen the highway, replace and upgrade utilities, install bike lanes and turn the median into a landscaped island. It’s unclear whether, or for how long, the dig will delay the streetscape project.

Federal and state laws mandate that the administration investigate any cultural resources of historical significance before it can begin construction.

“If this is something [that’s] telling us about the people that were here and what they did then that’s important and we need to save that,” says Schablitsky.

Schablitsky is the assistant division chief of the Cultural Resources Section and Environmental Planning Division for the highway administration. Her team dug along Route 450 and encountered the greatest concentration of artifacts by the library.

“Based on historic maps, we ended up finding that there was a school here back in the 1840s and it was probably one of the first in Bladensburg,” Schablitsky said. In addition, the archaeology team has found evidence that Native Americans used the area as temporary campgrounds.

“An arrowhead we found seems to date to the late archaic, so that’s about several thousand years ago,” Schablitsky said. “Right now [the artifacts] are concentrated with a lot of quartzite and some other soft materials.”

Deposits have been found up to six feet underground, most likely buried by erosion and sediment carried up by the flooding of the Anacostia River. Both of these processes occurred over the period of thousands of years, Schablitsky said.

She is unsure how the team’s findings will affect the planned renovation of Route 450 but says that many of the deposits close to the road have already been disturbed and aren’t as important as ones found further away from it.

“We might be able to do the [expansion] project and avoid the significant remains,” Schablitsky said. “That’s one of the reasons we do this, to try to design the project around the archaeology.”

The team began digging on Tuesday and held a public day on Saturday outside the library. Bladensburg resident Steven Newman Jr. and his son Steven Newman III came to investigate on Saturday morning.

“I decided to come on out and take a look and see if anything has been found,” Newman said. “It’s pretty interesting for them to find something right around the corner from where you live.”

Newman, who is a member of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe of Southern Maryland, said he heard about the event after the tribe spokesman put up a post on Facebook. The Piscataway are among the descendants of the Native Americans who once lived in this area, Schablitsky said. The tribe received state recognition this January.

“It’s history right in your backyard,” says Newman.