Marine Corps Base Quantico -- Archaeological digs on Marine Corps Base Quantico have turned up 5,000-year-old Native American spear points, a 124-pound cannonball from Civil War encampments and long-forgotten family cemeteries from the late 1800s.

All of this is the responsibility of Base Archaeologist Catherine Roberts, who has held the position for three years. Her job is to evaluate and manage historic buildings and archaeological sites on base.

“There are lots of components,” Roberts said of her job.

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 requires federal agencies to consider the effect projects they want or need to carry out might have on historic properties or land. Roberts, who is currently working on a Ph.D. in anthropology with an archaeology concentration, does Section 106 consulting for Marine Corps Base Quantico.

“If we think the project might have an adverse effect on a cultural resource, we’ll see how we can mitigate that,” Roberts said.

One example of a Section 106 project Roberts is currently evaluating is the rerouting of a water line that runs along the top of the base. A section of it runs through an unexploded ordnance site, but the planned reroute would send it through the historic World War I trench network that was created in 1917 near the present-day golf course.

The widening of Russell Road was another Section 106 project. During digs associated with that project, Roberts unearthed a trove of Native American artifacts—seeds, ceramics, spear points—from 2000-3000 B.C.

“We took six or eight boxes of artifacts from that site,” Roberts said.

She said the Russell Road site is interesting because the pottery pieces found there are made of a unique mixture of clay and shell temper, which isn’t often found in this area. Additionally, the shape of the arrowheads excavated at the location indicates that it was occupied by a Native American culture that was not thought to have lived this far north.

Roberts said that small settlements of about 200 people each were scattered all over the territory that now makes up the base, but after the Europeans made contact with the New World in 1492, the Native Americans started to disperse.

The next historic period from which artifacts can be found on Quantico is the Civil War. Control of the Potomac River was important to both the Union and Confederate sides during the war, making Quantico a crucial site.

“There were three Civil War encampments on this side of the base,” Roberts said, “Two near Officer Candidates School and one near the golf course.”

In a blue bucket under Roberts’s desk is a 124-pound solid shot that was found at “Shipping Point,” where Systems Command Headquarters is today. It was the site of a Confederate gun battery.

After the Civil War, there was a period of tranquility, when the vast majority of people living in what is now the west side of the base were farmers.

“That’s where we get the homesteads and cemeteries,” Roberts said.

There are at least 70 small family cemeteries and 65 homesteads that Roberts knows about, and she estimates there are many that she isn’t aware of.

“There were dry goods stores, restaurants, schools, post offices and churches out there — it was a fairly large community,” she continued.”

The Marine Corps leased what is now the main side of the base from Quantico town in 1917, when the United States entered World War I. In 1941, more territory was needed for range and maneuver training for Marines deploying to fight in World War II, so the federal government purchased an additional 50,000 acres, making up what is now the Base west of Interstate 95. All the families who made their homes in that area were evicted. They were given 60 days to evacuate.

“Some people were paid well for their properties and others were not, depending on the value placed on their land,” Roberts said. “It was controversial.”

A Marine Corps-conducted cultural resources investigation of 12 tracts of land involved in the purchase shows that the highest value placed on a parcel was $25,000 for Ernest L. Perry’s 300 acres. The smallest was $50 for M. Lillian Powers’ 0.31 acres.

Some of the structures, such as the two-story Smith house from circa 1845, are still standing, although they are dilapidated. Most of the abandoned buildings were left to deteriorate and collapse. Today, you can often find only the foundations of homes buried in overgrown clearings. In many cases, what were family graveyards are now simply fern-filled depressions in the ground.

“It’s very interesting because it’s not often that you find the archaeological remnant of a community that just picked up and left,” Roberts said.

Roberts said it’s still relatively unknown, even among tenant agencies aboard Quantico, that the west side of the Base used to be residential. Three years ago, a hunter’s dog that happened to have cadaver-sniffing training discovered human remains on the base’s west side. The hunter, assuming the remains were the result of a homicide because the burial spot had no headstone, contacted the authorities.

“The FBI and a bunch of other federal agencies were out there at 4 a.m.” Roberts said. “If they had called me right away, I could have told them they had found Mr. Vyda, who died in 1921. It was a cemetery, not a homicide.”

Roberts is preparing a situational awareness document to circulate to Base commanders so that they will know what to do if Marines discover human remains during training exercises.

All of the artifacts Roberts finds during her digs on Quantico are stored at Fort Lee and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. She plans to display a selection in Lejeune and Harry Lee Halls this year.

— Writer: auphausconner@quanticosentryonline.com