There is another Potomac Creek site, 44ST1 or Indian Point, which was occupied by the Patawomeck during the historic period and is where Captain John Smith visited.

The defining features include distinctive ceramics, ossuary burials, and palisade villages.

These people were anxious to defend their cultural distinctiveness and their territory from neighbors and built a compact, well-fortified village.

From architectural remains it is seen that the village was fortified by a wall and also a ditch or moat indicating protection was a concern for these people.

The earliest part of the village appears to be the outmost palisade wall that goes around the entire perimeter.

These are believed to have occurred in sets to form a more imposing barrier and to create complex entryways.

The estimated maximum number that could comfortably reside within the full interior is roughly 250-300 persons.

This burial was found on December 1, 1935 in a corn field on the site of Indian Village at Potomac Creek.

The pit was rounded and the remains found were 2 to 2 ½ feet deep with ten skeletons.

The large amount of European artifacts indicates that the burial date was either in the last part of the town's occupancy or after its abandonment.

[9] Judge Graham, the archaeologist working there at the time, thought this grave was not significant and did not do much analysis on the skeletons found inside it.

Archaeologists believe there were 181 skeletons in this ossuary and work continued at this site for over a year, until April 1937.

Other artifacts found were potsherds, clay pipes (a few whole), quartz arrowheads, scrapers, pieces of hematite, and broken animal, bird, and fish bones.

A difference from Ossuary 2 is that there were few native made artifacts present, beyond low amounts of small shell beads, some bone awls, parts of worked deer antlers, broken animal bones, and broken pottery sherds.

The artifacts found were eight sherds, a small piece of undecorated pipestem, and a baked clay ball.

An unusual thing about this ossuary is that some of the skeletons had their lower legs bent unnaturally forward at the knee.

The discovery of mud dauber nests with some of the skeletons supports the interpretation that these were secondary burials.

Mud daubers do not build their nests underground showing that the remains were left above ground while they decomposed and were then buried.

[14] Other ceramic artifacts consist of ladles/spoons, beads, worked potsherds, and human effigy figurines.

Port Tobacco, Maryland, Moyaone, Pamunkey Reservation, and Keyser Farm Site all have similar to identical pipes as Potomac Creek.

Some argue that it was an intrusive culture that came from the north; others for a strong Eastern Shore influence; others that the movement was mostly from the Piedmont to the inner coastal plain; and others that it was a largely in situ development.

[3] 2) It is thought that the ancestors of Potomac Creek, and other native complexes similar to it, came from southeastern New York, northeastern Pennsylvania, and northwestern New Jersey.

[19] Eight radiocarbon dates on carbonized wood were taken from different features and have established that the site was occupied between AD 1300 and 1550.

Located in Stafford County, Virginia, on the south shore of the Potomac River, "Potowomeke" was an important ceremonial place for centuries.

[20] 5) Although the precise function of the site has not been conclusively established, the presence of palisades and trenches are indicative of a place of importance for the inhabitants.

The fortified nature of this village indicates that it was the principal place of residence for the local weroance or leader.

[21] 6) The physical geography of the site at the confluence of navigable waterways made it a conducive location for trading.

Potter (1993) suggests that the Potomac were agents of trade for the area and that sites like this one were also pivotal "centers" in the regulation of goods.

[21] 8) Other physical evidence suggests that the site might have served a "special" purpose more than it did a principal settlement for a significant segment of the local population.

This evidence is the relatively small size of the enclosed area and the general lack of clear house patterns.