Orange County NC Website
The cultural period of origin for the flakes could not be determined . This site is really <br /> outside of the project boundaries (Figure 1 ) . No other archaeological surveys had been <br /> reported in the St . Mary ' s project area. <br /> An archaeological survey for Cate ' s Ford Access Area for the Eno River State <br /> Park in 1982 ( found south of the St . Mary ' s Road project boundaries) revealed a thin <br /> scatter of Archaic and Woodland period artifacts along a ridgetop ( 31 Orl 76 ; Hargrove <br /> 1982 : 27) . A few additional lithics of undetermined origin were also recovered from a <br /> severely eroded portion of the Park (Area 1 , ARC- Or4 ) . In 1940 Joffre L . Coe recorded <br /> the presence of two sites located at the confluence of Buckwater Creek and the Eno <br /> River. Site 31 Orl2 , found in the northwest corner of that intersection, contained <br /> "potsherds, projectile points , a lead shot, and an atlat" fragment (North Carolina <br /> Archaeological Site Form, on file at the Office of State Archaeology in Raleigh) . The <br /> site he recorded immed <br /> iately ately to the east (31 Or14, northeast corner of the confluence) <br /> yielded "Sherds, projectile points, blades, [a] soapstone sherd, abraiding stone, chips, cs <br /> (chipped stone) drill frag(ment) " (North Carolina Archaeological Site Form, on file at the <br /> Office of State Archaeology in Raleigh) . Based on these results, combined with the <br /> results of a general countywide archaeological assessment (Daniel 1994 : 95 -97), it is <br /> anticipated that prehistoric sites will be found in the vicinity of the St. Mary ' s Corridor. <br /> Adapting Daniel ' s predictive model to the St. Mary ' s Project, archaeologists can divide <br /> oject area into three zones of differing site probability for prehist <br /> the pr oric sites : <br /> Zone I , with the highest density of sites and the highest probability for intact, <br /> subsurface remains , takes in inhabitable floodplains and terraces or ridges just above <br /> floodplains . In the St. Mary ' s Road vicinity, this zone would parallel the Eno River and <br /> some of its larger creek tributaries . The site- filled Occaneechi Bend at Hillsborough is a <br /> good example of a Zone I area. Some of the better-drained floodplains along Buckwater <br /> Creek and areas adjacent to Little Creek and Strouds Creek might qualify as Zone I . <br /> Zone II , a medium probability area, takes in ridges and hilltops within one <br /> kilometer (about 3 , 300 feet) of the main drainage channels . Prehistoric sites are common <br /> in this area and a few sites might have intact, subsurface remains, although these remains <br /> will not be as common as in Zone I . The Zone II areas along St . Mary' s Road take in <br /> most of the corridor from Hillsborough as far east as the intersection with New Sharon <br /> Church Road , <br /> Zone III , the low probability area, consists of other upland areas, mostly ridges <br /> and hilltops more than a kilometer (about 3 , 300 feet) from main drainage channels . Most <br /> of these sites are low density lithic sites dating to the Archaic period in plowzone or <br /> surface contexts . Most of the St. Mary ' s study area runs through these upland inter- <br /> riverme areas . <br /> Daniel ( 1994 : 95 - 97) does mention the historic archaeological potential for these <br /> zones of relative archaeological site probability. He states that one could expect mill <br /> sites in those portions of Zone 1 which contain selected criteria for mill and mill dam <br /> placement (e . g . , strong stream gradient , fieldstone for construction) . A number of <br /> historic mills were once "seated" along the Eno River and some of its tributaries, such as <br /> Stroud ' s Creek ( see below) . The hilltops and ridges of Zone II , the upland areas within <br /> about 3 , 300 feet of the main drainage channels, are expected to contain occasional <br /> historic farmsteads and/or cemeteries (Daniel 1994 : 95) . The probability of discovering <br /> historic sites in the remaining uplands (Zone III) is not specifically discussed (Daniel <br /> 21 <br />