Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 06/16/2004
NRHP Listing Date 08/11/2004
The Taft Archaeological Site at Mason Neck in southeastern Fairfax County is a multi-component, stratified, upland, prehistoric, and possibly proto-historic Native American camp dating between about 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1560. Located on a Coastal Plain plateau “finger” on the south side of the confluence of the tidal Kanes Creek Estuary and Belmont Bay on Mason Neck, the site contains a midden atop the plateau with eroded features and artifact material exposed on the plateau edges. Included in the midden are mussel and oyster shell piles and pits, hearths, and individual pottery clusters. The site can address important archaeological issues related to the evolution of small base camps from pre-agricultural (Popes Creek) to transitional (Mockley) to agricultural (Potomac Creek) sites. The Taft Archaeological Site contains well-preserved archaeological deposits that can provide information about lifeways during the Middle and Late Woodland periods, as well as the evolution of climate-induced adaptation in the upper Potomac Estuary.
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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: March 16, 2023
