Recently, there have been some dramatic changes at Lums Pond State Park along Howell School Road, west of the park entrance. The Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT) created a wetland where once there had been a plowed field. They built this wetland to replace others that had been filled when bridges or highways were built elsewhere in the state. Federal funds were used in the construction of the new wetland, and so the National Historic Preservation Act required that archaeologists study the field before construction began. Their research revealed that people had used this field for thousands of years. Long before European settlers created Lums Pond by damming the nearby stream to power a mill, American Indians lived and worked there.

The wetland replacement site is located in the northwest corner of the park, between two streams that flow into Lums Pond. Before the pond was created, these streams were part of the headwaters of St. Georges Creek. This triangle of land, seen in the photograph below, sloped south from a high point on Howell School Road, to the junction of the two streams, in the woods at the upper left. The Indians used different parts of the landscape in several ways.

Near the top of the picture, where the streams meet, several families lived for short periods of time. In the center of the photo is an area that may have been a forest clearing, where deep pits were dug into the ground for use as storage. At the bottom of the picture was the highest part of the land, and there Indian flintknappers sat to make stone tools, such as spear points and knives.

Click on any of these areas on the picture for more information about what the archaeologists found there.

To learn more about the archaeological sites discussed here, contact Kevin Cunningham, Division of Planning, DelDOT at (302) 739-3826. To learn more about life in the past at Delaware=s State Parks, contact the Delaware State Parks Cultural Heritage Program at (302) 739-4413.

Credits

The Archaeology at Lums Pond State Park web pages were created by volunteer members of the Cultural Resource Management Department at Parsons Engineering Science, Inc., Dennis Knepper and Michael Petraglia.

The activity that is the subject of this management plan has been financed in part with federal funds from the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of policies of the Department of the Interior.

This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Districmination Act of 1975, as amended, the U. S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D. C. 20240.

For more information, e-mail Cultural Heritage Program.
© 1996, Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation

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