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The 2000 Surface Exploration
To fulfill requirements determined by the Army Corps of Engineers for permitting issuance, the
developer, Mr. Timothy Pasch, retained the firm of John Milner Associates. Inc. (JMA), of West
Chester, PA, to proceed with a Phase I archaeological survey of the entire tract that was impacted
by the development plans. Wade Catts and Daniel Roberts oversaw this work. The field crew
consisted of Bryan Corle, Ian Henry, and Kerri Holland. Juliette Gerhart directed laboratory
analysis and coordinated informant interviews.
The scope of work for this examination included the entire upper field where the 1979 excavation
had been done, as well as the band of trees and steep, terraced slope to the upper field's south,
and the lower field to the north, and down slope of the upper field and terraces. While the area
of exploration was far broader than the 1979 work, the methodologies involved yielded only general
information and fewer artifacts. This is because activities were limited to field walking and
surface collection, and to the digging of a modest number (24) of test pits.
Before the areas were examined, both fields were disc-plowed. All areas were next field walked,
and any surface artifacts were marked with surveyor's flags to note their provenance. JMA found
334 surface artifacts. Their locations were mapped and plotted by the use of a Topcon Total
Station laser transit. Promising areas were also examined with metal detectors. The 24 test
pits, or shovel test units (STU’s) were dug in the wooded area south of the 1979 excavation,
along the upper field’s west side, in the wooded area terraces, and in the lower field.
These pits averaged 1.1 to 1.5 ft. in depth. The site's soils were tested and described, and
overall photographs of the site were taken. The artifacts that were retrieved were processed
in the laboratory facilities, and analyzed accordingly.
The spring, 2000 explorations yielded some interesting outcomes. The field crew confirmed,
by their pedestrian survey, that the northwestern corner of the upper field help a high
concentration of artifacts. They also noticed a reddish stain in the soil associated with that
general area that had gone undetected in 1979. This may have been due to the times of year the
respective examinations occurred. The field examination included a much more detailed look at
the terraced hillside, and it was hypothesized that these terraces may have included prisoners’
huts, aligned in a manner similar to a camp known to have existed in upper Manhattan that was
designed by the British as winter quarters. The field crew also identified stone deposits in the
terrace area, and three features in the lower field that may have been wells dug in association
with the prison camp. While a wide range of artifacts were recovered (from Camp-era ceramic to
last year’s golf balls), their ages fell into two main categories: artifacts of the same time
period that had been excavated in 1979, and artifacts from the early 19th century. There were
Aboriginal artifacts recovered from the lower field as well, but the nature of that occupation
and artifact distribution was not fully determined.
The conclusion of the 2000 fieldwork generated a site report that attempted, in part, to more
finely delineate the boundaries of the "site" of Camp Security. As the vast majority of the
record of the Camp lies in the field's subsoil, and as the vast majority of JMA's work was
confined to the examination and plotting of surface finds, there remains a major discrepancy
as to the opinions concerning the actual location of Camp Security. The Corps of Engineers,
PHMC, Historic York, Inc., and the other consulting parties immediately questioned the site
boundaries as proposed by JMA. How much of Camp Security remains and where it is actually
located, remains to be determined. There, therefore, remains the need for large scale and
systematic exploration of the hillsides and terraces in the general area.
Much of this information was drawn from “A Phase I Archaeological Survey of the Proposed
Hunters Crossing Development: The Site of Camp Security/Indulgence (36Yo46) Springettsbury
Township, York County, PA” by Wade Catts and Daniel Roberts, JMA, 2000
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