The Wilgus Site is a prehistoric Native American camp site in coastal
Sussex County, Delaware
Sussex County is located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Delaware, on the Delmarva Peninsula. As of the 2020 census, the population was 237,378. The county seat is Georgetown.
The first European settlement in the state of Delaware w ...
, near
Bethany Beach. The site is located along a now-inundated tributary of the
Indian River, with the main living area of the camp on top of a low knoll.
Shell midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...
s and refuse heaps, some as much as in diameter, are located down the slopes of the knoll. Evidence of the site indicates it was occupied during the
Adena culture
The Adena culture was a Pre-Columbian Native American culture that existed from 500 BCE to 100 CE, in a time known as the Early Woodland period. The Adena culture refers to what were probably a number of related Native American societies sharing ...
during the Early
Woodland Period
In the classification of :category:Archaeological cultures of North America, archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 Common Era, BCE to European con ...
.
The site was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1978.
See also
*
References
Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Delaware
Sussex County, Delaware
National Register of Historic Places in Sussex County, Delaware
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