Accokeek Creek Site, also known as Moyaone, is an archaeological site in Prince George's County, Maryland, located along the Potomac River across from Mount Vernon within what is now Piscataway Park. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 (NRHP reference number 66000909).
The site covers approximately 60 acres and was inhabited intermittently since approximately 2000 BC, with occupation spanning from the Late Archaic Period (ca. 3000 BC) through the historic period. The National Park Service describes it as "remarkable for its variety and concentration of human occupation sites." It included a palisaded village occupied from approximately AD 1300 to ca. 1630. The site has been used by archaeologists to define a culture-history sequence in prehistoric archaeology for the Mid-Atlantic region.
The village called Moyaone appeared during the late-16th and early-17th centuries and is thought to be the sister site of Potomac Creek (44ST2). The village had multiple palisade lines and faced the Potomac River. Its maximum population has been estimated at between 300 and 320 people, with a size of approximately 6,100 m². Four ossuaries were found near the village, holding the remains of over 1,000 individuals interred with grave goods including copper adornments, shell beads, and clay pipes.
The site was excavated between 1935 and 1939 by Alice L.L. Ferguson, an avocational archaeologist who discovered the site after purchasing the property in 1923. The obtained material was subsequently analyzed by Robert L. Stephenson in the 1950s. The site served as a basis for understanding the ceramic chronology of the Middle Atlantic region, establishing the sequence: Early Woodland Marcey Creek/Accokeek/Popes Creek, Middle Woodland Mockley, and Late Woodland Potomac Creek continuum.
Moyaone ceramics, a Late Woodland ware dating from ca. 1300 to 1650 AD, are characterized by fine-grained sand and mica temper, soft texture, compact paste, and smoothed surfaces. Three defined types are Moyaone Plain, Moyaone Cord-Impressed, and Moyaone Incised.
The Moyaone village represents the largest and last-occupied Piscataway village before the arrival of Europeans. In 1608, Captain John Smith visited Piscataway Creek, and his 1612 map of the Chesapeake includes the town of "Moyaons" in the approximate location. In 1634, English colonists met with Piscataway leader Wannas at Moyaone. By the 1690s, Piscataway land had been confiscated by English colonists. Piscataway leader Turkey Tayac supported the creation of Piscataway Park at the site on the condition that he could be buried there; after Congress passed special legislation, he was interred at Moyaone in 1979.
