New York Archaeology

Water rights is a social issue of growing importance. Recently, the United Nations declared access to clean drinking water to be a basic human right. Yet financial groups are predicting that water is the next major commodity, to be bought and sold like oil. What few are talking about is the long history of water flowing towards political and social centers, and away from rural populations. As Leith Mullings stated in her presidential address, anthropology pays attention to not only that which is manifest, but also to that which is concealed. A social archaeology of New York City's water system reminds us all of the long-standing nature of urban water crises and provides a way of critiquing past decisions to inform future ones. For approximately 200 years, the city's growth necessitated the acquisition of water from more and more distant sources. But places rich in water are inhabited places. Taking water from rural communities reshaped them and continues to restrict their development. Documenting the materiality of water struggles over time and space provides opportunities to ask what (and who) we are willing to sacrifice to ensure the future of our cities.

A series of 50 AMS dates on charred cooking residues removed from the interiors of pottery sherds is reviewed. The sherds were recovered from many of the key sites and components used by Ritchie and Funk to create the Woodland Stage of their New York culture history; we are now able to securely date these sites and components. The cooking residue dates demonstrate that the so-called Middle- to-Late Woodland transition in central New York is not as well understood as was previously thought. Pottery vessels attributable to Ritchie and MacNeish's early Point Peninsula types are dated as early as 300 B.C. to A.D. 5, and pottery vessels attributable to their Late Woodland "Owasco" types appear as early as AD 400-600. There is also substantial temporal overlap between types assigned to their Point Peninsula and Owasco types. These data, along with subsistence and settlement data published elsewhere argue that the last 2500 years of New York State's pre-European-contact Native American history is in need of substantial revision.

A basic premise of archaeology is that the more frequently two human populations interacted with one another the more similar was their material culture. A corollary of this is that the closer two human populations are to one another geographically, the more frequently they will interact. This corollary has been expressed in the archaeological study of northern Iroquoia since the 1950s on the basis of historical ethnic territories. The expectation has been that after ca. A.D. 1000 to 1300 there was more interaction between village populations within these historical territories than between village populations located in different historical territories. Here I test this corollary with pottery decoration data from 114 northern Iroquoian village sites dating from c. A.D. 1350 to 1640. Results indicate that geographic distance has little effect on pottery assemblage similarity.

Periods and typologies are artificial boxes that archaeologists use to classify cultures and the artifacts that they used. Consequently, there is a need to re-evaluate old paradigms as new data become available, particularly when these paradigms are internally inconsistent. This thesis focuses on the Transitional period in western Pennsylvania and analyzes both the semantic division of cultural periods between 2900-900 BC and the types of projectile points used to define this period. Current descriptions of the Transitional period adequately describe eastern Pennsylvania but fail to adequately describe the material culture and point typologies of western Pennsylvania. Data from existing excavations and site reports are synthesized to compile a database of radiocarbon dates associated with diagnostic projectile points in order to establish an accurate seriation of point types. These data are visually represented as series of maps to show spatial, typological, and chronological variation. The thesis’ ultimate purpose is to create a consistent projectile point chronology that can be used as a framework to accurately date sites within this region on the basis of typology.

Durham boats were a vital part of eastern North American inland transportation during the 18th and 19th centuries, but are underrepresented in the archaeological record. The discovery of a 19th-century shipwreck in Oneida Lake, New York, that closely resembles historical Durham-boat descriptions allowed for an analysis of this vernacular vessel type. The Onei-da Lake shipwreck is fully described and compared to primary historical accounts to establish it as an archaeological example of the Durham-boat type. Extracto Los barcos Durham fueron una parte vital del transporte interior del este de Norteamérica durante los siglos XVIII y XIX, pero están subrepresentados en el registro arqueológico. El descubrimiento de un naufragio del siglo XIX en el Lago Oneida, estado de Nueva York, que se parece mucho a las descripciones históricas de barcos Durham, permitió realizar un análisis de este tipo de embarcación vernacular. El naufragio del Lago Oneida se describe por completo y se compara con los datos históricos principales, para establecerlo como un ejemplo arqueológico del barco tipo Durham.

Arthur C. Parker (1881–1955) is well known amongst American archaeologists as former New York State Archaeologist, former director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences (now Rochester Museum and Science Center), first president of the Society for American Archaeology, and prodigious author of over 450 publications. However, and unlike his career as archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnographer, and curator, his contributions to the Pan-Indian movement have gone largely unnoticed within the archaeological community. After introducing the Society of American Indians (SAI), this paper discusses Parker’s contributions to, and involvement with, the Pan-Indian Movement. By presenting Parker’s thoughts regarding race, education, and government policy as documented in SAI journals and their reflection in his professional practice, the paper informs a more complete understanding of his academic career as well the development of anthropology as a discipline.

ABSTRACT
The Ripley Site (NYSM 2490) is an Erie Nation earthwork site located in Chautauqua County, New York on the bluffs above southeastern Lake Erie. The site is also known as Dewey’s Knoll and this location has been the center of investigation for numerous archaeological excavations of varying professionalism and intensity since the early 20th century. A circular or crescent-shaped earthwork stood on the site, but it was leveled due to farming activity in the 19th century. Numerous archaeologists have noted an earth ring at this site, but it is not currently present on the modern surface. Due to these circumstances, this project was designed to attempt to relocate the earthwork.  The first portion of this study is a literature review to assist the author with a better understanding of the geologic formations of the site and nearby Lake Erie, indigenous groups that lived around the Southeastern Lake Erie Basin, Iroquois earthworks and earth ring use, soil morphology, and previous work conducted at Ripley. The second part was a scientific analysis to attempt to locate the Ripley Site earth ring. The objectives of Part II of this study was to 1) Review the current shoreline of the Ripley Site and determine the nature and extent the site has been lost to erosion; 2) Determine the formation and stratigraphy of the site using soil coring; 3) Determine the extent of the earthwork (if possible); 4)To attempt to identify the earthwork signature using stratigraphy, grain size analysis and organic loss on ignition testing. Shoreline erosion analysis using ArcGIS indicated that ~12 m of shoreline has been lost since 1951. In addition, the data extracted from numerous soil analyses on 92 soil intervals in 18 soil cores helped to determine that the Ripley earthwork is more than likely no longer present at the Ripley Site due to erosion, trenching, plowing, excavation and other means of site disturbance. The analyses conducted in this study include a semiquantitative mapping of color and textures of each core, a sieve analysis, a Beckman Coulter LS 13 320 Particle Size Analyzer analysis, a Logic test to sort through anomalies in the soil, and an Organic Loss on Ignition (OLI) analysis. it was determined that the site has an abundance of disturbed soil with the occasional anomalously thick Ap horizons in some locations, it is at risk of eroding into Lake Erie, and that much of the site has potentially already eroded into the Lake. The particle sizes and organics were what would typically be found with depth for a glacial till bluff. This important information only added to the author’s conclusion that the earth work was already excavated or eroded.
Using this study as an example, it is possible that other sites along Lake Erie are at risk of being destroyed or have already fallen into Lake Erie. The author believes that the archaeological community needs to be aware of this situation. With the understanding that this earth ring is no longer detectable and an unknown amount of the original Ripley Site eroded into Lake Erie, it is important to emphasize that we could lose other important archaeological data that can help us to understand the Ripley Site better.

The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a descriptive and synthetic catalog of curated Early and Middle Archaic projectile points from the Niagara Frontier of western New York and adjacent Ontario, documents their diversity and diagnostic attributes, and discusses their distribution, frequency, and probable ages in the region. The number and variety of diagnostic Early Holocene artifacts identified in these collections suggest that past models of culture-history and cultural dynamics in the early post-glacial lower Great Lakes region need to be reconsidered.

An old chestnut, published 1998 in a very deeply hidden series and ignored either because it should be or because it's very hard to find. Admittedly this is a very old-school, cultural historical and normative exercise, but hopefully was a useful exercise to bring old collections, and some then-recent survey collections, out into the open and to rethink some ideas about 4000 years of poorly understood prehistory based upon those materials.

This is Part 3 of 3.

Arthur Caswell Parker was one of the first of his kind as an indigenous archaeologist. As a Seneca scientist with roots on the Cattaraugus territory where his grandparents lived, he had a foot in two worlds that may have aided with collaboration and research. However, his career started at a time when the archaeological field was still in its infancy, and many Native American tribes considered archaeological research and collecting practices to be unethical. Although the installation of the NAGPRA legislation moves to improve the discourse between tribes and archaeologists, a strong dichotomy in the rhetoric concerning archaeology in Native American communities remains. Different people will have opposing views on archaeology and Parker himself. In this paper, we aim to bring to light the differing views held by individuals within the Seneca Nation by exploring traditional and modern beliefs. This study delves into contrasting perspectives in regards to Arthur C. Parker and archaeology within the Seneca Nation of Indians.

In spring 2010, an archaeological reconnaissance survey was conducted in the Village of Constantia, Oswego County New York near the north shore of Oneida Lake. The survey was for an ostensibly low-effect NY State Department of Transportation project to replace the old and crumbling sidewalks through the village center. It was expected to be a quick and easy project with a narrow project area that seemed to be already disturbed. Overall, the sort of project unlikely to turn up anything of note.

Those expectations were quickly proven grossly incorrect. Instead, the area turned up thousands of Native artifacts spanning western New York’s prehistory from the Late Archaic though the historical period as well evidence of the early European settlement of this part of the state.

(MA Thesis) This paper provides an landscape analysis of nineteenth century Genesee County, New York. The following discussion employs the concepts of Central Place Theory and Power of Place to examine the Euro-American construction of places within the landscape, and how the Iroquois Seneca nation was affected in their displacement as the primary occupants of Genesee County. This discussion provides an  example of the validity of Central Place Theory in an agricultural capitalist context. Population rank size analysis for the nineteenth century and analysis of collected archaeological material in a Cultural Resource Management (CRM) setting are utilized to demonstrate the distribution of a central place network in Genesee County.

The research in this dissertation focuses on how the substantial growth of archaeological research over the years has affected museum collections. Due to the increased rates of collection, museums have become repositories of an overabundance of material that can be extremely useful to researchers when archaeological sites come under further development or become scarce. The field of computing and digital technology has only in recent years become a widely discussed topic in its application concerning archaeological research and collections. This dissertation evaluates the attitudes of museums toward collections and aims to create groundwork for a future dialogue in managing those collections, maintaining an ethical responsibility toward the public, including marginal groups. This work also
evaluates the usage of Quick Response (QR) codes as a form of artifact labeling tested on the collection of primarily prehistoric artifacts from the Sinking Ponds site in East Aurora, New York. This case study determines that more work into the use of QR codes as a labeling alternative is needed, as limited work has been undertaken concerning its utilization. A re-analysis of originally excavated material at Sinking
Ponds is also presented, illustrating the differences in the interpretation of an originally conceived prehistoric Meadowood Period site versus the reinterpretation of the same site as a prehistoric multicomponent occupation, as well as the differences in archaeological investigation and interpretation over the course of time.

Owasco is a culture-historic taxon originally defined by Arthur C. Parker and later refined by William A. Ritchie in the first half of the twentieth century. This taxon was at the heart of a debate on northern Iroquoian origins in the 1990s and early 2000s. In a 2003 article Brumbach and I announced "The Death of Owasco" based on an analysis of the histories of the traits used to establish the boundary between Owasco culture and the earlier Point Peninsula culture. Here I review the research on these traits since that publication that indicate an even more extended and complex set of independent histories. I reiterate the need for archaeologists to move away from culture-historic taxa as units of analysis, interpretation, and summary.

There are a several documented cases of Late Archaic camps occurring on or adjacent to glacial kames and drumlins in New York State.  Recent investigations have resulted in the identification of multiple short-term Late Archaic occupations on and around a glacial landform known as Giant’s Grave.  A landscape perspective offers clues as to the nature of this cluster of sites and others like them.  When the peculiar nature of the landform itself is considered it is apparent that more than availability of resources encouraged occupation here.  In particular, glacial kames appear to be sacred places in the landscape.  This area is used as a case study to interpret similar locations in the region.  By examining the consequences of this occupation within the larger regional conception of the Late Archaic, aspects of prehistoric ritual activity can be added to our knowledge of the period in central and western New York.

Cultural resources management, archaeology, and public interpretation of the Rhodes Site in southern New York. The site consisted of the buried remnants of a mid-19th century domestic household with historical association to the Delaware & Hudson Canal.

Native Americans developed agronomic practices throughout the Western Hemisphere adapted to regional climate, edaphic conditions, and the extent of dependence on agriculture for subsistence. These included the mounding or "corn hill" system in northeastern North America. Iroquoian language speakers of present-day New York, USA, and Ontario and Qué bec, Canada were among those who used this system. While well-known, there has been little archaeological documentation of the system. As a result, there is scant archaeological evidence on how Iroquoian farmers maintained soil fertility in their often-extensive agricultural fields. Using δ 15 N values obtained on fifteenth-and sixteenth-century AD maize kernels from archaeological sites in New York and Ontario, adjusted to take into account changes that result from charring as determined through experiments, we demonstrate that Iroquoian farmers were successful at maintaining nitrogen in their agricultural fields. These results add to our archaeological knowledge of Iroquoian agronomic practices. Our results also indicate the potential value of obtaining δ 15 N values on archaeological maize in the investigation of Native American agronomic practices.

This paper examines a bedrock mortar feature discovered in an Elk County, Pennsylvania rock shelter. Mortar features are remnants of food processing activity associated with the grinding of nuts and corn. It is proposed here that many of these features, when found in upland settings, were associated with the grinding of acorns rather than corn. This hypothesis is supported by the short growing season experienced throughout much of northwestern Pennsylvania that makes growing corn difficult in many areas. The processing of nuts was an important task conducted by members of the group while engaged in the seasonal round; a procurement strategy intended to collect any and all available food resources during the course of a seasonal cycle. Corn was still grown but was one of many food sources exploited throughout the year. Nutritionally acorns compare favorably with modern grains including wheat and corn and would be an important dietary supplement for Native groups occupying regions only marginally suited for the growing of corn.

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a computer program that allows a user to blend quantitative research methods and cartographic resources to analyze data, run queries, build research models and illustrate spatial information across an area of interest. Archaeologists often restrict the abilities of this program to a single site area. This paper will go one step further and use GIS as a way to; 1) illustrate bridle bit densities as they appear across land and time, 2) observe where stylistic patterns emerge and 3) explore whether these patterns are influenced by trending fads or practical function. The goal of this presentation is to demonstrate to new users how GIS can be implemented into their own artifact research studies. The methods and conclusions in this paper will supplement the work of a recently submitted Master’s Thesis project, Telling Time with Equines: An Artifact Typology of the Horse.  (MAAC 2015)

"The adoptions of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the American Midwest remain critical lines of inquiry as the articles in this volume of Midwest Archaeologial Conference Inc. Occasional Papers amply demonstrate. Here I provide a critical assessment of current lines of investigation of crop adoptions and agricultural evolution. I argue that three changes are needed in order to build clearer understandings of these important issues: (1) the fuller integration of biological and social theories, (2) the adoption of probabilistic methods, and (3) the use of multiple lines of evidence."

The earliest widespread pottery in northeastern North America is known as Vinette 1, a designation made by Ritchie and MacNeish (1949) over 60 years ago. While variation exists within this type (Taché 2005), external and internal cordmarked surfaces, thick walls, and large crushed-rock temper generally characterize this pottery. The history of this pottery, including its inception, geographical spread, temporal overlap with steatite vessels, and eventual replacement by other pottery technologies, is far from clear. In this article, we examine the existing database of radiocarbon assays associated with Vinette 1 pottery and steatite vessels, perform a chronometric hygiene of those age estimates, and introduce 21 new AMS assays on charred cooking residues adhering to Vinette 1 sherd interiors. The results suggest a much more temporally restricted history for Vinette 1 pottery technology and a long period of coexistence with steatite vessels. However, the small number of reliable age estimates available for both  technologies prevents a detailed assessment of their respective histories.

"The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a descriptive and synthetic catalog of curated Early and Middle Archaic projectile points from the Niagara Frontier of western New York and adjacent Ontario, documents their diversity and diagnostic attributes, and discusses their distribution, frequency, and probable ages in the region. The number and variety of diagnostic Early Holocene artifacts identified in these collections suggest that past models of culture-history and cultural dynamics in the early post-glacial lower Great Lakes region need to be reconsidered.

An old chestnut, published 1998 in a very deeply hidden series and ignored either because it should be or because it's very hard to find. Admittedly this is a very old-school, cultural historical and normative exercise, but hopefully was a useful exercise to bring old collections, and some then-recent survey collections, out into the open and to rethink some ideas about 4000 years of poorly understood prehistory based upon those materials."

The Early Holocene period remains the least understood segment of lower Great Lakes prehistory. This paper provides a descriptive and synthetic catalog of curated Early and Middle Archaic projectile points from the Niagara Frontier of western New York and adjacent Ontario, documents their diversity and diagnostic attributes, and discusses their distribution, frequency, and probable ages in the region. The number and variety of diagnostic Early Holocene artifacts identified in these collections suggest that past models of culture-history and cultural dynamics in the early post-glacial lower Great Lakes region need to be reconsidered.

An old chestnut, published 1998 in a very deeply hidden series and ignored either because it should be or because it's very hard to find. Admittedly this is a very old-school, cultural historical and normative exercise, but hopefully was a useful exercise to bring old collections, and some then-recent survey collections, out into the open and to rethink some ideas about 4000 years of poorly understood prehistory based upon those materials.

This is Part 2 of 3.

This poster presents a new classification system for early pottery in New York based on Native American color symbolism and standardized fabric attributes. This typology replaces the existing and problematic descriptive system currently in use (Ritchie and MacNeish 1949). The petrographic method proposed by the student allows archaeologists to gather more social information from previously and newly excavated ceramic material then
traditional methods. This poster describes the petrographic point counting method as a means of archaeological analysis. The foundation of proposed typology is based on what archaeologists currently understand about Native American color symbolism, standardized, reproducible petrographic attributes, and basic geologic definitions of rock categories. This project’s contribution to Northeastern archaeology includes the demonstrated effectiveness of a practical, reproducible method for fabric analysis and the development of a flexible, holistic typology based on Native American symbolism and standardized fabric attributes.