North America - Northeast (Geographic Keyword)
126-150 (219 Records)
Since its inception in 1987 as an applied research center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), Archaeological Services has had a mission of providing educational opportunities for IUP students and service for private and public entities in cultural resource management. As a state university, IUP has been in a position to create unique partnerships with local, state and federal agencies. These have ranged from co-operative agreements with county and city governments to memoranda of...
Patterns of weaning and childhood diets among ancestral Huron-Wendat communities, determined from stable isotopes of teeth (2017)
We report here on the study of ancestral teeth retained after repatriation, with the permission and engagement of the Huron-Wendat Nation. We have documented temporal patterns in reliance on maize, as well as decisions about infant feeding. Significant differences between time periods before and after European incursions suggest concrete ways in which disruptions altered daily lives. Study of horizontal dentine slices from 74 teeth (35 deciduous molars, 39 permanent M1) from five communities,...
Pennsylvania Predictive Model Set – Realigning Old Expectations with New Techniques in the Creation of a Statewide Archaeological Sensitivity Model (2015)
Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), this project endeavored to create a statewide Archaeological Predictive Model (APM) based on the known locations of over 18,000 recorded pre-contact archaeological sites within the Commonwealth. The purpose of this project was to create a set of sensitivity maps to aide in transportation planning and assist in the cultural resources management process. The creation of an APM covering 46,000 square miles required the...
Pestilences of the Just War: An Epidemiologic Investigation of the Pequot War (2016)
The Pequot War (1636-1637) destroyed infrastructure, resources and production, mobility, lines of communication and social networks that comprised a complex preventative health system for both native and colonial peoples. The destruction and change in physical and social environments and the disproportionate burden of conflict, for the purposes of this paper, is defined as colonial trauma. Physical and social stressors exacerbated disease that changed the course of colonial battles and...
A Petrographic Examination of Early Ceramic Crushed Rock Tempers (2016)
As part of her ongoing dissertation research, the author conducted a series of experimental tests to examine the physical properties of coarse crystalline rocks. Common coarse crystalline rocks in the Northeast include granite, granodiorite, and gabbro. Earlier petrographic studies by the author identified these rocks as common tempering agents in early ceramic vessels in New York. The author hypothesized that these rocks were intentionally collected by potters from glacial land formations and...
Places, paths and territories: Exploring the multifunctional nature of northeastern Ontario rock art (2017)
The rock art of northeastern Ontario is less well-known than its counterpart in northwestern Ontario. However, recent explorations of the numerous lakes and meandering rivers in the Canadian Shield have led to the identification of previously unknown sites, as well as to the proper documentation of previously known sites, thus increasing greatly the sample and allowing for the emergence of a more complex regional picture. As an example, the rock art of Temagami area is discussed. This large...
A Pleasant Eighteenth-Century Surprise: The Post-Contact Component of the SB 11 Site in Franklin, Connecticut (2017)
In the summer of 2015, the Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL) conducted data recovery excavations at Susquetonscut Brook Pre-Contact Site 11 (SB 11), a multi-component site in Franklin, Connecticut. Prior archaeological investigations had produced a high density of pre-contact artifacts, but very few artifacts that would have suggested a sizeable post-contact occupation. However, the data recovery yielded 1,798 post-contact artifacts, revealing a substantial post-contact component to the...
Pleistocene Megafauna Finds from the Merrimack River Delta (2015)
In 2013, two Pleistocene mega-faunal remains, a single mammoth tooth and a partial juvenile mastodon mandible with teeth, from two separate locations, were recovered by a scallop-fisherman in the Merrimack River embayment off the coast of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. These well-preserved finds follow on previous finds by fishermen in the same locale over the last two decades, as well as numerous other offshore finds that have occurred in the Gulf of Maine for more than 50 years. This...
Pollen Record Formation Processes in Temperate Zone Archaeological Sites (2015)
The pollen spectra of archaeological sites in the temperate zone are subject to post-deposition modifications in the form of earthworms mixing the pollen in the humus zone.They are subsequently percolated downward in rainwater, at rates that vary with the location and nature of the matrix, and are physically degraded by aerobic fungi, by groundwater oxygen, and by repeated hydration and dehydration.These processes produce a profile with the highest pollen concentrations at the top and quantities...
Porcelain and White Salt Glazed Stoneware at Hanna’s Town (2017)
Abstract: Porcelain and White Salt Glazed Stoneware at Hanna’s Town Previous archaeological investigations at Hanna’s Town have involved locating the homes within the town and locating the fort. My research involves analyzing Porcelain and White Salt Glazed Stoneware to determine if there is a spatial pattern across the site. This may shed light on wealth distribution at historic Hanna’s Town. Detailed analysis of decorative motifs will also provide insight on trade patterns and economics...
Portable Rockart in Late Pleistocene Virginia (2016)
This illustrated paper presents an overview of moveable artforms from the late Pleistocene era of Virginia. While fixed rockart is the major form in analytical archaeology, portable rockart is also found. This paper includes stone and clay objects that represent effigies and abstract forms. These artifacts are a survey of the several hundred recorded specimens, such as an ivory vulture head, camel image, numerous other animal forms, as well as geometric forms, and engraved and incised pieces....
Potential Applications of the Bioarchaeology of Care Methodological Approach for Historic Institutionalized Populations (2015)
In the 19th century, mental institutions were created in the United States to provide care for the mentally ill. These state institutions of care were designed to serve as cultural buffers to protect mentally ill individuals from the harsh conditions that they would have otherwise been exposed to in other state institutions, such prisons or poorhouses. In this paper, I examine whether and to what extent Tilley’s (2012) "Bioarchaeology of Care" methodological approach provides a means to evaluate...
Potential for Spatial "Big Data" in Historical Archaeology: A Demonstration of Methods and Results (2017)
Historical Archaeology has seen a steadily increasing embrace of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the purposes of site recording, preservation and management, but has seen little to no use of the plethora of spatial datasets already publicly available. Such datasets include census, tax, and immigration records, property and housing maps, and archived aerial and satellite imagery, which when properly integrated in a GIS, have great potential for further contextualizing historical...
The Power of Plants: Recentering Traditional Ecological Knowledge in New England (2016)
Often plants recovered from archaeological sites are not seen as keys to interpreting the agency associated with social contexts and cultural identities. Yet, the physical remains of plants left behind by individuals and communities, like other aspects of material culture, are the result of the choices made, completed actions, knowledge availability, and goals/strategies. This paper highlights and recenters traditional ecological knowledge of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe from 1000 to 1800 A.D....
Practicing Informal Apprenticeship: a study of learning landscapes in 15th-16th century potting groups in upstate New York (2016)
Pottery vessels that are produced by younger community members are highly effective avenues for addressing learning structures and social interactions of Great Lakes potting groups. Yet, learner actions are often isolated by archaeologists from the actions of experienced potters in the belief that variation is random and does not follow similar stylistic and manufacturing practices. Furthermore, traditional belief portrays pottery learning as passive transmission of knowledge, an interpretation...
The Pragmatic and Epistemological Challenges Of Collaborative Research (2017)
This paper outlines some of the lessons learned from more than a decade of working with the Hassanamisco Nipmuc of Massachusetts. During the course of this evolving collaboration there have been many epistemological and ontological challenges. Chief among these has been finding common ground between the questions pursued archaeologically and those that hold relevancy for indigenous peoples. Rather than seeing these as contrasting purposes the Hassanamesit Woods Project has found productive ways...
A Predictive Model for Submerged Prehistoric Sites, Northern New England and Canadian Maritimes (2015)
Predictive models to address site location and preservation of submerged cultural resources have improved with growing societal interest in the nearshore. While some commonalities exist and are broadly applicable, working at a local scale requires an understanding of regional geology, geomorphology and sea level history, and the dynamic landscape processes that acted in the region through time. Along the Atlantic coast of Northern New England and the Maritime Provinces of Canada, varying bedrock...
PREHISTORIC COASTAL ADAPTATIONS TO THE NORTHERN GULF OF MAINE AND ITS WATERSHED (2016)
The northern Gulf of Maine (GOM) and its watershed have attracted humans for the last 12,500 years (cal BP), and evidence of marine economies is well established in adjacent regions by ca. 8000 cal BP. Sea level rise (SLR) has obscured our understanding of early coastal adaptations, though underwater research and some near-shore sites are providing important insights. The earliest evidence from shell middens dates to ca. 5000 cal BP, and reveals that bivalve collecting and the seasonal...
A Preliminary Analysis of Calluna Hill (CT 59-73), an early 17th-century Pequot Village (2016)
This paper describes the results of four seasons of field research and laboratory analyses at Calluna Hill (CT 59-73), a small Pequot village burned during the English retreat from the battle at Mystic Fort, part of the 1630s Pequot War. The project uses environmental, spatial, and artifactual data from the site to undertake a study of culture change in southern New England’s contact period in order to better understand the role of intercultural exchange in colonial settings at the domestic...
Preliminary Results from a Late Archaic Site in Canaan, CT (2017)
Robbins Swamp is a large freshwater swamp located within the Housatonic River drainage in Litchfied County, Connecticut. Archaeological sites within its environs and along nearby rivers date from the Paleoindian period through the Woodland period, indicating the wetland and nearby rivers and streams were an important resource for Native Americans for over 12,000 years. With the exception of George Nicholas' extensive work for his dissertation, which identified 500 additional sites, few...
Preliminary results from two Late Woodland trash pits from Block Island, Rhode Island (2016)
In the summer of 2015 an archaeological dig was conducted, as part of a salvage project due to new construction, at RI-2451 on Block Island, Rhode Island. A pre-Columbian Native American habitation area was identified near the shoreline of the Great Salt Pond, a large and almost enclosed body of water separating the north and south regions of Block Island. The pond has a small channel, artificially dug in the late 1800s, on its northwest shore to connect it with the Block Island Sound. The...
Probing Provenance: Investigating the Geographic Origins of Pottery from the Mantle Site (ca. 1525 C.E.), Ontario, using Petrographic and microprobe Analyses (2016)
Petrographic studies of variability in the geographic origins of ancient pottery rely on discrimination of vessels based on their raw material ingredients, which can be traced to natural sources on the geological landscape. In the Great Lakes region, the glacial landscape is dominated by sediments comprising heterogeneous mixtures of eroded and transported materials, making such distinctions challenging. In this study we investigate variation in the geographic origins of pottery from the Mantle...
Procuring and Processing Resources Down by the Brook: Archaeological Investigations at The Susquetonscut Brook Site 11 in Eastern Connecticut (2016)
In July of 2015 The Public Archaeology Laboratory (PAL) completed data recovery investigations at the Susquetonscut Brook Site 11 (SB 11), in Lebanon, Connecticut. Investigations resulted in the recovery of over 7,000 artifacts, including diagnostic projectile points, a variety of stone tools and debitage, calcine bone, and Native pottery sherds. Cultural features exposed during investigations include post molds, pit features, fire hearths, and a roasting platform. The overall lithic tool...
The Promise and Pitfalls of Geophysical Survey at Valley Forge NHP (2015)
The use of geophysical survey techniques to identify potential archeological deposits has a long history at Valley Forge NHP (VFNHP). As early as 1974, while it was still a state park, Dr. Bruce Bevan conducted magnetometer and GPR surveys of some of the brigade areas. Since 2011, archeologists at VFNHP have undertaken a series of geophysical surveys aimed at identifying possible encampment related features. The surveys produced a series of promising anomalies, many of which have been tested...
Prospects and challenges for high resolution 14C chronologies: New World and Old World investigations (2017)
This paper will present some current work in (i) NE North America (northern Iroquoia), (ii) NW Mexico, and (iii) the East Mediterranean-Caucasus using radiocarbon (14C) dates integrated with archaeological/historical and/or dendrochronological information to try to achieve high-resolution chronologies via Bayesian chronological modelling. The paper will discuss and investigate the potential to achieve much greater precision which, through defining new chronologies, can in turn be transformative...