Geoarchaeological Reconnaissance of a Proposed Pavilion and Other Improvements at the Nutten Hook Preserve, Town of Stuyvesant, Columbia County, New York

Summary

The purpose of this report is to aid in the description and interpretation of soils exposed by some recent archaeological excavations on the Nutten Hook Preserve, and to begin to place the area into the broader contexts of the Late Pleistocene - Holocene geomorphological and geoarchaeological history of the Hudson River valley.

Examination of profiles made in 10 small archaeological excavation units in the area of a proposed pavilion reveals the presence of at least four Historic period fills over truncated bedrock (Germantown Formation bedded shale and sandstone). Stratigraphic relationships suggest a hypothetical sequence of events first involving the removal of sand and gravel deposits from the tip of a high-level Hudson River paleo-fluvial bar. Later the irregular bedrock surface was truncated and leveled, producing shale-rich fills. Final leveling was accomplished by bringing in a relatively clean deposit of sand, to make a pad-like earthen structure. The present day soil A horizon continues to develop into the fill surface, but no sub-A soil horizons were documented, reflecting the young (Historic) age of the deposits. No buried soil horizons were identified, and it seems likely that prehistoric remains recovered from the Pavilion squares are incidental inclusions within the fill, derived from the various source areas that were also archaeological sites. The documentation of high-level sand and gravel flood deposits on Nutteen Hook are of geohistorical interest in the search for buried Paleoindian remains in the region.

Four main historic fills were documented in the area to be impacted by construction of a new pavilion. Although prehistoric remains were recovered from the squares, it is likely that they are in secondary contexts as incidental inclusions within the fills, and their source remains unknown.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Columbia County   •
• New York State Museum and the Public Archaeology Facility, Binghamton University Archaeological Collection

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Christina Rieth

Prepared By(s): New York State Museum; New York State Museum

Submitted To(s): New York Department of Environmental Conservation

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