This week we return to our long running county tour of
archaeology by highlighting Northampton County, located in the extreme eastern
part of Pennsylvania. Northampton County’s 377 square mile area is bordered on the east by the Delaware river
and the great state of New Jersey. Its northern, northwestern, western and
southern boundaries are marked by Monroe, Carbon, Lehigh and Bucks counties,
respectively. Additionally, the principal watersheds that drain the mountain
ridges and valleys of Northampton County are the Lehigh and Delaware rivers.
Both of these watersheds form segments of the county’s boundary with New Jersey
and Lehigh County.
The physiography of Northampton County is divided into three
parts, a northern Blue Mountain Section, a central Great Valley Section and a
southern, Reading Prong Section. The former two Sections belong to the Ridge
and Valley Province while the latter is a part of the New England Province that
extends all the way into the state of Maine.
Northampton County is made up of Ordovician, Cambrian and
Pre-Cambrian limestone, shale, sandstone and other rock types. Some of these
formations contained rocks that were used extensively by Native Americans to
manufacture cutting and scraping tools
and weapon tips. A review of the PASS files lists the dominant
cryptocrystalline rocks used prehistorically as chert/flint, quartzite and
jasper. These lithic types occur in bedrock and stream deposits of the Onondaga
and Hardyston Formations. Extensive quarry sites containing some of these
materials have been identified for Northampton and other surrounding counties. Less
utilized lithics that have been found on some sites are quartz, found
throughout the region and metarhyolite from the South Mountain region near
Gettysburg.
The county of Northampton was partitioned from parts of
Bucks County in 1752. The county seat is Easton located at the confluence of
the Lehigh and Delaware rivers. Easton became
an important focal point in Pennsylvania history during the 18th
century and a regional economy of the early 19th century. The Treaty
of Easton, signed in 1758, was essentially an agreement between the British, Six
Nations Iroquois, Delaware or Lenape and Shawnee specifying that the Indians,
in the Ohio Country and elsewhere, would not side with the French so long as
the British promised not to settle the frontier west of the Alleghenies once
the French and Indian War ended. Conrad Weiser (1690-1770) interpreter and
diplomat was the principal negotiator between the two sides at the Treaty of
Easton.
Miscellaneous
projectile points (Sandts Eddy Site). Data Recovery Project by 3D/Environmental
Inc.
By the late 18th century huge amounts of
anthracite coal were being mined in and around Northampton County. It was,
however, extremely difficult to transport coal via boat cross country until a
network of water canals was built. One of these, the Lehigh Canal connected the
towns of Mauch Chunk and Easton by way of the Lehigh Valley. Construction of
other canals followed thereby connecting other cities and towns between New
York and Philadelphia. The iron industry eventually followed which led to an
economic benefit for the Lehigh Valley.
There are 315 recorded archaeological sites listed in the
PASS files for Northampton County. Over half of these sites are prehistoric
with most stated as having a Late Archaic component. Quantitatively speaking,
Late Archaic sites are followed by Late Woodland, Transitional, Middle Archaic,
Early Woodland, Middle Woodland, Paleoindian and Early Archaic in that order of
occurrence. The vast majority of these sites are located in upland settings
followed by the use of sheltered valley bottom locations such as stream
terraces, benches and floodplains.
LeCroy Phase
Living Floor (Sandts Eddy Site). Data Recovery Project by 3D/Environmental Inc.
One of the most important “valley bottom sites”, a first
terrace setting, is the Sandts Eddy site 36NM12 located in Lower Mount Bethel
Township, Northampton County near the village of Sandts Eddy. The site was initially
investigated by members of the Forks of the Delaware Chapter 14, Society for
Pennsylvania Archaeology, Inc., in 1969. Then between 1985 and 1988 Emanco Inc., undertook additional investigations at the site followed by a detailed data
recovery project by 3D/ Environmental Inc., between 1991-1993. Coupled with the
Chapter’s earlier excavations archaeologists identified an important sequence
of stratified multi-component prehistoric occupations going back in time 9400 years.
Stratigraphic
profile (Sandts Eddy Site). Data Recovery Project by 3D/Environmental, Inc.
Four of the thirteen discrete soil strata contained
prehistoric artifacts. Strata I and II revealed the most recent cultural
artifacts consisting of Levanna and Jack’s Reef points and related tools.
Strata IV and V were the living floors of Transitional and Late Archaic people
and possibly segments of people of the Early-Middle Woodland Period. In Stratum
XI, the deepest of all cultural bearing strata at Sandts Eddy, a LeCroy bifurcate
point from a Middle Archaic occupation was recovered from a well defined living
floor littered with flakes, cores and cobble tools. Most interesting, hazel nut
shells from the floor yielded a date of 9420+/-90 years (Beta-51501). This
dating of nut shell residue and pitted stones led archaeologists to broaden the
antiquity of bifurcate points and the Middle Archaic Period in the Delaware Valley
to a time period greater than had been reported for other regions of the
Northeast. Alternatively, the surface that produced the date may have been
exposed for a long period of time due to a low level of flooding and was
occupied later by people who dropped the LeCroy point.
Projectile Points
and other tools from Chapter 14’s excavation (Sandts Eddy Site)
The Forks of the Delaware Chapter, Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology
which holds its monthly meeting at the Palmer Library in Easton has been a long
standing supporter of preserving Pennsylvania’s past through lectures and
excavations. In 2005, Virginia Lopresti exemplified
the Chapter’s philosophy of
sharing the past with the present when she donated a part of her site collection
from 36NM11 to The State Museum of Pennsylvania’s Section of Archaeology. This
generous donation which filled a gap in
our knowledge of Northampton County prehistory would not have been realized
were it not for Virginia and her late husband, Joe’s interest
in Pennsylvania archaeology.
Virginia Lopresti with one frame of projectile points from 36Nm12
We hope you have enjoyed this brief journey through
Northampton County’s prehistory. Hopefully it will inspire you to seek such publications as the Sandts Eddy
report listed below or any of the journal articles on
archaeology conducted in Northampton County and published in the Pennsylvania Archaeologist. Understanding and exploring our
archaeological heritage is pivotal to our understanding of human behavior and
our ability to change and adapt over time- just as the peoples of Northampton County have done for thousands of years. Visit the TWIPA web site next week when we
will be featuring some of the
interesting history and archaeology of Northumberland County.
Bibliography
Fehr, Eleanor,
Doris Freyermuth, Mr. and Mrs Jos. Lopresti, Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kline, and
with additional comments by Barry C. Kent.
1971 The Sandts Eddy Site (36-NM-12) Pennsylvania
Archaeologist 41(1-2):39-52.
Bergman,
Christopher A., John F. Doershuk and Joseph Schuldenrein
1994 A Young Archaeologist’s Summary Guide to
the Deeply Stratified Sandts Eddy Site, Northampton County,Pennsylvania.
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