This week’s journey by county through
the archaeology of Pennsylvania takes us to central Pennsylvania and Snyder County.
This county is situated in the Appalachian Mountain and Susquehanna Lowland
sections of the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province. The region is
characterized by long linear ridges and valleys. Drained by the Susquehanna River
which forms its eastern boundary, the county is situated at the confluence of
the West and the North branches of the Susquehanna. The major tributaries are
Middle Creek and Penns Creek.
The county was first occupied by
Europeans in the 1740s. By the 1750’s Native Americans were becoming distressed
with the intrusion of settlers into the region and disillusioned with the
Colonial government’s attitude toward the treaties it had signed. In 1754, they
conducted a series of raids in the Penns Creek valley that became known as the
Penns Creek Massacre. This was one of the events that led to the French and
Indian War. Fort Hunter in Dauphin County was originally established as a
safe-haven for the local settlers.
The density of sites (at 1 site per
1.12 square miles) is high compared to other counties. Most of the sites were
recorded by amateur archaeologists. The county is heavily developed along the
Susquehanna River but much of the county remains rural. This has protected
archaeological resources from urban sprawl. The sites are not evenly
distributed across the county and the vast majority are located along the two
major tributaries and the along the Susquehanna River.
Chert is by far the most common
lithic material for stone tool production. The second most common is
metarhyolite which was either traded or brought from the extensive deposits in
South Mountain, over 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the south. Although there
are jasper quarries just outside of State College (70 miles or 110 kilometers)
in the Penns Creek drainage, jasper artifacts are not common.
Shriver chert sampling for geochemical analysis
Shriver chert is part of the
Onondaga/Old Port geologic formation that dates to the Devonian Period and is
found in a narrow band that extends across the county from east to west. A
major quarry is located near Selinsgrove. As part of a federal highway improvement
project, Shriver chert was the focus a of multi-disciplinary research study
that examined chert quarries, areas of heavy usage, and areas of lower
intensity utilization. Twenty chert outcrops were identified but only three of
these were actually mined by Native Americans. The remainder were of poor
quality. The distribution of where Shriver chert artifacts were found in
central Pennsylvania was also mapped. A second part of this study involved investigating
various methods of chert sourcing – locating where specific artifacts were
quarried. The geologists at A.D. Marble were able to identify a variety of
microscopic and geochemical methods for distinguishing Shriver chert from other
chert types but none of these techniques were able to identify specific sources
(quarries) within the Shriver formation. It was concluded that simple thin
section analysis may be the most effective method for identifying cherts in
this region but many more samples need to be analyzed from this formation (or
any chert formation) in order to pinpoint more specific quarries.
Penns Creek assemblage from Bressler
Several important archaeological
surveys have been conducted in the county. One of the earliest was by James
Bressler who examined a series of sites along Penns Creek (Bressler 1960). This
drainage begins at Penns Cave in Centre County and enters the Susquehanna River
at the Isle of Que. Therefore, it was probably a major avenue of travel. In
addition, he noted that chert quarries also likely played a role in attracting
Native Americans to the region. Although he noted Late Woodland camps all along
the creek, Bressler felt that the major sites were Archaic in age.
Excavation block at 36Sn220
Test Unit 3, Feature 1 at 36Sn220
One of the most significant
excavations conducted in the county was the testing of site 36Sn220 by Patricia
Miller, an archaeologist at KCI Technologies. This projected was part of the
widening of U.S. Route 11/15 that stretches for 35 miles from Clark’s Ferry to
Shamokin Dam. The site is situated on the lower (T1) terrace of the Susquehanna
River and extends for approximately 245 meters. It is well stratified and
cultural occupations are buried to a depth of approximately one meter. These date
from Late Archaic through Late Woodland times. The site was excavated in 10 cm
levels within natural soil stratigraphy. Although the site produced several
interesting features and examples of Late Archaic and Transitional
technological characteristics, the most significant conclusions involved
projectile point types and trade and exchange.
Regionally known as the “Coe axiom”,
archaeologists in the past believed that each projectile point type represented
a different culture and usually a different time period. This was based on the
observation that individual levels or occupations at stratified sites were
characterized by one type. For example, the Late Archaic period in the
Susquehanna Valley is characterized by a variety of stemmed projectile points
such as Popular Island, Lackawaxen or Bare Island types. The following
Transitional period is characterized by broadspears, such as Susquehanna,
Perkiomen and Lehigh types. As an extension of the Coe Axiom, archaeologists
frequently used projectile points to date sites. Absolute dating methods such
as carbon-14 cannot be used at most sites and archaeologists were using
projectile points as stand-ins (proxies).
Transitional projectile point assemblage following the "Coe axiom"
revised Transitional Period projectile point assemblage that includes stemmed points
In the 1990’s this concept was questioned
as individual occupations were found that yielded multiple projectile point
types. For example, at several sites, stemmed points were found with broad
spears but it was speculated that animal borrows, root action, flooding or a
combination of these activities were the cause of this mixing of projectile
points from different time periods. At 36Sn220, Miller found stemmed points in
both Late Archaic and Transitional period occupations and she did not feel it
was due to mixing. She hypothesized that broadspears and stemmed projectile
points were used by the same peoples. Based on subsequent excavations, broadspears
seem to have been used only during the Transitional period but stemmed
projectile points were used over a long period of time during both the Late
Archaic and Transitional periods. Since Miller’s investigation, several other
sites have been excavated where stemmed projectile points were used over a long
period of time. Archaeologists are now more careful when using projectile
points to date sites, making their research more challenging as a result.
We hope you have enjoyed this journey
through the archaeological heritage of Snyder County and that you will seek
additional reading in the references provided below. Understanding and exploring our
archaeological heritage is crucial to our understanding of human behavior and
our ability to change and adapt over time - just as the peoples of Snyder
County have done for thousands of years.
References
A.D. Marble & Company
2003 Archaeological and Geological Study of
Shriver Chert in Snyder and Union counties, Pennsylvania: Alternative
Mitigation for the Troxell Site (36Sn91) S.R. 0522, Section 043, Bridge
Replacement Project, Franklin Township, Snyder county, Pennsylvania, ER#
97-6002-109. Prepared for Pennsylvania Department of Transportation,
Engineering District 3-0.
Bressler, James P.
1960 The Penns
Creek Archaic Workshops. Pennsylvania
Archaeologist, 30(1):25-29.
Miller, Patricia E.
1998 Lithic
Projectile Point technology and Raw Material Use in the Susquehanna River
Valley. In The Archaic Period in
Pennsylvania, Edited by Paul A. Raber, Patricia E. Miller and Sarah M.
Neusius. pp 91-120.
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