It’s January and the
start of a new year for us at the State Museum of Pennsylvania and we are
excited about all the great programs coming up this year. We start off every
January with our trip to the largest indoor agricultural fair in the United
States! Held each year right here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This event draws
hundreds of thousands of visitors and our booth is visited by about 40,000 of
those visitors! That’s a lot of interest in archaeology and our cultural
heritage.
Our exhibit theme this
year is “Discovering the Susquehannock Indians”. The focus is on tracing the cultural
evolution of the Susquehannocks of central Pennsylvania covering the period
from just before European Contact, (AD 1500), through the period of Conestoga
Town (AD 1763). The exhibit features four large panels and two cases of
artifacts which provide an overview of the transition from Native made goods to
a reliance on European trade goods. One exhibit case contains a sample of
pre-European Contact artifacts and the other contains a sample of Susquehannock
artifacts from the Contact period obtained from Europeans. The panels and
supporting artifacts, demonstrate a culture in transition and the impact of
European influences on their lifeways.
European contact
significantly impacted the Susquehannocks and other Indian groups living in the
region. The introduction of diseases, conflict with other Indian tribes competing
for the fur trade with the European, and the invasion of the land by the
English, Dutch and Swedes on their territories greatly reduced the populations
of Susquehannocks and the other Indian tribes. Up until about 1660, the
Susquehannock’s controlled trade with the Europeans. However, disease and competition
with other Indians forced them to seek refuge with the English in the
Chesapeake Bay area. By 1680, they returned to their former homeland but this
time as refugees. Their native lifeways were replaced by European traditions.
At the end of the French and Indian War, they were massacred by a group of
vigilantes from the Harrisburg area. Their story is one shared by many Indian
tribes along the east coast.
The artifacts selected for this exhibit
offer tangible evidence of the changes described above. Early Susquehannock
clay pottery, bone and stone tools, smoking pipes and bone ornaments are later
supplemented or replaced by trade goods such as brass kettles, glass beads,
kaolin smoking pipes and stylized Susquehannock pottery. This change includes a
transition from a traditional long house to a log cabin type structure. This is a fascinating story of change and
adaptation by Indian groups who encountered Europeans and how they dealt with
this cultural impact on their lifeways.
As in years past, the dugout canoe will be
at the Farm Show for the children to sit in and imagine paddling down the
rivers of Pennsylvania in prehistoric times. The dugout canoe is our WOW artifact
and it draws a lot of interested folks to our booth. It is a replica of a dugout canoe that is on
exhibit at the museum. The original canoe was found in Luzerne County and has
been preserved to insure its longevity. It radio carbon dates to about 800
years ago, well before European contact. Our replica is a 20 ft. long, white
pine canoe that has navigated the Susquehanna River and Gifford Pinchot Lake.
Sitting in this massive canoe and imagining yourself on a river or lake is a
unique experience- not one that you can do every day.
Our booth includes an
opportunity to grind corn using a pestle and stone mortar, much the same as
Indians would have done. The process is popular with young and old alike and
gives you a sense of the labor involved in making cornbread. The Susquehannocks
were drawn to the lower Susquehanna valley not only for its location on the
river and Chesapeake Bay, but also for the rich fertile soils that supported
agriculture during the Late Woodland period.
Visitors often ask what
we do when we aren’t out digging at Fort Hunter. Here is your opportunity to
win a Behind the Scenes Tour of our
lab. A one hour guided tour of the lab and gallery with a curator is a rare
chance to see our research, observe the artifact processing labs and chat with
our archaeologists. Be sure to enter your name for this drawing while visiting our
Farm Show exhibit. The American
Archaeology s and Pennsylvania Heritage magazines are popular and free to our
visitors along with the archaeology brochures developed over the years in
connection with our research and exhibits. In addition, visitors can purchase a
few of our publications- including Native
Americans in Contemporary Pennsylvania by Troy Richardson, The Tutelo Spirit Adoption Ceremony by
Frank Speck, and Folk Medicine of the
Delaware and Related Algonkian Indians by Gladys Tantaquidgeon - $2.00 each or three for $5.00.
Everyone
loves the food court and the wonderful potato donuts, fresh cut fries, breaded
mushrooms, maple syrup ice cream, beef sandwiches, chicken tenders, and the
famous milk shakes. What the food court offers is a look at all of the great
products our farmers grow in Pennsylvania. We are so fortunate to have a strong
farming heritage and we need to support our farmers. The buy local initiative
is important to their survival and farm land preservation provides countless
benefits to the commonwealth. This show
offers visitors a tiny slice of the farming industry that employs nearly half a
million people and contributes $185 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy every
year.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this
review of our Farm Show exhibit and that you will visit our booth located along
the McClay street side of the Farm Show building. The period of interaction
between the first Europeans and native peoples was a complex time of cultural
change and an important period in the development of our Commonwealth. If you’d
like to learn more about the Susquehannocks we encourage you to refer to the
references below and visit the Anthropology and Archaeology gallery of The
State Museum of Pennsylvania. Visitors to our museum can view some of the spectacular
trade objects referenced in this blog and gain a sense of the importance of preserving our past for the future.
Additional
Reading
Kent,
Barry C.
2001 Susquehanna’s
Indians. Anthropology Series Number 6. Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission. Harrisburg.
Kraft,
Herbert C.
2001 The Lenape-Delaware Heritage: 10,000 BC to
AD 2000. Lenape Books
For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .
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