The majority of Columbia County is situated in the
Susquehanna Lowland Section of the Ridge and Valley Physiographic Province
however, a sliver of the central eastern section of the county is included in
the Anthracite Valley Section, and a southern portion of the county lies within
the Anthracite Upland Section. The North Branch of the Susquehanna River flows
east to west across Columbia County effectively bisecting it, with the
tributaries of Roaring Creek and Catawissa Creek draining the southern half and
Fishing Creek as the predominate tributary draining the county from the north.
Columbia is second only to Sullivan as the county with the
fewest number of recorded archaeological sites in Pennsylvania, 37 to be exact
as noted in the graphic above. While not every county can boast many hundreds
of registered sites, like Lancaster for example, it would seem that Columbia
County has disproportionally fallen through the cracks of site recordation. A
modest figure (from an archaeologist perspective at least) just 47,832
artifacts make up all the artifacts from Columbia County housed by the Section
of Archaeology. One could debate whether this is a result of “uneven” development
driven archaeology – apparently little of which has made its way to the Museum’s
Section of Archaeology - or whether there are simply fewer sites “in this neck
of the woods” to find in the first place. Not surprisingly, more work done in
the area could have the potential to address this question.
The Section of Archaeology of The State Museum of
Pennsylvania has just seven collections of artifacts from Section 106
compliance projects that represent 14 sites in Columbia County: (4) bridge
replacements, (1) municipal airport improvement, (1) telephone co-axial
transmission line, and (1) storm sewer project.
The storm sewer project, improvements to Bloomsburg Airport
and one of the bridge replacements represent the most recent projects for which
the museum has artifact collections. The storm sewer project produced a small
low density prehistoric site (36Co31) consisting of less than two dozen pieces
of lithic debitage, one utilized flake tool and one fragment of fire-cracked
rock or FCR. The bridge replacement project yielded a relatively small historic
domestic site (36Co29) dating from the mid 19th through early 20th
centuries. Artifacts recovered are typical of the site type including fragments
of utilitarian ceramic wares, shards of mold-blown and machine made glass
containers and vessels, butchered animal bone, slate pencil fragments, spent
ammunition, and miscellaneous architectural/building materials.
field view of Martville Road Historic Site (36Co29)
The survey for the improvements to the Bloomsburg Municipal
Airport identified 2 sites, and can best be described by the authors of the report
in their abstract as follows, “The testing discovered two sites: a prehistoric
site (36Co24) on the T2 terrace, and 36C025 on the T1 terrace, with a small
twentieth century historic component associated with the stratified prehistoric
deposits. 36Co24 yielded several tools, debitage and a feature which consisted
of FCR and utilitzed rounded river cobbles. The site located on the T1 terrace,
36Co25 consisted of a historic component form the mid twentieth century over a
multicompent prehistoric stratified site represented by over 1200 artifacts
including tools, pieces of debitage, and a chert-tempered prehistoric ceramic
sherd.”(Byra and Raber 2003)
A survey for a co-axial telephone line preformed for
AT&T in 1982 identified three sites, two mid – late 19th century
historic domestic sites (36Co7 and 36Co8) and one prehistoric site (36Co6) that
included projectile point basal fragments diagnostic of the Archaic and Late
Archaic Periods.
projectile points from the Mifflinville Bridge Replacement Project
Of the final
three remaining collections, all bridge replacements, one stands out on the
surface simply by the volume of artifacts recovered. The Mifflinville Bridge
replacement project (sites 36Co15, 16, 17 and 18) accounts for 94.5% (45,235)
of all artifacts the State Museum holds for Columbia County. It was submitted in
May of 2010 via a remedial curation agreement between the Museum, PennDoT and
IUP for work conducted in 1988. –
The Mifflinville Bridge site (36Co17) is notable for its stratified late Middle
Archaic components as this time period is rarely preserved in stratified
contexts. There were two main occupations dating to 6890+50 and 7900+70
BP. They contained extensive evidence pertaining to diet and lithic technology.
Several hearths produced hickory nut fragments and blood residue analysis
produced evidence for the exploitation of the American eel and trout.
Netsinkers recovered from this occupation support the evidence for fishing at
this time.
Also of note is the
Catawissa Bridge site, 36Co9. The
Catawissa Bridge project recovered a large segment of a Late Woodland Clemson
Island hamlet. This site was situated adjacent to a low, swampy section of the
floodplain and was repeatedly buried by flood deposits over a 300 year time
span. This is one of the few stratified Clemson Island sites and archaeologists
were able to trace the evolution of this culture.
Jacobs collection donation
In addition to the CRM projects, a small collection of projectile
points from the Ellis Site (36Co12) was generously donated to the museum by a
Ms. Dianne Jacobs in 1985. The points seen here are all labeled with the
catalog number 1, indicating they were recovered as surface finds, with no
other provenience information available, and are most likely the product a relative
or herself walking a plowed argricultural field after a hard rain “hunting” for
arrowheads. Seen above; the Jacobs donation projectile points range from the Early Archaic at the bottom, through the Late Woodland at the top.
Catawissa Creek rockshelters
Other, more recent contributors to Columbia County
archaeology include an avid avocational archaeologist in the region, Del Beck,
who has over the past many years surveyed the length of Catawissa Creek in an
effort to identify prehistoric rockshelter sites along its steep slopes. Topographic
maps, GIS data points, and photographs of eight rockshelters and associated
artifacts recovered were sent to the Section of Archaeology by Del to be
officially recorded in the Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) this
past April. Given the sparse amount of data available for the county, Del’s
effort in identifying and documenting no fewer that eight rockshelter sites has made a valuable
contribution to preserving the past of this seemingly oft overlooked stretch of
Pennsylvania. Thanks Del!
Columbia County Historical Marker
Notwithstanding the low numbers of registered archaeological
sites, Columbia County is quite full of history. A brief review of the Bureau
for Historic Preservation’s historical marker database lists eight markers that are
specific to the county. Of note are three markers for fortified settlements
that endured and defended against Indian attack during the War for
Independence. The text of the markers for Forts Jenkins, Wheeler
and McClue offers a faint glimps of the often violent struggle between
Euro-american colonists and the native peoples in the interior of Pennsylvania in the late 18th Century. Interestingly enough, the next two markers
(chronologically speaking) are in stark contrast as they highlight the
establishment in the region of Quakers – a religious group long noted for their
pacifist beliefs – with the construction of a Friends Meeting House in
Catawissa c.1790.
Reference:
(2003) Byra, Patti L. ; Paul A. Raber
Phase I Archaeological Survey Municipal Airport Improvements Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania - manuscript on file at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Section of Archaeology
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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