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1998 Pennsylvania Archaeologist 68(1):1-14 Porcupine Quill working Tools on Monongahela Sites? Ethnology, Evidence and Implication Donna L. George and Richard L. George |
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Several bone artifacts found on Monongahela sites have been
classified as combs. It is suggested in this paper, that the objects
in question may have functioned as multi-purpose tools used to
remove and handle quills from the carcasses of porcupines, to mark
patterns on hides to be quilled, and to flatten the quills when
attached as decoration to garments or other gear. This hypothesis is
based on the resemblance of the Monongahela bone specimens to an
identified ethnographic quill flattener. The ethnography and
distribution of porcupine quill working is discussed as are the
processes involved in the technology. Reference is made to similar
Fort Ancient specimens and spatula-like bone artifacts that were
interpreted as quill flatteners on Upper Missouri River area
archaeological sites. Spatula-like bone artifacts from Monongahela
contexts are also considered. A strong case for quillworking by
Monongahela people can be made; although there is, to date, no
physical evidence to confirm this hypothesis. |
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1998 Pennsylvania Archaeologist 68(1):15-33 A Miniature Ball-Headed Club in the Vatican Museum Marshall J. Becker |
| A miniature wooden ball-headed club in the collections of the
Vatican Museum is related in shape to Susquehannock examples known
archaeologically from Pennsylvania and also from museum collections.
The similarities with other documented ball -headed clubs, as well
as with the known "toy" size examples from a Susquehannock site,
suggest an Eastern Woodlands · origin for this piece, or at least
some cultural connection. Several other Native American objects
known to come from medicine bundles are believed to be variant
examples of miniature clubs, including two previously identified as
"drum beaters." A Potawatomi miniature ball-headed club from a
"man's business" bundle provides a close parallel in form to the
Vatican example. The six known pieces suggest a medicine or other
bundle origin for the Vatican example. The scant record associated
with the Vatican miniature club indicates a Blackfoot origin, but
reasons are presented for considering this club as an early 19th
century item produced by an Eastern Woodland people who had moved
west by the 19th century, possibly the Susquehannock or Lenape
("Delaware"), or perhaps by a Potawatomi or Eastern Siouan group. |
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1998 Pennsylvania Archaeologist 68(1):34-46 Hannah Freeman's Baskets Jay F. Custe |
| Two baskets attributed to Hannah Freeman ( "Indian Hannah"), a
Lenape who lived in the Brandywine Valley during the 18th century,
are included in the collections of the Chester County Historical
Society. No documentary evidence exists to link the baskets to
Hannah Freeman. One plaited basket does resemble examples made by
various Algonkian-speaking groups of southern New England. The
second example, a rib "melon basket, " is not a form commonly made
by Native Americans . No attributes of either basket either confirm
or refute their authenticity as 18th century products of Hannah
Freeman. |
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1998 Pennsylvania Archaeologist 68(2):1-17 Wyoming Valley Landscape Evolution and the Emergence of the Wyoming Valley Culture Donald M.Thieme and Joseph Schuldenrein |
| Recent geomorphological investigation s for the Wyoming Valley
levee raising project make it possible to reconstruct the evolution
of alluvial terraces flanking the middle reaches of the North Branch
of the Susquehanna. The alluvial landscape functioned throughout
prehistory as a central corridor through the northeastern
Appalachian highlands and was the setting for an important late
prehistoric culture dubbed the "Wyoming Valley Complex. "
Prehistoric settlement and the use of valley landforms occurred in
spite of many floods similar to those which recently threatened the
city of Wilkes-Barre and surrounding communities in the Wyoming
Valley floodplain. |
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1998 Pennsylvania Archaeologist 68(2):18-41 An Examination of the Bead Hill Site in the Wyoming Valley Gary D. Shaffer |
| Test excavations of the Wyoming Valley's Bead Hill site (36LU54)
revealed settlements from three temporal periods: Late Archaic camps
with later-stage stone-tool working; a Late Woodland (Owasco) hamlet
or village with pits, postmolds, and both wild and domesticated food
remains; and a Contact occupation, with glass and metal artifacts,
possibly related to a nearby , eighteenth-century Shawnee town. Bead
Hill has potential to provide important information on regional
patterns of settlement, subsistence, technology, and exchange. |
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1998 Pennsylvania Archaeologist 68(2):42-69 |
| A variety of definitions have been proposed for the Early
Archaic Period. However defined, it covers a time interval of
significant environmental change from a conifer dominated forest to
a near modem climatic and vegetional pattern. In the southern
portion of the Middle Atlantic region, as exemplified by the
Thunderbird Complex of Virginia, Gardner (1989) has argued
convincingly for continuity with the Paleoindian Period . He has
identified the cyclical use of quarries and relatively small
territories continuing from Paleoindian times, with little change in
technology, patterns of lithic use, or changes in settlement
patterns until the bifurcate phase at circa 8800 BP. This paper
summarizes the Early Archaic database for lithic utilization, site
densities , and settlement patterns from Pennsylvania. The
applicability of Gardner 's model emphasizing continuity is examined
for Pennsylvania. A preliminary analysis of site distributions in
Pennsylvania suggests they are somewhat different than Gardner 's
model but I would support his argument for cultural continuity and
the similarity of Paleoindian and Early Archaic adaptations . |
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