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Two iconographic “Jesuit” rings were recovered at archaeological site Indian Camp Run No. 1 (36FO65). The rings were found to be engraved with an IHS motif which is the symbol for the Society of Jesus or Jesuit wing of the Catholic Church. Similar type rings occur on archaeological sites of French occupation or influence and date to a broad period ca. 1575 - 1780. While their entry into the upper Allegheny River region is uncertain, Jesuit missionary and other French explorers became active engaging with Native groups following the defeat of the Erie in ca. 1654. For the next hundred years, the French would maintain influence operating trading posts and constructing forts throughout the region to control access to New France before ultimately being dislodged by the English. This paper provides a description of the two rings and defines a temporal context for their arrival on site.

Pennsylvania Archaeologist, 93(1), 23-39
36BL0124: A Crossroads Blacksmith Shop in the Nineteenth Century
Justin D. McKeel  

In 1823 a blacksmith and wagon-maker named John W. Miller set up shop in Morrisons Cove, in what is now southeastern Blair County. Miller’s blacksmith shop was the nucleus of what would become the new crossroads village of Millerstown, following a prevalent nineteenth century trend for a blacksmith to start a new town. Nearly 200 years later, archaeological investigations of the Miller Blacksmith Shop (36BL0124) would provide a glimpse into the workings of that blacksmith shop and the community of Millerstown, highlighting the key role a blacksmith played in many rural communities.

Pennsylvania Archaeologist, 93(1), 41-50.

Bellows and Beak Iron: Early Blacksmithing and Gunsmithing At Fort Hunter, Site 36DA159

Kimberly M. Sebestyen

For over a decade, archaeologists from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission have been conducting investigations of the Fort Hunter site (36DA159), in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, to determine the exact location of the former French and Indian War fortifications. Approximately 200,000 artifacts have been recovered from the excavations and hidden among them are several that may represent an  early enterprise in blacksmithing and gunsmithing on this frontier of 18thcentury Pennsylvania. This article builds upon the Spring 2020 article, “2019 Excavations at the Fort Hunter Site (36DA159): Have We Finally Found the Fort?” to present archaeological and documentary evidence for the presence of a blacksmith/gunsmith shop at Fort Hunter in the 18th century.
 

Pennsylvania Archaeologist, 93(1), 51-80.
Archaeological Excavation at the Sorn Site (36FA405): A Youghiogheny Phase Site Located in Fayette County, Pennsylvania
John P. Nass, Jr., Andrea Boon, and Cearra Mihal

Excavations at the Sorn site by California University of Pennsylvania are summarized. Until the spring of 1991, the existence of the site, a Monongahela tradition habitation site, was unknown. Testing exposed roughly 50 m2 of the site. Noteworthy was the identification of bowls and scalloped rim sherds. The wide spread occurrence of this ceramic rim trait on cordmarked jars across southwestern Pennsylvania during the Late Monongahela period is given as justification for defining a new ceramic variant: Monongahela scalloped rim.