Author Archives: New York Archaeology

Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Against the Iroquois 1779 – Symposium

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The Fort Plain Museum presents the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign Against the Iroquois 1779 Symposium held on Saturday, November 2, 2019, pre-registration is recommended, walk-ins are welcomed. We have several leading experts giving several perspectives and logistics of the campaign. We will also end the program with a panel discussion, this is a great opportunity to have your voice heard on a controversial topic. All proceeds from this event, will go towards preservation and exhibition of the Museum’s American Indian artifacts.

The lineup of topics and speakers include:

  • Not Overrun but Destroy: The Iroquois Campaign of 1779 – Glenn F. Williams
  • Total Destruction and Devastation: the George Washington We Remember – G. Peter Jemison
  • Making the Most of a Little: The Evolution of an American Strategy for 1779 – Joseph R. Fischer
  • Amateurs Talk About Tactics, but Professionals Study Logistics: Supplying the Sullivan Expedition of 1779 – Robert Mulligan
  • Clinton’s Dam: Colonial and Native Contexts – William A. Starna
  • From the Mohawk to the Susquehanna: Clinton’s Brigade route across the Portage in 1779 – Wayne Lenig

Visit our website for more information and to register: fortplainmuseum.com/viewevent

Historical Archaeology in New York for CNEHA Newsletter

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If you have any new information to share about Historical Archaeology in New York please write a brief summary and I will get it into the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Newsletter. Please email copy to Michael.lucas@nysed.gov. The general guidelines are below and the current deadline for submissions is Friday October 4th. This is a great opportunity to highlight the excellent work being done in the state.

1. Photographs should be included as separate attachments, rather than embedded in your text. (That’s so our layout person doesn’t have to keep “undoing” what you have already done!)

b. All photographs need to have captions.

c. If you submit more than 3 or 4 illustrations with any individual article, please recognize that we may have to reduce the number.

d. There always will be a few submissions that truly are of “article” length, rather than newsletter length. While it’s flattering that folks want to submit very “thorough” summaries of their research to us, we probably should shoot for an absolute maximum of no more than 2-3 pages (double-spaced) for any given submission.

e. All text should be submitted in 12pt Times New Roman font.

Michael Lucas
New York State Editor
CNEHA Newsletter

Fall 2019 Fieldwork Opportunity at the OPS Paleoindian Site

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Fieldwork Paleoindian SiteThe New York State Museum, with the NYSAA Beauchamp chapter as local host, is investigating the OPS Paleoindian site in Canastota, Madison County. Following a productive excavation week in July, we are returning to OPS for the weeks of September 9-13 and September 16-20. Now in our fifth field season, this project represents the first full-scale excavation of a Crowfield fluted point site in the New York region (dating to circa 12,000-11,600 years before present).

Fieldwork to date has recovered Crowfield fluted points, endscrapers, side scrapers, gravers, and flaking debris from fluted point manufacture. These artifacts were mostly made of high-grade Esopus chert, mined to the east in the Mohawk Valley. In September, we will expand our block excavations to continue sampling Paleoindian activity areas at this very important Ice Age site. We invite NYSAA members and interested individuals to volunteer with us for 1 to 2 days or for the full two-week session. Please contact NYSM archaeology collections manager Andrea Lain [Andrea.Lain@nysed.gov or (518) 486-2334] for details and to schedule volunteering. Join us in our search to uncover evidence of the first peoples of the New York region!

Fall 2019 Fieldwork Opportunity (11.8 KiB)

Robert E. Funk Memorial Archaeology Foundation, Inc.

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Fall 2019 Solicitation for 2019-2020 Grant Cycle

The Robert E. Funk Memorial Archaeology Foundation, Inc. is soliciting grant applications for the fall of 2019, for the 2019-2020 grant cycle. Research grants are available for studies of New York State archaeology. Funds are awarded to support archaeological research projects that compile and present new data or test previous conclusions with the expectation of new findings or insights. Grant awardees are required to submit a draft final report on their research project within one year of award.

The Fall 2019-20 grant application deadline is September 30, 2019; applications must be electronically submitted on or before this date. Awardees will be informed of the Board’s decision by October 30, 2019. Application guidelines and information are available on-line at: Funk Foundation.org Application Forms or by email request to the Foundation board President Ed Curtin

Robert E. Funk Memorial Archaeology Foundation, Inc. Fall 2019 Solicitation for 2019-2020 Grant Cycle (46.8 KiB)

Summer 2019 Archaeology Field Opportunity

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The Lewis Henry Morgan Chapter summer dig will take place at the Tram site August 10-11 and August 17-18. The Morgan Chapter has investigated the site since 2017. The Tram Site (Hne 6-4) was a large, palisaded Seneca Iroquois village of an estimated 800 to 1000 persons who resided there from about A.D. 1580 to 1595. Traces of the palisade enclosure (i.e., oval ditch and embankments) still remained when a Smithsonian survey of the site was undertaken by Ephraim Squier around 1850, but these have now all but disappeared. Although we know a great deal about the material culture of these people through excavations that have taken place at the site over the last 160+ years, the extent of the village and the size and distribution of the residential structures in it remain open to question. There is slight evidence that the palisade may have been repositioned—either to expand or contract the size of the village, at some point in its history. Last season we found a series of postmolds in two units that may be the palisade or a longhouse. We will work on identifying the nature of these features which may help clarify the extent of the village.
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