Author Archives: New York Archaeology

Fall 2019 Fieldwork Opportunity at the OPS Paleoindian Site

Posted on by

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.

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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.
Continue reading →

Soils, Sediments and Landscapes in Archaeology

Posted on by

Friday August 16th

Soils, Sediments and Landscapes play vital roles in understanding and interpreting archaeological contexts. This unique one-day workshop will review the processes of landscape formation, sediment deposition, and pedogenesis, the relationships between the three, and the implications for archaeology.

The morning classroom session will include brief discussions of soil morphological properties and interpretation, soil nomenclature, soil taxonomy, and digital soil mapping. The afternoon field portion of the course will be used for the practical application of concepts discussed in the morning.

2019 Soils, Sediments and Landscapes in Archaeology (155.6 KiB)

2019 Soils Workshop Registration (52.8 KiB)

Take advantage of the early bird pricing and enroll in this year’s soils workshop to be help near Geneseo, NY.

Project Archaeologist

Posted on by

Environmental Design & Research, Landscape Architecture, Engineering, & Environmental Services, D.P.C. (EDR) is seeking an experienced, team-oriented Project Archaeologist based in our Syracuse, Rochester, or Albany, New York offices. The qualified candidate will have:

  •  At least 3 years of experience directing cultural resources investigations in New York, the northeast, and/or mid-Atlantic states;
  • Strong writing skills and demonstrated ability to prepare cultural resources reports;
  • Familiarity with both pre-contact (Native American) and historic-period archaeological sites and artifacts; and,
  • Demonstrated understanding of federal and state regulatory processes (e.g., NEPA, Section 106, Section 14.09, SEQRA).

Continue reading →