The 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)