The Shawnee
Minisink site in northeastern Pennsylvania is best known for
its deeply buried Paleoindian component. A large Paleoindian
artifact assemblage was recovered from the site, along with
associated floral and faunal remains. The latter evidence is
extremely rare on other sites of similar age in the region.
A series of radiocarbon assays run on the component during excavations
at the site in the 1970s pointed to an age of circa 10,500 years
ago.
Charred
seed fragments were recently submitted for AMS radiocarbon dating.
The purpose of this presentation is to report on two additional
dates for the Paleoindian component at the site. These new assays
suggest the assemblage is slightly earlier than indicated by
the first suite of radiocarbon dates. These new assays also
directly date floral and faunal remains recovered at the site
and thus strengthen the linkage of these subsistence items with
Paleoindian occupation of the site.
Shawnee
Minisink Site
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Shawnee Minisink unit profile.
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Archaeological
deposits at the Shawnee Minisink site (36MR43) site extend to
a depth of about 10 feet below the surface of a second terrace
of the nearby Delaware River. Excavations were carried out at
the site by American University over a four year period of the
mid- to late-1970s. During the course of these excavations over
55,000 artifacts were recovered from an area of about 3900 square
feet. We estimate this excavated area to represent less than 25
percent of the total site area.
Excavations
revealed a series of buried and well stratified living surfaces
at the site. Based on diagnostic artifacts and radiocarbon assays
the basal component of the site is securely assigned to the
Paleoindian period. Chronologically later components are assigned
(based on stratigraphic position and diagnostic artifacts) to
the Late Paleoindian or Transitional, Archaic (Early and Late)
and Woodland (Early to Late) periods. This presentation focuses
on the Paleoindian component and what is termed the Late Paleoindian
or Transitional component. The lower Paleoindian component is
completely sealed and separated from the Late Paleoindian component
by up to 3 feet of alluvially deposited and culturally sterile
sand. The artifacts themselves are sealed within a layer of
gently deposited (loess) silty loam. There is arguably no Paleoindian
component currently available for study that has been subject
to less post-depositional disturbance.
Paleoindian
Floral and Faunal Remains
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Floral and faunal remains.
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During
the course of excavations soil samples from all stratigraphic
levels and from feature contexts were systematically subjected
to flotation. In the Paleoindian level and from within the confines
of a Paleoindian hearth or fire floor area a suite of seed remains
and small amounts of bone were recovered. All seed remains were
carbonized and the bone was calcined. The majority of these seed
remains were from hawthorne plums (Crataegus sp.), but
specimens of hackberry (Celtis sp.) and wild grape (Vitis
sp.) were also recovered. Bone fragments recovered from this
same feature are from an unidentified species of fish. These floral
and faunal data represent some of the earliest evidence yet available
for Paleoindian subsistence patterns in eastern North America.
Paleoindian
Artifact Assemblage
An effort was made to collect all artifacts in exact provenience
from the various levels of the site. Over 95 percent of all
artifacts were recorded in situ . The remaining artifacts,
almost always minute retouch flakes, were retrieved through
screening.
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Miscellaneous Paleoindian tools.
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Artifacts
recovered from the Paleoindian level of the site include a complete
fluted biface of somewhat grainy Onondaga chert, along with end
scrapers (n=126), side scrapers (n=23), multiple-edged scrapers
(n=2), flake knives (n=4), generalized bifaces (n=9), spokeshaves
(n=2), discoidal cores (n=7), tabular cores (n=5), hammerstones
(n=10), and numerous retouched and utilized flakes. Large amounts
of debitage from the production and maintenance of this tool kit
was also recovered. Most of the material utilized is a locally
available black chert, colloquially referred to as black flint.
In all, the assemblage represents a classic Paleoindian tool kit.
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Late Paleoindian or Transitional Kline Projectile
Point fragments.
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The
Late Paleoindian or Transitional component at the site is typified
by a large corner-notched projectile, named the Kline point in
honor of the site's founder. One virtually complete specimen was
recovered, along with three other fragments. Also recovered in
association with these projectiles were unique keeled end scrapers
(n=5), side scrapers (n=5), a multiple-edged scraper (n=l), drills
or perforators (n=3), blades (n=7), a graver (n=l), flake knives
(n=6), a punch (n=l), tabular cores (n=4), an anvil (n=l), hammerstones
(n=16), choppers (n=2), a teshoa (n=l), and retouched and utilized
flakes. Significant amounts of debitage were also associated with
this tool kit. This component was initially projected to date
circa 10,000 years ago and is clearly distinct from the stratigraphically
lower Paleoindian assemblage. A much wider variety of lithic materials
appear in this later tool kit, especially jasper.
Existing
Radiocarbon Assays
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Late Paleoindian or Transitional tool kit.Click
for larger view & more information.
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A
total of four radiocarbon assays were run on charcoal collected
from the Paleoindian levels of the site during excavations in
the 1970s. All samples were processed by the United States Geological
Survey Radiocarbon Laboratory in Reston, Virginia. Two of these
assays were thought at the time to best date the Paleoindian component
of the site to circa 10,500 years ago. Both were run on collected
wood charcoal, one from a hearth or fire-floor area exposed in
the southwest portion of the site and the other from a similar
feature in the northwest portion of the site.
Two other
radiocarbon assays were run on a single sample of charcoal stained
soil from the southeast quadrant of the site. This diluted sample
produced a late date with a very large sigma. The alkali fraction
of this same sample resulted in what was thought to be an early
date. A large sigma was again obtained. Given the nature of
the original sample and the large sigmas, both dates were viewed
as equivocal.
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Date
10,590+300
RCYBP
10,750+600 RCYBP
9,310+1000
RCYBP
11,050+1000 RCYBP
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Lab
Number
W-2994
W-3134
W-3388
W-3391
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New AMS Radiocarbon Assays
With
recent advances in the radiocarbon dating technique we decided
to submit curated charred seeds for additional assay. Two samples
of carbonized hawthorne plum seed (Crataegus sp.), originally
collected from the hearth or fire-floor in the southwest portion
of the excavated area, were submitted for radiocarbon assay
using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry methodology. Both were processed
and counted by Beta Analytic, Inc. in Miami, Florida.
The resulting
new AMS assays are quite consistent in age, circa 10,900 years
ago. In addition, both samples produced dates with remarkably
small sigmas. While both dates are generally consistent with
most of the original assays run in the 1970s, the new dates
do point to a slightly earlier period of Paleoindian occupation
at the Shawnee Minisink site. This occupation is now believed
to have occurred some 400 years earlier then originally projected.
It should
be noted that the hearth or fire-floor from which these carbonized
seeds were collected also contained both calcined fish bones
and diagnostic Paleoindian artifacts and flake debitage. Black
chert end scrapers typical of the Pateoindian occupation of
the site are the majority tool type recovered from within this
feature. The southeastern edge of the hearth or fire floor is
approximately 23 linear feet from the fluted biface recovered
at the site.
Conclusions
The
Paleoindian component at Shawnee Minisink is now more securely
dated to circa 10,900 years ago. Floral and faunal remains in
direct association with the Paleoindian assemblage at the site
have been directly radiocarbon dated.
This new
chronology also has implications for the upper Late Paleoindian
or Transitional level of the Shawnee Minisink site. A secure
candidate for post-Paleoindian yet pre-Early Archaic status
has been elusive in the Northeast. The chronologically later
Dalton projectile point types are absent above the middle latitudes
of the Atlantic Coast. While no supporting radiocarbon based
chronology for this particular stratigraphic layer of the Shawnee
Minisink site is available, the earlier Paleoindian dates may
indicate more significant time depth for the component for which
the Kline point appears diagnostic. That Late Paleoindian or
Transitional component may therefore date to before circa 10,000
years ago.
From a
regional perspective the new AMS assays from the Paleoindian
component at Shawnee Minisink are very close to the minimum
age for the earliest artifact bearing levels of Meadowcroft
Rockshelter. The assemblages from the two sites, however, are
significantly different.
On another
level, other radiocarbon dated Paleoindian sites in northeastern
North America tend to cluster circa 10,600 to 10,200 years ago.
The new dates reported herein suggest that either Shawnee Minisink
is somewhat earlier than other such sites in the Northeast or
that reconsideration of the overall Paleoindian radiocarbon
chronology may be necessary. The recent dates from Shawnee Minisink
are closer in age to the very few dates available on Paleoindian
sites in the Southeast and may have something to say about early
colonization of the larger Atlantic Coastal region.
Acknowledgments
Excavations at Shawnee Minisink and the analysis that followed
are a product of the efforts of many people. Don Kline, of Mt.
Bethel, Pennsylvania, was the discoverer of the site and extended
an invitation to American University to continue his work. He
also provided the seed fragments for the AMS dates. National
Geographic and the National Science Foundation funded excavations
at the site. Charles W. McNett, Jr was principal investigator
on these grants and directed excavations at Shawnee Minisink.
Russ Handsman originally introduced me to the site. June Evans,
Sydne Marshall, and Barbara McMillan were directly responsible
for much of the analysis of the artifact assemblages from Shawnee
Minisink, and all have contributed to my thoughts and continuing
interest in the archaeology of the Upper Delaware Valley. The
artifacts from the site were recently acquired by the Smithsonian
Institution through the efforts of Dennis Stanford. Mrs. Karl
Hope, widow of the land owner at the time of excavations, formally
donated the collection to that institution.
Expanded
text for this section is from a poster presentation by Richard
J. Dent in the North American Paleoindian and Archaic Session
at the 1999 Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology,
Chicago.
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