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ARCHEOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Modern Iroquois creative culture has grown out of ancient traditions in New York that can be traced back archeologically some 10,000 years. With an emphasis upon regional archeology, the Museum combines anthropological research with appreciation of contemporary sensitivities. The Museum's discovery of the home of the pre-Revolutionary Schoharie Mohawks and the oldest (9600 year-old) site in Schoharie County are particularly emphasized in the archeological exhibits.
ARCHEOLOGY DEPARTMENTSummer finally arrived and the Archaeology Department officially began our fourth season of field work at the Strontium Mine site near Central Bridge, New York. On June 5th eight volunteers began to open test units in the area of our deeply buried “B” occupational horizon and also continued our study of the apparent chert flakes dumps on the east end of the site within the more recent “A” occupational layer. The “B” horizon was located and soon yielded two beautiful bone implements, both possibly having been used as flakers for finishing chipped stone artifacts. In another area of this same horizon a cluster of chert “chunks” were found along with several flaked cores and a large heavily battered hammer stone. This work station feature points to primary core reduction taking place on the site where initial bifacial preforms were manufactured from creek cobbles. Work continues in this interesting Transitional Period occupational layer.
Moving to the eastern portion of the site our volunteers have uncovered more of the chert “dumps” encountered last fall including a complete Meadowood projectile point found at the base of this later occupational horizon or layer. Several smooth and water-worn quartzite cobbles, showing heavy abrasion wear on their surfaces, have been found and may have played a part in the final manufacture of finished chipped or ground stone tools taking place during this Early Woodland time period. Finally, a small portion of a fire-fractured ground stone tool (possibly an adze) was found in this same area of the site. Just recently evidence of a storage or fire pit has been uncovered and awaits further sectioning and study to determine its actual use and date.
The SUNY-Albany summer field school, with assistance from the NYS Museum, was conducted from late June through July at a site known to the Museum as Site 36D. This site is located on a small terrace about ¾ of a mile north of the Strontium Mine site. Roughly twenty students from SUNY-Albany opened up a number of four-meter test squares and found clear evidence of both Late Woodland and Early Woodland occupations separated by sterile layers of soils deposited by periodic Schoharie Creek flooding. Many features consisting of fire, storage, and refuse pits were encountered as well as several apparent historic stone structures. Our Museum department members have been welcomed to and visited this field school on numerous occasions while the field school was active. This field school represents the third year of the State’s presence in the Schoharie Valley. Sharing of information between these two field projects has been excellent and is greatly adding to our overall knowledge and understanding of Schoharie County prehistory. The SUNY-Albany field school is again planned on the same site for 2005.
The Department’s plans for the Haviland Site are to “put the site to bed.” After final discussions with the SUNY-Cobleskill Faculty-Student Association, permanent markers will be erected on the four corners of the “longhouse” structure and at our base stake. The steel “longhouse” will be removed, and the open test units backfilled. The site will then be preserved in a mowed but uncultivated state for future study.
JAMES A. OSTERHOUT (1908 - 1988)
One of the Museum's founding trustees was Jim Osterhout, an avocational archeologist since the early 1930s. As a member of the Van Epps-Hartley Chapter of the NY State Archeological Association, Jim met other important people in the study of archeology and Iroquois material culture.
Two important principles guided Jim's work -- sharing and being accurate. He stressed the importance of keeping records, surveying, and the double-checking of data.Jim kept topographic maps of all the known sites in Schoharie County and investigated new sites for anyone who called him. He kept watch on potential threats to archeological sites and believed that artifacts found in Schoharie County should stay in Schoharie County.
Following that conviction, Jim donated most of the material that he had found on the Enders and Cider Mill sites to the Schoharie County Historical Society and when the Iroquois Museum was formed in 1980, he donated the entirety of his remaining collection to the Museum. No other Schoharie County collection like his exists in any other institution. It is the achievement of his lifetime.
As Director of the Iroquois Museum' s Department of Archeology, Jim helped to establish certain rules: 1. all materials found on a site excavated by the Department belong to the Museum if so desired by the landowners. 2. all members of the Department, even when operating on their own, should operate with the highest archeological standards.
These are simple rules, but they represent some of Jim Osterhout's most deeply felt convictions.