Early to Middle Archaic: Glimpses of Early Ways of Life in Greene County, New York
Buffer Since the days in the 1920s when the New York State Museum’s Arthur Parker (1924) excavated at Coxsackie’s Flint Mine Hill, the flats, ridges, and stream-sides of eastern Greene County, New York, have drawn the attention of archaeologists. Archaeological sites are abundant here, as are important sources of material for prehistoric stone industry in […]
Before the Battle of Wilton: Native American Campsites near the Great Northern Trail
Buffer(This is the fourth in a series on history and archaeology in upstate New York communities) The investigation of 708 Route 9 Precontact Sites 1-4 was conducted before construction in order to recover important archaeological information. Not all of the sites were equally productive of new information, but Site 1 yielded data that offer a […]
New Archaeological Discoveries in the Town of Wilton, Saratoga County, New York
Buffer(This is the third in a series on history and archaeology in upstate New York communities) Until recently, archaeologists combing archives for information on ancient Indian sites in the Town of Wilton, Saratoga County, New York have been able to identify only sparse references. These include a report from the 1950s of an approximately 13,000 […]
An Early Archaic Radiocarbon Date from Wilton, New York
Kindle(This is the second in a series of posts on the Archaic period in New York State) Last week the radiocarbon dating firm Beta-Analytic, Inc. provided a radiocarbon date for an archaeological feature excavated by Curtin Archaeological in the Town of Wilton, Saratoga County, New York. The date is 8760 +/- 40 years before present […]
Relax with Some Summer Reading
While conducting a Phase 1 archaeological survey on the hottest day of the year in the Town of Schodack, in New York’s Hudson Valley, my thoughts drifted occasionally away from the heat and insects to books I have enjoyed. Imagine you are there in the woods on a hot day in July. It’s humid and […]
January in June? 1816, the Year without a Summer
Kindle(This is the eighth in a series of posts about the environmental context of human ecosystems and archaeological sites in eastern North America) On this morning’s weather report, WNYT Channel 13 in Albany recalled a Ballston Spa, New York newspaper story from 1816: June 6, 1816 dawned cold and snowy. According to the Channel 13 […]
Fieldnotes Says Hello to 2012
Over the past year, our archaeological surveys taken us to communities across eastern New York such as Queensbury, Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Malta, Saratoga Springs, Wilton, Ballston and Ballston Spa, Mechanicville, Albany, Bethlehem, Niskayuna, Johnstown, Argyle, Coxsackie, Colonie, Cohoes, and Cobleskill. In our spare moments we try to bring you our thoughts and an occasional nice […]
August Reading for Archaeologists-Adventurous Fiction for People with Heads Full of Facts
It’s July. You’re on an archaeological survey in the uplands west of the Hudson River, south of the Mohawk. It’s hot and humid. You peer through the haze. You have your doubts that you will find anything because the soil is poorly drained clay, and you don’t completely buy the argument that something important might […]
Funk Foundation Presence at the Spring Archaeology Meetings in New York
The Robert E. Funk Memorial Archaeology Foundation made presentations to the New York Archaeological Council (NYAC) and the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA) at their joint meeting in Johnstown, New York, April 15-17, 2011. Edward V. Curtin, Jonathan Lothrop, and Wayne Lenig, all members of the Funk Foundation’s Governing Council, attended the meetings (Wayne […]
Interesting Paper on Ancient Irish Sea-Faring Presented at the NYSAA Meeting
On April 16, 2010, during the annual meeting of the New York State Archaeological Association (NYSAA), Denis Foley presented a paper on medieval Irish sea-faring that I found very interesting, since I recently had done some reading on the subject of North Atlantic exploration. During the middle of the just-passed, long, cold, snowy winter, I […]
Fieldnotes » Fieldnotes- A Hudson Valley Writer on the Ancient Custom of Christmas
- An Inside View of an Archaeological Project: The Adam Shafer Site in Cobleskill, Schoharie County, New York
- When It’s Not about Turkey and Football: Review of The Mourning Road to Thanksgiving by Larry Spotted Crow Mann
- Understanding Chert in the Mid-Hudson Valley: A Note on a Recent Workshop and Field Trip
- Archaeological Memoir: Sharing Our Histories on Social Media
- The Vampire Skeleton: A Scary Seneca Iroquois Story
- Review of Lives in Ruins by Marilyn Johnson
- Reconstructing Frontenac Island’s History
- Frontenac, Island of History
- Glimpses of Archaic Societies
