Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Ice Age Fluted Point and other Artifacts at the New Berlin Public Library and Museum


David Moyer

Here are three photos of a new display of artifacts at the New Berlin Public Library and Museum. Among the more interesting artifacts is a small black fluted point dating to the end of the last Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. The point is very similar (but not identical) to some points which appeared in Ted Whitney’s (1977) article “Fluted Points from the Chenango Area.”  Chenango Chapter NYSAA Bulletin 17(1): 1-13. Unfortunately, the display case does not include any information about where any of the artifacts came from or even who donated them to the library.

To date over a dozen fluted points have been reported in the Unadilla Valley; one of the highest density of such finds in New York State. No intact archaeological sites from this period have been found in the area, and it remains unclear if these Ice Age hunters were just passing through or if they were spending more time in the New Berlin area. If anyone has ever found other fluted points like these in the Unadilla drainage I'd love to hear about it!




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Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Sullivan-Cukierski Site Dig on 19 August 2015


Walter Cukierski  


These are pictures from our dig on 19 August 2015. It was hot and digging was slow, but we found some great stuff.




We are excavating a hearth/fire pit. It is the first one we found since we began digging this year.




Here is a sampling of some of the items we found on today's dig. Here are some Dutch trade beads, whole and fired musket balls, a brass arrowhead, a piece of Chinese porcelain from the early 1700s and some kaolin pipe pieces. One of the pipe pieces was part of a bowl and it had a heal makers mark on it. It appears to be “EB”. 
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Monday, August 24, 2015

Sullivan-Cukierski Site Dig on 18 July 2015

Walter Cukierski


Chapter dig on 18 July 2015.
 


Large post mold found and uncovered by Tyree Tanner.

Dutch glass trade beads. 

Whole and spent musket balls.

Kaolin pipe and pottery pieces.

The item on the left is a gun part, while the middle item is a broken kettle handle. The last item is a piece of brass used for scrapping.


Colonial nails.
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Sullivan-Cukierski Site Dig on 24 June 2015

Walter Cukierski


Second chapter dig at the Sullivan Site on 6/24/15.


 

Post molds found from our second dig on 6/24/15.

Some primitive artifacts found from our dig on 6/24/15. The top left rock is a pounding stone and the top right rock was a stone used to crush nuts. The bottom stone is a sand stone that was sharpened for scrapping.
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Saturday, August 22, 2015

Sullivan-Cukierski Site Dig on 17 June 2015


Walter Cukierski

This summer the Chenango Chapter is digging at the Cukierski-Sullivan site (formerly the Moot-Sullivan site) in the Town of Stockbridge in Madison County.οΎ  This site was described by Monte Bennett in an article, "The Moot site", in the Chenango Chapter NYSAA bulletin, June 1973, volume 14 number 1. It was a major trade village and Jesuit Mission.
 


 Before the digging began we had to grid the area to keep track where we are digging.

On 6/17/15, we began the first chapter dig on the Sullivan Site.

Post molds that we discovered from the first 5x5 that we excavated.

Some items that we found from our first day of digging. It included some trade beads and a broken chert scrapper.
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Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Chenango Chapter NYSAA Annual Picnic 2015


Donald A. Windsor, Secretary

The Chenango Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association held its annual picnic on Thursday evening 6 August 2015 at the Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne.  Here is the group photo from Tyree Tanner.


Here are some action photos I took.   
Cukierski father and son
  
 Jerry Hayes, Vicky Jayne, Tyree Tanner
 Helen Tanner and Susan Avery Young
 Walt Cukierski showing how to use an atlatl
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