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News Call for Papers ESAF MEETING Eastern States Archaeological Federation will hold it's annual meeting November 5-7, 2009. This years meeting will be hosted by the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. The location is the Holiday Inn, 250 Market St., Johnstown, PA 15901. For reservations, please call 1-814-535-7777 Special events will include Thursday tours of the Johnstown Flood Museum and the Flight 93 Memorial Site GSA Meeting The Geological Society of America will hold it's annual meeting October, 18-21, 2009 in Portland, Oregon.
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Members List:
Links Section
Archaeologists:
Andrew Myers
:
Malinda Myers
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Overview
Allegheny Archaeological Research is an organization made up of professionally trained archaeologists with a wide array of talents and interests. These individuals are graduates of the Pennsylvania State University and Radford University respectively and have worked throughout the eastern and midwestern United States on a number of cultural resource management (CRM) and research based archaeology projects. They have also worked on a number of private research based archaeological investigations in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
This website attempts to share with members of the archaeological community and interested individuals archaeological data gathered from a region where little fieldwork has ever been conducted much less reported. Most of the papers are works in progress and will continually change until reaching a completed stage. Questions and comments are encouraged.
During the past several years the team at Allegheny Archaeology Research has conducted investigations at a number of prehistoric sites in a region that includes but is not limited to the central and upper Allegheny River basin and the West Branch of the Susquehanna River.
Since 1998 research has focused primarily on a grouping of sites located in Forest County, Pennsylvania. One site known as Indian Camp Run No. 1 has produced some of the only known buried Paleoindian deposits found in the entire Allegheny River valley of western Pennsylvania. Some of the Paleoindian tools found at the site could be as old as 10,600 radio carbon years B.P. One whole fluted projectile recovered (see photo above) was viewed by Dr. Christopher Ellis of the University of Western Ontario in London who suggested that if the projectile had been found in Ontario he would not hesitate to call it a Barnes, a projectile point/knife (PP/K) form diagnostic of the Parkhill Complex that dates to around 8,600 B.C. A paper documenting the proposed Paleoindian assemblage is now available at this website. See "Paleoindian Research in Western Pennsylvania".
In a discussion held at the 2007 Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology meeting in Allentown, Pennsylvania, Dr. Frank Vento a leading Geomorphologist-Soil Scientist from Clarion University, who has examined the site statigraphy, called the site the oldest known prehistoric site on the floodplain of the Allegheny River.
Archaeological investigations at the Indian Camp Run sites are now complete. Both sites were excavated to nearly 100% of the known site area. A great deal of information was gathered and the first major publication is ready to appear in the fall of 2007.
A Brief Look at Field Season 2009
Certain test areas found at Indian Camp Run No. 1 (36Fo65) were reinvestigated during the summer of 2009.
Many of these areas were disturbed by looters and vandals and subsequently closed in order to prevent further destuction. Although large amounts of backfill would have to be removed excavations were conducted in two areas designated Test Area 17 and Test Area 18.
During excavation of Test Area 17 a number of previously unidentifed features were discovered including portions of three hearth features and a series of post molds.
Test Area 17 under investigation. Note: hearth features and series of post molds prior to excavation
Post molds under excavation. The post mold pattern is evidence of an early prehistoric round house like structure.
The material culture recovered from the hearths in the form of ceramics and the post mold pattern suggesting a round house like structure corresponds is likely associated with the Mead Island occupation of the site that occurred from circa. A.D. 900-1250.
Mead Island rim sherd found in situ in hearth Feature 71
Found below the Mead Island occupation was a Terminal Archaic component. The large steatite rim pictured below was found associated with this component.
Large steatite rim found during the 2009 field season
A Snook Kill like projectile was found in the general vicinity of the of the steatite rim fragment. A number of Terminal Archaic components have been recognized from 36Fo65
Terminal Archaic Snook Kill like projectile just removed from the ground. The specimens cast is visible just above the image
In the early spring of 2009 testing was once again conducted at Indian Camp Run No. 2 (36Fo66). A geo-archaeological study was also initiated. Dr. Todd Grote of Allegheny College provided his expertise regarding site formation processes and soils. Some of the questions that were investigated during this study were concerned with site formation processes. How were the soils formed and/or deposited? What was the depth of the soils found on the terrace. Was the terrace in any way related to the lower terrace at 36Fo65? Also, in question was the age of the terrace at Indian Camp Run No. 2 (36Fo66) which may be somewhat younger that the adjacent terrace at 36Fo65. The results of this study will soon be published on this website.
36Fo66-Test Unit 6, Feature 2 becoming exposed
36Fo66-Test Unit 6, Feature 2, Terminal Archaic point found in situ (behind north arrow) in direct association with the feature
Testing would ultimately reach a depth of approximately 2 meters before being terminated
Tools found in the upper three 10 cm levels
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