Testing at Indian Camp Run No. 2

Indian Camp Run site No. 2 (36FO66) is located a few miles below the mouth of the Tionesta Creek in Forest County, PA. This site is located just east of the Indian Camp Run No. 1 site on the neighboring terrace at the confluence of Indian Camp Run and the Allegheny River.

The better known and larger Indian Camp Run No. 1 (36FO65) site has undergone extensive excavation since 1999 following initial discovery in 1998. Data gathered at (36FO65) has been the focus of public presentations to the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, and has been published in the New York State Museum Bulletin 500. A future publication in the journal Pennsylvania Archaeologist is pending.

Prior to this year (36FO66) had never produced a single diagnostic artifact. The site had been previously tested with two units ( a 1m by 2m and a 1m by 1m) and surface collected but nothing was found that could offer clues regarding the prehistoric occupants and the relative age of the site.

In the past testing at the site was always made difficult due to the amount of campers that occupy the terrace during the late spring and summer months of the year. It was decided that in order to avoid most campers testing would commence in early spring.

Testing was conducted in an attempt to answer the following questions:

1). Who occupied the site? Could any diagnostic artifacts be recovered that could offer clues to the sites inhabitants and provide a relative date for various occupations.

2). Is the stratigraphy of the site in any way similar to that of the adjacent Indian Camp Run No. 1? Indian Camp Run No. 2 appears to be at least a meter higher in elevation. How "deep" is the site; how deep would we expect to find cultural bearing soils?

Testing began on April 10, 2006. A 1m by 2m test unit was staked out oriented 30 degrees Nne by 120 degrees Ese on the western edge of the terrace, near a large rock ringed hearth used extensively by modern campers. This unit designated as Test Unit #3 was added to the existing site map. Testing would be conducted until culturally sterile soils were reached and a map of the profile walls drawn. This would take a total of four long days. The unit was excavated in 10cm levels down to decomposing bedrock in order to examine for evidence of some of the regions earliest inhabitants. This decomposing bedrock was reached near the 1.5 meter elevation below ground surface(BGS). All artifacts recovered were bagged in labeled plastic quart size bags with provenience such as, site, elevation, unit, date, features number, location within unit, etc. Each individual level of artifacts and artifacts found in features were assigned field Collection (FC) numbers in the lab that will follow the artifacts through time once all have been labeled. Similarly all other sample types such as soil and carbon samples were also assigned numbers in the lab. Carbon samples collected in the field were removed via trowel and collected into aluminum foil for drying and storage.

Test Unit 3 Profile-Note 2 features visible in wall

As excavation began the upper 10 cm was found to be largely disturbed by modern human activity. The 10 cm level contained the entire A horizon which consisted on a black silty loam full of modern charcoal and refuse and some prehistoric artifacts. Level one (FC-8) contained 41 artifacts including 39 lithics, 1 interior cordmarked ceramic (possibly Half Moon Ware) and 1 bone fragment. Below the A horizon the subsoil was found to contain a brown yellow to yellow silty sand. This may best be described as the C horizon. This soil apeared fairly consistant in texture and color down into the deepest depths of the unit with the exception for wetter/moister soils present at the deeper levels which varied in color due to wetness.

Level 2 (FC-9) contained a total of 247 artifacts including 197 lithics replete with numerous utilized flakes and one scraper. There were 13 ceramics recovered including 1 shell, 4 grit interior cordmarked ceramics, and 2 cordmarked grit tempered sherds. The interior cordmarked ceramics again are consistent with the Early Woodland Half Moon Cordmarked ware. 34 bone fragments; 1 stone tool, a possible an anvil stone used in ceramic manufacture; 1 possible pipe stem fragment; and 1 carbonized nut hull complete the roster.

Jasper and Upper Mercer chert found in Levels 2 and 3

Level 3 (FC-10) contained the largest density of artifacts with a total of 264. This included 164 lithics including one Raccoon Notched projectile; 43 grit tempered ceramics with at least 21 interior cordmarked sherds, Half Moon Ware; 52 bone; 1 pestle fragment; 3 carbonized nut hulls; and one fireclay tube was recovered which is typically used as a pipe blank. The fireclay tube along with the ceramics are typical Early Woodland in age while the Raccoon Notched projectile is considered Middle Woodland in the upper Allegheny River chronology. These items successfully aided in placing a relative date on the site and clues as to the sites occupants.

The deeper levels produced the following:

Level 4 (FC-11) produced 60 total artifacts including 11 lithics; 4 grit tempered ceramics and 1 bone fragment. Level 5 (FC-12) produced a total of 17 lithics. Level 6 (FC-13) produced 10 lithics. Level 7 (FC-14) produced 7 artifacts including 6 lithics and 1 ground iron ore fragment. Level 8 (FC-15) produced 22 total artifacts with 21 lithics including the distal end of a biface manufactured from chalcedony and a hammer stone. Level 9 (FC-16) produced 31 lithics including a corner notched point base and 1 creek pebble possibly used as a hammer stone. Level 10 (FC-17) produced 4 artifacts including 3 lithics and 1 hammer stone. No artifacts were found in level 11. Level 12 (FC-21) produced 2 lithics. Level 13 (FC-22) produced 2 lithics. Level 14 (FC-23) produced 2 lithics.

Two features were encountered in the small 1m by 2 m test unit. These were designated as Feature 1 and 2 in order that they were encountered. Both represent the remains of hearths. Feature 1 was located at around 69 cm BGS and continued to a depth of 84 cm BGS. This feature was located in the southwestern corner of the unit and was denoted as a brown stain in the otherwise yellow soil which was roughly circular in outline. The feature contained a number of rocks including fire cracked rock (FCR), 62 lithics, and a good sample of charcoal for C14 dating. The majority of this feature can be found unexcavated west of the test unit.

Feature 2 came as a bit of a surprise at greater depth than the deepest levels of Indian Camp Run No. 1 which produced Paleo tools.

Feature 2

Feature 2 was located in the southwest portion of the unit (below Feature 1) and encountered at a depth of 127 cm BGS and continued to around 135 cm BGS and was also denoted by the dark color of the stain. Feature 2 was also a circular hearth with several 20 cm diameter rocks and smaller FCR being found around the hearth in situ. No artifacts were recovered but a fair amount of charcoal was recovered for C14 dating. Two FCR fragments were collected which had possibly been modified. This is the deepest feature yet encountered at any of the Indian Camp Run sites.

The first diagnostic encountered other than ceramic body sherds (diagnostic as Woodland) was the Raccoon Notched projectile. This was the first projectile of it's kind found at either of the Indian Camp Run sites.

Diagnostic points found at Indian Camp Run No. 2

Raccoon Notched projectiles are diagnostic of Lantz's (1989) Middle Woodland Allegheny River phase which has been dated to a period from A.D. 500 to A.D. 900. A number of sites in the region have produced Raccoon Notched projectiles including 3 in Forest County including 36FO1 Siggins, 36FO2 Hunter Station, and 36FO17 Schwab Run. In Venango County 6 sites with Raccoon Notched points have been recorded including Seneca Farm and in Warren County 12 sites have been recorded that have produced Raccoon Notched projectiles including Buckaloons 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 13 and Irvine 1 and 3 (see Lantz 1989: Appendix II 65-77).

Various tools forms found at Indian Camp Run No. 2

The type station for this distinctive projectile is in Beaver County at the Outdoor Theater site. Heavy concentrations of Raccoon Notched projectiles have been found in Beaver, Erie and Warren County (Lantz 1989:23). Mayer-Oakes (1955:86-87) photographed a number of Raccoon Notched points from the important 36LR3 Edinburg site (see Plate 34) and from 36LR21 the Bolinger Site (see Plate 35).

An Early Woodland Component was also uncovered. The Early Woodland period in western Pennsylvania dates to around 1,100 B.C. to 100 B.C. (Fryman 1982: Table 1). Diagnostics recovered associated with this era include thick grit tempered interior cormarked pottery typed as Half Moon Cordmarked and a fireclay tube which was likely a blank for a pipe.(see photos)

Interior Cordmarked Half Moon Ware

Half Moon Cordmarked is the earliest clay ceramic type found in the upper Ohio valley in general. According to Fetzer and Mayer-Oakes (1951) Half Moon Cordmarked is the basic Early Woodland pottery found throughout the upper Ohio valley and is the most common member of the Half Moon ware recovered at the Half Moon site located near Weirton in Brooke County, West Virginia. Half Moon ware is associated with Adena burial mounds and village sites.

The Early Woodland Period lasted for some 1000 years beginning at around 1100 B.C. to 100 B.C. This temporal span is not entirely important when discussing Early Woodland, as the period is marked by the usage of certain ceramics and projectile types, and settlement and burial patterns that differ from the earlier Late Archaic and later Middle Woodland periods.

The earliest dates associated with Half Moon Cordmarked ware have been recorded at the Meadowcroft Rock shelter and date to 1115+/- 80 B.C. and 865 +/- 80 B.C. (Johnson 1982:154). The ware was still in use nearly a thousand years later as documented by dates of 173 B.C. (Dragoo 1963: 135) and 180 B.C. (Amockwi Chapter SPA 1980 from Herbstritt 1988: 5) from the Georgetown site in Beaver County, PA.

According to Dragoo (1959) Half Moon Cordmarked is closely related to Baumer (Cole, 1951) and Crab Orchard (Maxwell, 1951) types and to Fayette Thick (Griffen, 1943). It is also very similar to Vinette I (Ritchie and MacNeish, 1949). Other Pennsylvania regional variants include Jakes Rocks Simple Stamped and Juniata Thick. Jakes Rocks simple stamped has been found in rock shelters in the upper Allegheny region near the Allegheny Reservoir (Lantz 1982:45) and exhibits oblique simple stamping on the exterior surface and a vertically striated interior. Juniata Thick has been found at such sites as the Sheep rock shelter in Huntington County and certain variations have been noted regarding the use of smooth over cord interior and exterior surfaces (see Michaels and Smith 1967).

A fireclay tube, possibly a pipe preform, was found in association with the Half Moon ware. Fireclay block end tubular pipes were found with burial 48 at the Cresap Mound (Dragoo 1963:80) in Marshall County, West Virginia. Tubular pipes and blanks manufactured of fireclay have been found in the upper Allegheny valley near Kinzua. A and B in Plate 45 illustrated by (Dragoo 1963:138)are nearly identical to the Indian Camp Run No. 2 specimen. Mayer-Oakes (1955) pictured a number of items manufactured from fireclay found in Forest County and from the Siggins site (36FO1).

Fireclay pipe preform

The origin of the fireclay is unknown but Clearfield County has vast reserves of this mineral. Fireclay is found (Leighton 1959: 132-133)in Pottsville sandstones and conglomerates where Mercer and Sharon Coals occur and could possibly occur in Forest County, but at the time of Leighton's study no source locations were said to have been found.

Testing will likely be complete at this site. Diagnostics, adding clues to the sites early inhabitants were recovered fulfilling the goals and objectives of the testing.

Recent AMS date recorded for Feature #2

Recently a sample of charred material was submitted to Beta Analytic labs ((Sample #221005) with the intention of securing the first date associated with testing at (36FO66) Indian Camp Run No. 2. The carbon sample was gathered from Feature No. 2 located in T.U. number 3 at 126 to 133 cm below ground surface.

Feature 2 as it appeared 123cm BGS bottom left wall of unit

The feature consisted of a hearth and some fire cracked rock. No artifacts were found associated with the feature. The rationale to date a feature that did not produce diagnostics was based on the great depths from which it was found. The adjacent Indian Camp Run No. 1 (36FO65) reaches maximum depth at around 1 meter with Paleoindian deposits being found just above that elevation. So, in dating this feature, located at approximately 1.3 meters i depth, and just above old channel lag, it was suspected that a very old date would be obtained that would also help interpret findings at the nearby 36FO65. When the results came back from the lab they were somewhat disappointing. The sample was run as an AMS date. The measured radiocarbon age was 4580 +/-40BP. The conventional radiocarbon age was 4540 +/-40BP. The 2 sigma calibration provided an age of 3370 BC to 3100 (Cal. BP 5320-5050). This date is much later than expected for carbon found at that depth, and if accurate, would date to the Late Archaic period.

In 2007 additional testing was conducted on the terrace with two units being placed to the north and east of test unit 3. These units prooved to be much deeper. What was interpreted as the channel lag of the run or the river may possibly be colluvium from the hill behind the site. The new units known as test units 4 and 5 reached depths greater than 1 meter 85 centimeters below ground surface. A full report detailing these tests is forthcoming and will be published on this website.

References

Cole, Fay-Cooper
1951 The Baumer focus. In "Kincaid, a prehistoric Illinois metropolois." p. 184-210. University of Chicago Press. Chicago.

Dragoo, Donald W.
1963 Mounds for the Dead. Annals of Carnegie Museum Volume 37, Pittsburgh, PEnnsylvania

Fetzer, E.W. and W. J.Mayer-Oakes
1951 Excavation of An Adena Burial Mound at the Half-Moon Site. West Virginia Archaeologist , June 1951, Number 4, pp 1-25.

Fryman, R.F.
1982 Prehistoric Settlement Patterns in the Cross Creek Drainage. In Meadowcroft: Collected Papers on the Archaeology of Meadowcroft Rockshelter and the Cross Creek Drainage, edited by R.C. Carlisle and J.M. Adovasio, pp 53-68. Prepared for the symposium "The Meadowcroft Rockshelter Rolling Thunder Review: Last Act" Forty-SEventh Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 14-17 April, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Griffin, James B.
1943 Adena village site pottery from from Fayette County, Kentucky. University of Kentucky. Reports in anthropology and archaeology, v. 5, no. 7, p. 667-672. Lexington.

Herbstritt, James T.
1988 A Reference for Pennsylvania Radiocarbon Dates. Pennsylvania Archaeologist 58(2): 1-29.

Johnson, W.C.
1982 Ceramics from Meadowcroft Rockshelter: A Re-Evaluation and Interpretation. In Meadowcroft: Collected Papers on the Archaeology of Meadowcroft Rockshelter and the Cross Creek Drainage, edited by R.C. Carlisle and J.M. Adovasio, pp. 142-162. Paper for the symposium "The Meadowcroft Rockshelter Rolling Thunder Review: Last Act," Forty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 14-17 April, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Lantz, Stanley W.
1982 A Cultural Resource Survey of the Proposed Warren to Indianola Pennsylvania Pipeline Right of Way Through Allegheny National Forest Lands in Warren and Forest Counties, Pennsylvania. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Piitsburgh.

Lantz, Stanley W.
1989 Age, Distribution and Cultural Affiliation of Raccoon Notched Point Varieties in Western Pennsylvania and Western New York. Bulletin of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Number 28. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Leighton, Henry
1959 Clay and Shale Resources in Pennsylvania. Topographic and Geologic Survey, Bulletin M 23, second printing.

Maxwell, Moreau S.
1951 Woodland cultures of southern Illinois. Logan Museum publications in anthropology. Bulletin 7, Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin.

Mayer-Oakes, William J.
1955 Prehistory of the Upper Ohio Valley; An Introductory Archaeological Study. Anthropological Series No. 2. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, PA.

Michaels, Joseph and Ira F. Smith
1967 Archaeological Investigation of Sheep Rockshelter, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Department of Sociology and anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, volume 2.

Ritchie, William A. and Richard S. MacNeish
1949 The Pre-Iroquoian Pottery of New York State. American Antiquity, Volume 15, No. 2,pp 97-124.