Pennsylvania
Archaeology
THE PALEO-INDIAN PERIOD(10,000 BC—8000 BC)
Few people realize how long Pennsylvania has been inhabited.
The earliest Indians came here from Asia many thousands
of years ago, when the glaciers were receding. This
marks the beginning of what we call the Paleo-Indian
period. The climate was much different from that of
today; the landscape was in part tundra, and in part
composed of scattered stands of spruce and fir. Small,
wandering bands of hunters and their families followed
herds of big game animals, mostly of species now extinct.
The best-known artifact of the Paleo-Indian is the
fluted point. This is a small spearhead distinguished
by a channel along both faces of the blade, each made
by striking a long flake from the base. These points
have been found in most parts of the State, but they
are not numerous in any area. Because the Paleo-Indian
period was short and the population small and mobile,
recognizable sites are very rare.
THE ARCHAIC PERIOD(8000 BC—1000 BC)
By about 10,000 years ago most of the big game animals
of the glacial age had become extinct, and the climate
became more similar to the present. This was the Archaic
period, and the Indians developed a new way of life
to adapt to the changing environment. A greater variety
of food resources were available, the most important
of which included deer, wild plant foods, shell fish
and fish.
During the Archaic period an interesting device called
the spear thrower or atlatl came into use. This was
a stick about as long as a man's forearm, with a projecting
hook at one end, against which the butt end of the spear
was set. It enabled the hunter to throw his spear farther
and harder, much as if an extra joint had been added
to his arm. Carefully made ground and polished stone
weights, usually called bannerstones, were attached
to the shaft of the spear thrower to increase the force
impelling the dart.
Compared to the Paleo-Indian period a more specialized
set of tools was developed to exploit the changed environment.
Furthermore, local stone resources were preferred for
tool manufacture. Spear points are found in a variety
of notched and stemmed styles, and ground and polished
stone tools, such as, adzes, axes, and gouges, were
made for working hard woods.
THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD(1800 BC—800 BC)
During the latter part of the Archaic period and for
several centuries afterward, there were also people
in eastern Pennsylvania who had a somewhat different
mode of life. Their sites are frequently found along
the banks of rivers and may be recognized by fragments
of soapstone bowls and broad spear points.
Steatite (or soapstone, as it is sometimes called)
is a soft grayish stone that can easily be carved with
tools of harder stone. It was carved into vessels which,
in Pennsylvania, are usually oval or rectangular in
shape and have flat bottoms. Often the bowls have a
lug or handle at each end.
Soapstone vessels permitted food to be boiled directly
over fire. Soapstone also was used for ornaments, such
as, gorgets, pendants, and beads.
Several types of spear points are found in sites of
this period. They are usually broad and well chipped;
the most common materials are rhyolite and jasper. When
projectile points became worn or broken they were sometimes
rechipped into scrapers, knives, and drills.
THE WOODLAND PERIOD(1000 BC—1550 AD)
The Woodland period is marked by two important activities
which earlier cultures did not have — agriculture
and pottery making. The Early Woodland culture in Pennsylvania
is not well known. Pottery of this period is scarce,
soft, and so poorly made that it usually crumbles into
small bits. Projectile points are usually rather long
and narrow, with stems or shallow notches.
Sunflowers and other plant species were used by the
Early Woodland people as food crops, particularly by
the somewhat more advanced Adena cultures of the Ohio
Valley.
Being plentiful and extremely nutritious, collected
seeds could be preserved as a reserve for seasons of
famine.
The first smoking pipes, possibly suggesting the use
of tobacco, date from this period. These pipes are usually
stone tubes and are finely made. Other objects found
include ground stone weights for spear throwers, some
of them made in the form of birds, and a variety of
axes and adzes. Middle Woodland was the period of the
"Mound Builder" cultures of Ohio and adjacent
areas. In Pennsylvania, however, except in the extreme
western section, the manifestations of this cultural
development are much less spectacular. The general mode
of life was much like that of Early Woodland. Pottery
fragments are more common than in the Early Woodland
period, but the pottery is still crude. The first evidence
of corn is found at this time, but much of the food
was still obtained by hunting, fishing, and gathering
wild plants. Pipes are more abundant and more varied
in shape than in Early Woodland times.
Projectile points show noticeable changes at this time.
They are usually made of choice types of flint, often
imported from a great distance. They are finely chipped,
smaller points with deeply cut notches. The disappearance
of spear thrower weights may indicate that the bow was
replacing the spear thrower.
The last prehistoric period is known as Late Woodland.
In Pennsylvania it probably began about 1000 AD and
lasted until the first contacts with the culture of
the European. It was marked by settled village life
supported by agriculture. Much of the diet continued
to be drawn from wild food resources. Sites are usually
found on slightly elevated spots on the fertile terraces
along rivers and streams, although there are exceptions,
especially in western Pennsylvania where sites are on
higher ground. Houses of this period were round, oval,
or rectangular. The walls were made of posts set into
the ground, and the roofs, semicylindrical, domed, or
occasionally gabled, were made of bark or mats. Villages
were often large and were occasionally surrounded by
a wall of posts. The village might be moved, perhaps
at intervals of ten to fifteen years, when the soil
had lost its productivity and the supply of firewood
was exhausted; the new village was usually established
only a few miles away.
Pottery is much more abundant on Late Woodland sites
than on those of the earlier periods. Vessels are larger,
better made, and more elaborately decorated. The abundance
of vessel fragments is very useful to the archeologist,
for it is by studying the characteristics of pottery
that archaeologists can learn more about smaller divisions
of time and social organization.
The projectile points of this period are true arrowheads,
designed for use with the bow. They are small and almost
always triangular in shape.
Hoes are commonly found on Late Woodland sites; some
of them were chipped from shale and notched for the
attachment of a handle, while others were shaped from
the shoulder blade of the elk or a slice of its antler.
Pipes were made of both stone and pottery and are of
varied forms. One of the more common forms is made of
clay, with the bowl and stem at obtuse angles to each
other. In general, sites of this period yield fewer
implements of chipped and ground stonework than earlier
sites, and more artifacts of pottery, bone, and shell.
THE HISTORIC PERIOD(1550 AD —)
Sites of the historic period are marked by objects
of European manufacture in very small quantities at
first, but in greater numbers at later times until nearly
all of the imperishable material is that bought from
traders. For much of the Commonwealth the date of the
first visible European influence is about 1550 AD, but
trade goods appear earlier near the coast and later
in the western part of Pennsylvania.
The coming of the white man resulted in marked changes
in Indian life. European diseases — smallpox,
tuberculosis, and many others — had a devastating
effect on a population. Competition for land and trade
led to the constant wars of the early historic period
and a general breakdown of the old order.
Urged by the depletion of game and the pressure of
white settlement, the Indians of eastern Pennsylvania
were often forced to sell then lands. By the early 17th
century most of them were living along the Susquehanna
River. Gradually the tide of settlement advanced westward,
and by 1789 all tribal land had beer ceded to the State.
In 1796 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania awarded three
separate parcels of land to the Seneca chief Cornplanter.
Cornplanter and his people settled upon one, a tract
of a little more than a square mile on the Allegheny
River in Warren County. Cornplanter’s heirs held
this tract until 1964, when the construction of the
Kinzua Dam forced the dissolution of the last remaining
Indian community in Pennsylvania.
ABOUT COLLECTING INDIAN ARTIFACTS
The person who collects Indian artifacts plays an important
role in archeology, a role that can be either helpful
or destructive. There are more collectors than there
are professional archeologists. The collector usually
searches for artifacts in his own neighborhood, so he
knows his area best. Any archeological study of an area
depends very heavily on the knowledge of the collectors
of that region.
There is a type of collector who is interested only
in getting complete and undamaged objects. Such a person
may accumulate a large and showy collection, but one
which has little significance for the study of archeology.
His collection will probably display his own selection
of pieces, not a representative sample of the items
used by the Indians. Further, the artifacts in his collection
will probably not be identified by site, thereby forfeiting
their scientific value.
Another person may begin merely as a collector of artifacts,
but as his interest in the Indians who used them grows,
he begins to study the functions of the objects and
the differences among artifacts from various sites.
He may also join the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology,
a statewide organization of amateur and professional
archaeologists. Above all, he keeps accurate records
of his finds. Such a person is not just a collector;
he is a steward of the past. Cataloging should be done
promptly, while the details of the location are still
fresh in one's mind. Any system of marking artifacts
is good if it will enable one to identify the places
from which they came. One symbol is all that is necessary
to catalog all of the artifacts from a single site.
The mark on the artifact should be small and, preferably,
on the rougher side, the one opposite the side to be
exhibited. India ink is the best marking material that
is easily available. When it is dry, the mark may be
covered with a little colorless nail polish to keep
it from rubbing off, particularly from smooth surfaces.
The location of each site should be recorded in a notebook,
together with the catalog symbol used to mark the artifacts
from that site. The notebook will then contain a permanent
record of the information which is archeologically most
significant.
All collectors are encouraged to register their sites
with the Pennsylvania Archaeological Site Survey, a
compendium of over 12,000 sites located throughout the
Commonwealth. Significant sites recorded with the Survey
are afforded protection from the ever-increasing effects
of state and/or federally assisted construction projects.
Credits: Published by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Text by Catherine McCann; edited by Barry C. Kent,
Stephen G. Warfel, and Kurt W. Carr; 1983; Division
of Archaeology, The State Museum of Pa., Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania.
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