Home / Various (1971) / Passage

NYSAA Bulletin No. 52 — Archaic Sites: Croton Point & Dogan Point — Passage 15 (part 3)

Various (1971) 247 words View original →

[Various (1971)] It now appears that the site borders on the edge of an old river channel and does not extend across it. The area originally excavated appears to be the western half of the site, with the eastern limits extending at least 150 ft. from the excavated area. The approximate area covered by the site is 250 ft. east/west and 200 ft. north/south. The relationship between Witchs Walk 1, Witchs Walk 2 (indicated by the 2 test pits on the river bank in Plate 1) and the sites excavated by the Carnegie Museum must await further analysis. The total excavated area included 42 ten-foot squares, 2 trenches, 2 five-foot squares and 5 test pits around the site. Of the 100 x 100 ft. area, 4300 sq. ft. were excavated. Since part of the site had been scraped by a commercial bulldozer prior to its discovery, depth was taken from a constant point. Each square was excavated in three levels: Level No. 52, July 1971 23 1, surface and topsoil if present; Level 2, dark brown river deposited silt; Level 3, occupation layer and sub-floor features. It is unfortunate that the field crew could not have excavated a large portion of the site, but periodic flooding during the field session seriously hampered the work. We attempted later in the field session to use a small garden tractor to expedite the removal of the extensive overburden, but soil and water conditions were such that the tractor was constantly bogged down.