[Various (1967)] Contents The Taconic Tradition and the Coe Axiom Louis A. Brennan 1 Excavations of a Probable Late Prehistoric Onondaga House Site Robert Ricklis 15 The Pickle Hill Site, Warren County, New York Paul L. Weinman, Thomas P. Weinman, Robert E. Funk 18

[Various (1967)] 1 THE TACONIC TRADITION AND THE COE AXIOM Louis A. Brennan Metropolitan Chapter THE COE AXIOM In his recently published report (Coe 1964) on the Archaic cultures of inland North Carolina, "The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont," Joffre L. Coe drew up his statement of conclusions (p. 8) on several years work done on naturally stratified sites along the banks of Fall Line …

[Various (1967)] The discovery establishes-and Coe leaves no doubt that he intends it to establish-that the craftsmen of any given community at any given time were not making a diversity or "hodgepodge" of projectile point styles, but were working to the specifications of a single design idea. Thus, if a projectile point is defined-as may be any other artifact-as an assemblage of desired component…

[Various (1967)] Rouse (1960: 313) has used the taxonomic word "mode" for the same concept, defining it thus: "By the term mode is meant any standard concept or custom which governs the behavior of the artisans of a community, which they hand down from generation to generation and which they may spread from community to community over considerable distances." When Coe writes of "one specific theme…

[Various (1967)] As Coe points out in his introduction to his Piedmont report, the "complex" is a delusion. It is not a situation of diversity within 2 THE BULLETIN a cultural-time unit; it is a confusion of cultural-time units, brought about because a succession of cultures had occupied the same site and had left their remains in what was essentially the same soil stratum. Coe is quite blunt not …

[Various (1967)] It was assumed that, if a significant number of traits were found to occur together in a series of sites, then they were probably the physical remains of the activities of a particular group of people at a particular period of time. The first results of this effort appeared to be rewarding and the Guilford and Badin foci were first defined on the basis of this assumed association …

[Various (1967)] In each of the twenty culture zones she has excavated (to a total depth of 24 ft. below former surface level) where projectile points occur, there is one type per zone. The type succession is the same and the dates are approximately the same as a Coe's Piedmont riparian sites. We can, therefore, with considerable confidence, apply the Coe axiom to the elucidation of some of our mo…

[Various (1967)] of penetration, is at a right angle with the altitude of the point). 9. the corner or bias notched (the axis of the notching is at an acute angle to the altitude of the point). 10. the neck and yoke (these points are either notched or stemmed, with indented bases). This classification system is an extensible taxonomy of themes of point form, rather than of points themselves, as th…

[Various (1967)] the production of a projectile point, changes in proportion, of weight, of choice of material, may came about in a number of ways, from individual fancy or discovery to movement to a new locale or exposure to new ideas. Phases of chronological significance are to be expected, therefore, and the tradition continues until changes have obliterated its "specific theme." Thus the tradi…

[Various (1967)] Yet it is even closer than that for, while artifacts do not have genes and cannot breed, their makers do and correlation between the artifact tradition and the genealogy of its makers is what a cultural tradition is, by the definition we have given it. Hence, changes there will be, and what must be recognized in the evolutions of a tradition through multiple phases is that (1) the…

[Various (1967)] No. 39, March 1967 5 were used as shaft material, and when we find the dowel or tendon stem what we find is the use of reed shafts rather than any stylistic features. Intermediate, hybrid and, possibly, specialized forms are not the only reasons why there will be many points in a site collection of significant number that may be assigned with more confidence to the tradition than …

[Various (1967)] Its theme is the stemmed point, and a stemmed point, according to those who have learned the art of flint knapping, is harder to shape than a notched-blade point. For the latter, once a satisfactorily thin ovoid or trianguloid blank has been roughed out, notches can be worked in at will anywhere, from any angle and to any depth with a punch-like flaking tool and a few twists of th…

[Various (1967)] Since we have no prospects of finding such sites, in this area at least, to construct a model of the Taconic tradition we have had to make use of what appears to be the logic of technological and form development, added by some very slight chronological clues. For instance we do have, at our Twombly Landing site, now being excavated, a stop-date forward of 4750 years on a Taconic …

[Various (1967)] We have taken them from almost every site excavated or collected from in this area - some ten productive sites-and wherever the site collection is large, Taconic tradition points 6 THE BULLETIN No. 39, March 1967 7 8 THE BULLETIN are the largest fraction. We have thus had adequate opportunity for comparison and sufficient motivation to make something of them, since they loom as th…

[Various (1967)] one shoulder is sharply cornered and the other is rounded. Why it did not come into vogue sooner to round both shoulders or why it came into vogue when it did will probably never be ascertained, but it did come into vogue eventually, to establish a discernible variety. That it was in vogue quite early is best illustrated by the specimen pictured in Ritchie (1965), Plate 14, no. 32…

[Various (1967)] The makers apparently did not know how to thin the stem and their efforts often resulted in a round-based or stud stem, which is characteristic of the first five phases of the tradition. Variety: The Croton Half and Halfs. Asymmetrics as above. These forms are difficult to assign to a specific phase. Phase 3: THE BEACH STRAIGHT-UPS. The blade is narrow, straight edged, and paralle…

[Various (1967)] from the stem. Variety 2: The Van Cort Long Lines. The blade edges curve into the stem in a continuous line. Variety 3: The Van Cort Fishtails. The blade edge curves in a continuous line into the stem which then flares out. Very probably the Taconic tradition, as herein set for th, should be separated into an early and a late stage, the break coming at phase 6, where the knobby st…

[Various (1967)] But what is represented does exist in the concrete form of archaeological specimens. The model here given is certainly subject to revision and amendment. DISCUSSION Ritchie, in his definitive volume The Archaeology of New York State (1965) has inferred that he no longer regards the 5383 ± 250 C14 date released by Libby in 1950 as the cornerstone date for the Northeastern Archaic t…

[Various (1967)] Thus the 4750 ± 160 (Y-1761), confirmed by a Geochron Laboratory date of 4725 ± 60 (Gx-0762) obtained by the author on a hearth at the Twombly Landing site, Palisades Park, New Jersey and establishing an order of age for the narrow-bladed, stemmed, small point there, is the oldest date so far obtained for this tradition or "specific theme" in the Northeast or elsewhere. The actual…

[Various (1967)] the two are approximately equivalent. Carbon 14 labs are not yet ready to release a full calibration of real and C14 ages but it is in making. According to the formula being tentatively used in the meantime the real or annual date of the Twombly hearth would be 5550 B. P. The real date of the Croton Point shell midden (Brennan 1963:14) tested at 5863 ± 200 (Y 1315) would be 7108 B…

[Various (1967)] Since Ritchie has a date of 4474 ± 300 (Ritchie 1965:91) on a Vosburgian phase hearth at the Bannerman site in Dutchess County and Funk has the aforementioned date of 4220 ± 160 on a narrow -bladed, stemmed point level at Sylvan Lake Rockshelter, also in Dutchess County, it would appear that the Taconic and Laurentian traditions were contemporaneous in the Hudson Valley, probably …

[Various (1967)] But they do not appear in an early or even Middle Archaic sequence so far reported from the South, on Coe's excavations, at Russell Cave, or at the Stanfield-Worley Rockshelter. The implication is that they are quite late in the south, where very different printmaking traditions dominated the Archaic. In Michigan, at the other end of an arc that would have the Twombly site near it…

[Various (1967)] The Taconic tradition is, then, a characteristic theme of narrow-bladed, stemmed, small (with some specimens large enough to indicate use on a different kind of weapon than the small) projectile points of the Late Archaic, stopping short at least in this area, of the soapstone horizon Transitional but probably influencing later cultural facies. The only diagnostic artifact produce…

[Various (1967)] from a simpler, more generalized, and more widely disseminated and mobile hunting and fishing manifestation which probably antedated 3000 B. C." This "simpler, more generalized" culture would be the Taconic tradition point makers, but of what it consisted we know only the points for sure. CONCLUSION Coe's excavations in the Piedmont of North Carolina, corroborated by Broyles in We…

[Various (1967)] Albans Archaic Site, 1964-65, The Eastern States Archaeological Federation, Bulletin No. 25, May, 1966, Berwyn, Pa. Coe, Joffre L. 1964 The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 54, part 5, Philadelphia, Pa. DeJarnette, David L., Edward B. Kurjack, and James W. Cambron 1962 Stanfield-Worley Bluff Shelter Excavations, …

[Various (1967)] 13 Scheutz, Meredith K. 1957 A Report on Williamson County Mound Material, Bulletin of the Texas Archaeological Society, Bulletin vol. 28, the Texas Archaeological Society, Austin, Texas. Stuiver, Minze and Hans E. Suess 1966 On the Relationship Between Radiocarbon Dates and True Sample Ages. Radiocarbon, vol. 8, 1966, pp. 534-40. New Haven, Conn. PLATE 1 THE TACONIC TRADITION: MA…

[Various (1967)] The material uncovered at this time, consisting primarily of triangular projectile points, chert scrapers and knives, bone awls, celt fragments, pipe fragments and pottery, came from three hillside refuse deposits in which a total of 18 five foot squares was dug. Under one of these deposits was found a row of large postmolds apparently representing a segment of defensive palisade.…

[Various (1967)] The maximum width of the area showing evidence of occupation is approximately 300' at the east end of the site, where the adjoining land slopes upward. This width, however, rapidly diminished to about 100' at the center of the site. The length of the site is approximately 600 feet. The nearly level top of the promontory is, and has been for many years, in pasture. On the precipito…

[Various (1967)] Although refuse became progressively less abundant and the topsoil color lightened considerably, the subsoil in this trench produced a series of 23 postmolds which extended in a rough east-west line. Further clearing bf the subsoil revealed an additional 125 post molds ranging in diameter from 2 1/2" to 12" and in depth from 4" to 16". Associated with these postmolds were three he…

[Various (1967)] The location of each of these molds in corresponding positions at opposite ends of the structure suggests that they served as large roof supports. It will also be seen from the illustration that both to the north and to the south of the hearths was found a series of large postmolds approximately 5" to 7" in diameter, all about 5' from either the

[Various (1967)] No. 39, March 1967 17 bin. If so, it must have existed either earlier or later than the supposed house as it directly overlays what must have been the west end of the rectangular structure. Further suggesting more than one phase of construction is the presence of an irregular line of postmolds, running in a roughly east-west direction in the southeast corner of the excavated area,…

[Various (1967)] I would hesitate to consider this small dwelling a true Iroquois longhouse, but the basic structure seems to have conformed to the longhouse pattern: a rectangular dwelling with a central bunk-bordered corridor containing hearths. Of course no general conclus ions concerning Onondaga house types can be made on the basis of this excavation alone. Although at the nearby Temperance H…

[Various (1967)] Rochester, N.Y. MacNeish, Richard S. Iroquois Pottery Types:A Technique for the Study of Iroquois Prehistory. National Museum of Canada, Bulletin No. 124. Ottawa Ricklis, Robert A. "Excavations at the Atwell Fort Site, Madison County, New York". New York State Archeological Association Bulletin No. 26, pp. 1-5. Rochester, N.Y. 18 THE BULLETIN THE PICKLE HILL SITE, WARREN COUNTY, N…

[Various (1967)] This stream, which drains through swampy ground, is almost dry during most of the summer and fall. However, a nearby spring could have supplied the Indian occupants of the site with water during nearly all periods of the year. The hummocky valley in which the site lies is adjoined on the east and west by high gneissic hills that eventually rise to the north as fault-line scarps wh…

[Various (1967)] The undisturbed subsoil was yellowish brown, pebbly sand at least 5' thick which, except for features 1 and 2, was free of evidence of aboriginal occupation. Six trenches, one 50' by 3', the others 25' by 3', were plotted and dug from a datum stake in such a way as to sample much of the site for - postmolds. Unfortunately, the plow blade had apparently destroyed any molds that mig…

[Various (1967)] The feature contained about 200 fist-sized rocks, cracked by fire. A Normanskill point, a narrow point blank, flint chips, and 3 carbonized acorn cotyledons were associated. A small quantity of charcoal was carefully collected. Most of the artifacts in the collection are projectile points. Thirteen of the points are good examples of the Normanskill type (plate 2, figs. 1-9). Six b…

[Various (1967)] 33); a large quartzite spall chopping or pounding tool (fig. 35); an ovate tool of the form usually called a chopper, in actuality probably a hide scraper (fig. 32); and 1 ovate knife (fig. 34). The predominant material used in chipped stone artifacts was blue-gray to black scoriaceous Fort Ann flint (58 items, or 58% of the total). Gray Normanskill flint (11 artifacts, 11%), a sp…

[Various (1967)] A very similar range in projectile point forms, the majority being of Normanskill type, is evident in the components at all three sites. The retouched flake scrapers at Pickle Hill have not been found on other sites of the River complex. The anvil-hammerstone with its fan-shaped radial scars, perhaps employed in flint-knapping, is identical with specimens from the River and Bent s…

[Various (1967)] At Pickle Hill, 65% of all artifacts were whole, fragmentary, or unfinished projectile points. Scrapers, such as those found at Pickle Hill, are usually assumed to have been used in working hides, but a more likely function in view of their small size may have been woodworking (Ritchie, personal communication). Gouges and other ground stone implements may have served to chop trees…

[Various (1967)] Materials: 1, 6, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18-21, 27, 32, Fort Ann flint; 3, 22, 28-30, Onondaga flint; 5, 8, 16, Normanskill flint; 7, 13, 25, 34, Little Falls? flint; 2, 23, Kalkberg? flint; 4, Deepkill flint; 10, 26, gray cherty slate; 17, quartz; 24, 31, 35, 38, quartizite; 36, 37, graywacke; 33, prophyritic basalt. 22 THE BULLETIN 100 years (I-2401) based on the combined charcoal sa…

[Various (1967)] Following spring thaws the River people probably moved to Lake George, the Hudson River, or other bodies of water where fish and shellfish were available. REFERENCES Funk, Robert E. 1966a. The Significance of Three Radiocarbon Dates from the Sylvan Lake Rockshelter. New York State Archeological Association, Bulletin 36. Rochester, N.Y. ___________________ 1966b. An Archaic Framewo…

[Various (1967)] of millions of people living in the metropolitan regions of New York and New Jersey, it has been completely lost in the rush of civilization. The Tuxedo-Ringwood Canal was built around 1765 by Peter Hasenclever. Hasenclever, a German, headed a London syndicate which formed a corporation called the American Iron Company, which proposed to develop an iron empire in America. Hasencle…