Archaeology is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without first seeing the finished picture. So says archaeologist John Lawrence, whose team is finding plenty of puzzle pieces to keep them busy in Lower Makefield.
Their excavation site next to the Delaware River may look like a jumbled array of dirt, shovels and sifters, but the soil-ridden pieces of stone tools and ceramics that archaeologists are uncovering provide a window into Native American life before European contact.
"Hopefully, you make an image that's intelligible and that other archaeologists will agree with," said Lawrence on Thursday. He's the senior archaeologist leading a team of about 15 people who are finding projectile points (arrowheads), tools and pottery dating from about A.D.1000 to A.D.1500.
The site near the intersection of River Road and Woodside Road is where a new bridge will replace the Scudder Falls I-95 Bridge linking Bucks and Mercer Counties.
Archaeologists will be working for the next few months to recover and catalog as many artifacts as they can before a bridge support is constructed in a few years. The team is from AECOM, the bridge project's design management consultant based in Los Angeles.
There's evidence from a recent archaeological dig across the river in New Jersey that people lived there as far back as 4000 B.C., said Lawrence.
On Wednesday, the archaeologists uncovered what appears to be a stone cooking hearth. Team members Jen Marye and Matt Cotter pointed to a cluster of fire-cracked rock sprinkled with small pieces and shards of tempered ceramic pottery, carbon marks from burned fuel and tools made from local shale called argillite, which is still in abundance today. Little orange flags stuck out of the ground to mark each point of interest.
"There are little flaked pieces that flew off while they were making tools," said Marye, pointing out sharp little stone pieces.
The rock cluster may also indicate another way Native Americans cooked, said Lawrence. They may have heated the rocks and placed them inside pots filled with food, effectively cooking it.
In another section of the site, a team member scraped an identifier mark around a dark circular patch in the dirt. It may not look like much, but the mark is probably the carbon stain left over from a wooden post or stake that was stuck in the ground. The wood may have been part of some kind of structure, Lawrence said.
Grid pattern
Several 20-foot-by-10-foot rectangular excavation plots dotted the site. Workers dug to a depth of about 2 to 3 feet, and inside, they meticulously scraped dirt away from artifacts. Pink string criss-crossed one plot, creating a grid that archaeologists can reference later to keep track of where each artifact was found.
"You have to put each piece in context. You need to know its location (relative to the other artifacts) and its condition to be able to interpret the artifact," Lawrence said.
In the next three months, the team plans to dig a plot 14-feet deep in the area that the new bridge support will eventually occupy.
The next step is cleaning and cataloging artifacts. Archaeologists are doing that in a building neighboring the site that serves as a temporary lab.
Inside, many unearthed pieces in labeled plastic baggies are spread across tables.
The pieces on the Pennsylvania side will go to the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, where they'll be stored for future reference and investigations. The artifacts found across the river will go to the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.
Some stones show edges that indicate their use as scraping or cutting tools. Others are finely honed projectile points used for hunting. Still others are rocks roughened on one side, which is evidence of their use as a sort of hammer, said Lawrence.
Though the stone tools found indicate a fairly simple technology, people need to be careful not to draw the conclusion that the people making and using them were also unsophisticated, said Lawrence.
"This is just a small, small fraction of their material culture," he said.
Stone survived, but anything made of organic matter, such as cloth, wooden structures and bone would leave little or no trace after 500 years. And after this much time, the daily culture of the Native Americans living there is a mystery, Lawrence said.
$1 million project
The excavations on both sides of the river are part of more than $1 million in archaeological activities the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission is funding in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act and at the request of the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
Every potential archaeological site starts out with the hope of uncovering a missing piece of history, said Lawrence.
Out of every 20 test sites, about five may yield promise. Maybe one of those actually gets to the phase of the Lower Makefield dig, allowing archaeologists to shape a collection of artifacts into a cohesive image of a community's life, said Lawrence.
Initial investigations of the site occurred in 2004, and archaeologists have returned for a third time.
This excavation will probably be the last, Lawrence said. Economical and time constraints prevent them from continuing indefinitely, even though there's a good chance of finding much more, he said.
In a way, excavating actually destroys a pristine historical setting, Lawrence added.
"We have to keep things in order and organize what we're finding. That way, we can reconstruct it + to be able to tell the history of a people who can no longer tell it themselves," he said.
Author: Manasee Wagh | Source: phillyBurbs [April 22, 2011]
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| Archeologist Dave McCormick measures how far to dig as he searches for native American artifacts from near the Scudders Falls replacement bridge in Lower Makefield on Thursday [Credit: phillyBurbs] |
"Hopefully, you make an image that's intelligible and that other archaeologists will agree with," said Lawrence on Thursday. He's the senior archaeologist leading a team of about 15 people who are finding projectile points (arrowheads), tools and pottery dating from about A.D.1000 to A.D.1500.
The site near the intersection of River Road and Woodside Road is where a new bridge will replace the Scudder Falls I-95 Bridge linking Bucks and Mercer Counties.
Archaeologists will be working for the next few months to recover and catalog as many artifacts as they can before a bridge support is constructed in a few years. The team is from AECOM, the bridge project's design management consultant based in Los Angeles.
There's evidence from a recent archaeological dig across the river in New Jersey that people lived there as far back as 4000 B.C., said Lawrence.
On Wednesday, the archaeologists uncovered what appears to be a stone cooking hearth. Team members Jen Marye and Matt Cotter pointed to a cluster of fire-cracked rock sprinkled with small pieces and shards of tempered ceramic pottery, carbon marks from burned fuel and tools made from local shale called argillite, which is still in abundance today. Little orange flags stuck out of the ground to mark each point of interest.
"There are little flaked pieces that flew off while they were making tools," said Marye, pointing out sharp little stone pieces.
The rock cluster may also indicate another way Native Americans cooked, said Lawrence. They may have heated the rocks and placed them inside pots filled with food, effectively cooking it.
In another section of the site, a team member scraped an identifier mark around a dark circular patch in the dirt. It may not look like much, but the mark is probably the carbon stain left over from a wooden post or stake that was stuck in the ground. The wood may have been part of some kind of structure, Lawrence said.
Grid pattern
Several 20-foot-by-10-foot rectangular excavation plots dotted the site. Workers dug to a depth of about 2 to 3 feet, and inside, they meticulously scraped dirt away from artifacts. Pink string criss-crossed one plot, creating a grid that archaeologists can reference later to keep track of where each artifact was found.
 |
| Archeologist Marc Hudson searches for Native American artifacts nearby the Scudder Falls replacement bridge in Lower Makefield on Thursday [Credit: phillyBurbs] |
In the next three months, the team plans to dig a plot 14-feet deep in the area that the new bridge support will eventually occupy.
The next step is cleaning and cataloging artifacts. Archaeologists are doing that in a building neighboring the site that serves as a temporary lab.
Inside, many unearthed pieces in labeled plastic baggies are spread across tables.
The pieces on the Pennsylvania side will go to the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg, where they'll be stored for future reference and investigations. The artifacts found across the river will go to the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton.
Some stones show edges that indicate their use as scraping or cutting tools. Others are finely honed projectile points used for hunting. Still others are rocks roughened on one side, which is evidence of their use as a sort of hammer, said Lawrence.
Though the stone tools found indicate a fairly simple technology, people need to be careful not to draw the conclusion that the people making and using them were also unsophisticated, said Lawrence.
"This is just a small, small fraction of their material culture," he said.
Stone survived, but anything made of organic matter, such as cloth, wooden structures and bone would leave little or no trace after 500 years. And after this much time, the daily culture of the Native Americans living there is a mystery, Lawrence said.
$1 million project
The excavations on both sides of the river are part of more than $1 million in archaeological activities the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission is funding in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act and at the request of the New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
 |
| Dig Site in Lower Makefield [Credit: phillyBurbs] |
Out of every 20 test sites, about five may yield promise. Maybe one of those actually gets to the phase of the Lower Makefield dig, allowing archaeologists to shape a collection of artifacts into a cohesive image of a community's life, said Lawrence.
Initial investigations of the site occurred in 2004, and archaeologists have returned for a third time.
This excavation will probably be the last, Lawrence said. Economical and time constraints prevent them from continuing indefinitely, even though there's a good chance of finding much more, he said.
In a way, excavating actually destroys a pristine historical setting, Lawrence added.
"We have to keep things in order and organize what we're finding. That way, we can reconstruct it + to be able to tell the history of a people who can no longer tell it themselves," he said.
Author: Manasee Wagh | Source: phillyBurbs [April 22, 2011]