Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700 –1300

CHAPTER 11
EARLY LATE PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT AND SUBSISTENCE
DIVERSITY IN THE SOUTHERN TIER OF NEW YORK
Christina B. Rieth
INTRODUCTION
Northeast archaeologists often view the early Late
Prehistoric period (A.D. 700-1300) as a homogeneous
entity in which specific settlement and subsistence
features can be applied uniformly across the entire
region (Ritchie 1944; Ritchie and Funk 1973). As a
result, subsistence and settlement models developed
for specific river valleys and/or drainage basins have
been applied (or misapplied) to contemporaneous
groups living nearby (Ritchie 1944). The result of this
practice has not only led to the simplification of complex
settlement and subsistence systems but has also
resulted in erroneous interpretations about early Late
Prehistoric settlement and subsistence systems.
Equally problematic is the relative absence (until
recently) of detailed intraregional settlement and subsistence
studies. In his analysis of subsistence patterns
in southern New England, Bendremer (1999:134)
argues that regional and subregional studies are
important and should be undertaken, since they can
“detect and assess the full range of strategies”
employed by prehistoric populations. Likewise,
Trigger (1981:32) in his summary of Iroquoian social
and settlement organization argues that regional
studies are needed to determine “what sorts of patterns
of behavior these differences represent and what
local traditions some of them may signify.”
An important aspect of these intraregional studies
involves the examination of both large and small sites
within the larger settlement and subsistence system
(Lennox 1995). In the past, archaeologists working in
the Susquehanna Valley have focused their research
on large multiacre village sites located near the junction
of the Susquehanna, Chemung, and Unadilla
Rivers (Prezzano 1993; Prezzano and Rieth 2001;
Ritchie 1934, 1939, 1973; Wurst and Versaggi 1993). As
a result, smaller camp and resource procurement sites
located at the northern end of the valley are often forgotten
or, at best, viewed as peripheral components to
the regional settlement and subsistence system.
This chapter contributes to our understanding of the
prehistoric occupation of the region by examining a
cluster of small sites located near the confluence of the
Schenevus and Otego Creeks with the larger
Susquehanna River (hereafter the Oneonta-Worchester
area). I summarize what is known about the settlement
and subsistence features of these sites and attempt to
integrate data from more recent excavations into
regional models of settlement and subsistence.
SMALL SITE ARCHAEOLOGY
AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE EARLY
LATE PREHISTORIC CULTURES
OF THE NORTHEAST
Small sites are defined as “. . . sites whose size and
artifactual assemblage suggest a limited temporal
occupation by a small group of people, gathered at
the locality to carry out a specific, seasonally oriented
set of activities” (Piles and Wilcox 1978:1). Although
small sites are regularly integrated into regional settlement
and subsistence models elsewhere (e.g., King
and Potter 1994; Piles and Wilcox 1978; Schwartz and
Falconer 1994; Ward 1978), in the Northeast, such sites
are often viewed as unimportant when considered in
relationship to larger semipermanent villages that have
become the hallmark of the early Late Prehistoric period.
While this bias can be partially attributed to the
implementation of academic research problems centering
on the reconstruction of culture history, equally
Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700–1300 by John P. Hart and Christina B. Rieth. New York State Museum
© 2002 by the University of the State of New York, The State Education Department, Albany, New York. All rights reserved.
Chapter 11 Early Late Prehistoric Settlement and Subsistence Diversity in the Southern Tier of New York 209