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

N
0
0
50 mi
80 km
Project area
J. Skiba
Figure 11.1. Map showing the location of the project
area.
Figure 11.2. Map showing the location of the sites
discussed in the text.
Schenevus and Charlotte Creeks is a unique combination
of upland hills and valley floors. In this area, the
valley floor is very narrow, measuring less than a quarter
mile wide. Several smaller microenvironments
(such as those at Hudson Lake and Worchester Bog) are
located nearby and would have allowed the prehistoric
occupants of the region to exploit a wide range of floral,
faunal, and aviary specimens (Mitchell 1978).
The valley floor is transformed from a narrow corridor
to an expansive floodplain measuring more
than a mile wide in between the Charlotte and Otego
Creeks. Nearby, several small terraces surround the
valley floor. The entire Oneonta-Worchester region is
enclosed by the smoothly undulating Appalachian
mountain system, and the tributary valleys of the
Schenevus, Charlotte, and Otego Creeks would have
provided access to these upland areas (Mitchell 1978).
Chronology
The sites that are discussed in this chapter bridge
the gap between the late Middle Woodland (ca. A.D.
700-800) and the early Late Woodland (ca. 800-1300)
periods. In the upper Susquehanna Valley, the late
Middle Woodland period includes sites dating to the
Kipp Island phase (A.D. 700-800) and has been associated
with the occupation of the region just prior to
the introduction of maize horticulture. According to
Ritchie (1994), the Kipp Island phase is best described
as a transitional phase between the earlier Point
Peninsula occupations and the Late Woodland cultures
that dominated the region between A.D. 800 and
1300.
Most of the sites that are discussed in this paper are
associated with the early Late Woodland period and
have produced calibrated radiocarbon dates between
A.D. 1000 and 1300 (Table 11.2). The early Late
Woodland period has traditionally included sites dating
to the Hunter’s Home (A.D. 800-1000), Carpenter
Brook (A.D. 1000-1100), Canandaigua (A.D. 1100-
1200), and Castle Creek (A.D. 1200-1300) phases. In
the Southern Tier region of New York, this period is
marked by the transition from a mobile hunter-gatherer
subsistence economy to a subsistence economy
that involved the adoption and eventual intensification
of maize horticulture (Ritchie 1994). Coinciding
with this transition were equally important changes
in the use, size, and internal organization of prehistoric
settlements, material culture, and the reconfiguration
of earlier social relations.
Several sites in the project area produced erroneous
radiocarbon dates and/or were not previously dated
(Table 11.2). When possible, these sites were assigned
to the late Middle or early Late Woodland period
212 Rieth