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

importance of hunting and hunting-related tasks at
these sites. Household or “in-camp” activities, such as
the manufacture of tools and the processing of food
remains, are also reflected in the presence of pitted
and hammer stones at several sites (Funk 1998a:72-77,
1998b:384; Hartgen Archaeological Associates, Inc.,
1989:33, 1998:115; Starna and Gutierrez 1980:5;
Wellman 1998:132). Despite the absence of aquatic
specimens in the faunal assemblage, the recovery of
netsinkers from the Fortin II site (Funk 1998a:72, 77),
Hudson Lake (Snethkamp 1976), and Otego Yard site
(Hartgen Archaeological Associates 1988) suggests
that fishing was not restricted to the valley floor but
also occurred in upland areas.
Chipped-stone tools and debitage comprise the
largest number of artifacts recovered from these small
sites. The chipped-stone tools recovered from these
sites include but are not limited to bifaces; knives;
end-, side-, and thumbnail scrapers; drills; Levanna,
Jack’s Reef Corner Notched, and Pentagonal Projectile
points; strike-a-lights; and unifaces (Funk 1998a,
1998b; Hartgen Archaeological Associates, Inc., 1988,
1989; Raemsch 1970; Ritchie 1938; Snethkamp 1976;
Wanser 1978; Weide 1974; Wellman 1998). With the
exception of the Middle Woodland component at the
Fortin II site, worked and unworked cores were not
recovered in large numbers. At Occupation Zone 3 of
the Fortin II site, 16 cores and 38 core fragments were
recovered (Funk 1998a:74).
While several different flake classes are represented
in the assemblages of these early Late Prehistoric
sites, secondary and retouch flakes, which are associated
with late-stage tool manufacture and are characterized
by their small size and lack of cortical material,
predominate the artifact assemblages at the Fortin
II (Funk 1998a:74-77), SUBi-505 (Wanser 1978),
Ouleout (Hartgen Archaeological Associates, Inc.,
1989:33), Sternberg (Funk 1998b:384-385), and Otego
Yard sites (Hartgen Archaeological Associates 1988).
When combined with the limited number of cores
recovered from these sites, it appears that the production
of new tools was not a primary activity at these
sites. Instead, the predominance of secondary and
retouch flakes suggests that the occupants of these
sites were engaged in tasks associated with the sharpening
and the curation of existing tools.
Many archaeologists believe that with the advent of
a sedentary village lifestyle, lithic technologies
changed from a bifacial to a bipolar technology,
resulting in the use of more expedient tool kits (Parry
and Kelly 1987) that were used by both men and
women (see Miroff, this volume; Versaggi 1996, as
cited in Oskam 1999:28). In her study of the Hudson
Lake site, Montag (1998) compared the lithics recovered
from this small upland site with those recovered
from the Boland site, an early Late Prehistoric village
site located near Binghamton. The results of her study
suggest that the occupants of this small site employed
a bifacial technology, which emphasized the production
of formal tools that served the specific needs of
their users over a bipolar technology that merely created
tools with a usable edge. While detailed studies
of the ratio of bifacial to bipolar tools at all of these
sites has not been completed, the limited number of
utilized flakes and expedient tools recovered from the
Street, Ouleout, and Sternberg sites (Funk 1998b;
Hartgen Archaeological Associates, Inc., 1989;
Wellman 1998) suggests that the patterns observed at
the Hudson Lake site may not represent an isolated
case, but may represent more widespread patterns
during the early Late Prehistoric period.
Local and nonlocal materials are represented in the
lithic assemblages from these sites. The majority of
the lithics were manufactured from Eastern
Onondaga chert, which is known to outcrop in the
Oneonta-Worchester vicinity (Funk 1998a:72,
1998b:382; Weide 1975; Wellman 1998:133). Nonlocal
materials, including western Onondaga (Funk
1998a:72, 1998b:382), Esopus (Funk 1998b:384-385),
and Knauderack (Funk 1998b:384-385) chert,
Pennsylvania jasper (Wellman 1998:133), and (possibly)
Flint Ridge chalcedony (Funk 1998b:384-385),
were also present, and represent a small portion of the
chipped-stone tools and debitage from these sites. Of
the total number of nonlocally produced artifacts
described in the archaeological literature, 85.7 percent
were from late Middle Woodland occupations, while
14.3 percent were from early Late Woodland occupations.
These data suggest that interaction with groups
in other regions may have been most prevalent at the
beginning of the early Late Prehistoric period.
A detailed analysis of the ceramics from these sites
also provides insights into subsistence and settlement
practices. According to Braun (1983), as prehistoric
communities intensified their use of indigenous
crops, the construction of ceramic vessels changed to
support the extended cooking time of such plants.
According to Prezzano (1985:iv), when compared
with Middle Woodland vessels, we should expect
Late Woodland vessels to show paste and morphological
characteristics associated with greater thermal
shock-resistance, rather than mechanical strength.
Specific changes in the construction of these containers
should include a reduction in vessel wall thick-
Chapter 11 Early Late Prehistoric Settlement and Subsistence Diversity in the Southern Tier of New York 221