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

were noted), which also could not be identified to
species, but based on size and configuration, are
believed to represent one or more of the small anadromous
species. Floral remains included pin-cherry
(Prunus pensylvanica), carbonized nutshell (species not
identified), and unidentified seeds. Fish vertebrae
were the most commonly recovered food remain that
could be assigned to the Middle Woodland period,
while several pre-Middle Woodland features produced
seeds tentatively identified as chenopodium.
The location of the site downstream from the falls
suggested fish were harvested with the use of a weir,
set net, or baskets. Net sinkers, fishhooks, gorges, leisters,
and other artifacts traditionally considered to be
indicative of a fishing orientation were infrequent or
nonexistent. The absence of large storage pits as well
as any quantity of mammalian bone, and the relatively
restricted variety of artifact forms and the small number
of projectile points in comparison to other categories
of chipped stone tools, are evidence for a limited-purpose
occupation with a low emphasis on the
hunting of land animals. Still, the very dark and
organically rich soils of the features and living floors,
with relatively high content of phosphorus, magnesium,
and calcium, argue for the presence of decomposed
food remains. (For a more complete discussion,
see Brumbach 1978:138-143.) Fish harvesting and processing
would have deposited large accumulations of
refuse onto the site, and could have accounted for the
soil characteristics.
ECOLOGICAL CONTEXTS
FOR A MIDDLE WOODLAND FISHING
ECONOMY ALONG THE UPPER HUDSON
Schuylerville’s location, like other sites in the upper
Hudson River drainage (see Funk 1976), was likely to
have been selected because it offered easy access to
migratory fish. Although fish can be taken from
almost any place along rivers or within lakes, they are
most readily taken in large numbers at natural
obstructions such as falls, shallows, or reefs (Rostlund
1952). These features function like man-made traps,
since they impede the progress of the migrating fish
that tend to mill around in the pools before ascending
upriver. Located adjacent to a shallows or fording
place and immediately downstream from the first of a
set of falls on Fish Creek, the site is positioned for harvesting
migratory fish after they enter the smaller
creek from the Hudson River but before they begin to
ascend the falls.
The Fish Population
According to several nineteenth century documents,
Fish Creek received its name “ . . . because of
the myriads of herrings which used to swarm up
through it in the spring of the year into [Saratoga
Lake]; and secondly because of the intensive fish
weirs which the Indians constructed at the outlet of
the lake for catching herring” (Brandow 1900:8). Also,
“It is a well known fact that in Colonial times, before
the mills and dams were erected at Schuylerville by
Gen. P. Schuyler in 1760, herring and shad in
immense schools were in the habit of running up the
Hudson in the spring into Fish Creek (hence the
name) and thence through Lake Saratoga and the
Kayaderosseras even to Rock City Falls” (Stone
1880:35-36, quoted in Ritchie 1958:11).
While few fish species do not perform some kind of
migration during part of their life cycle (Nikolsky
1963:231), the anadromous fish (and catadromous eel,
which reverses the direction of migration) are best
known for their migrations, which may bring them
far inland in search of suitable spawning grounds.
Anadromous fish do most of their growing at sea,
where food supplies are greater, and when mature
return to fresh or brackish water, where spawning
and nursery grounds are more protected. This pattern
becomes more marked in the northerly latitudes
because of the cooler environment. Here, primary
productivity of lakes and rivers is not high, especially
during the colder months, and the ability of these
lakes to support resident fish populations is limited
(Schalk 1977:211). The movement of fish into inland
waters for spawning, at which time most anadromous
species do not feed, brings large numbers of fish into
an environment suitable for reproduction although
not for year-round support. Seasonal changes in
water temperature trigger both the inland migrations
and spawning. Since the fish do most of their feeding
in the marine ecosystem, the migrations represent an
energy “bonus” to the interior. By coordinating their
own patterns of mobility and aggregation with those
of the fish species, human populations can benefit
from this natural abundance. The importance of the
fish to the prehorticultural subsistence system, therefore,
lies not only in their abundance, but also in their
spatial and temporal predictability.
The major species involved in the Hudson River
fishery include two species of sturgeon of the family
Acipenseridae (the short-nosed sturgeon, Acipenser
brevirostrum, and the common or sea sturgeon, A.
oxrhynchus, also classified as A. sturio), several of the
232 Brumbach and Bender