Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

from the Middlesex. Meadowood sites are primarily clustered in central and western New York
and are generally found adjacent to major streams and lakes, although some are known from
areas near wetlands and smaller water bodies. Typical artifact assemblages include: early pottery
(examples of which have thick walls, are conoidal-based, straight-sided, “unornamented,” and
are cord-roughened on the entirety of their interiors and exteriors (Ritchie and MacNeish,
1949:100; Stothers and Abel, 1993:44); diagnostic Meadowood-style projectile points (Justice,
1995:170-172; Ritchie, 1971:35-36); other tools such as drills and scrapers with bases suggesting
they are re-worked projectile points; anvilstones; abrading stones; hammerstones; cigar/tubeshaped
smoking pipes; birdstones; and gorgets (Funk, 1983:335; Ritchie, 1980:191-196). Some
New York and Ohio sites have produced data suggesting oblong house forms measuring about 4
m by 5 m (12 ft by 16 ft) (Ritchie and Funk, 1973:107; Stothers and Abel, 1993:33, 62-63).
Fragments of basketry and fish nets have also been found (Ritchie, 1980:194-195). Burials with
Adena-like qualities are also sometimes present. Nearby example sites include: Riverhaven No.
2, Vinette, Scaccia, and Sinking Ponds in New York (Funk, 1983:335; Granger, 1978b; Ritchie,
1980:190-191; Ritchie and Funk, 1973:96); and Weilnau and Seeman’s Fort in north-central
Ohio (Stothers and Abel, 1993:194-195).
Middle Woodland
In northwestern Pennsylvania, the appearance of several types of decorated ‘post-Vinette I’
ceramic vessels around 2,000 B.P. marks the beginning of the Middle Woodland (Kostiw, 1995).
In areas to the west and southwest, the period is associated with the appearance of the ‘Hopewell
Interaction Sphere,’ a phenomenon largely defined by the presence of earthworks and burial
mounds sometimes including lavish quantities of exotic grave goods. Hopewell-like mounds and
artifacts are found in northwestern Pennsylvania, but they did not appear there until several
centuries after their beginnings in Ohio. In northwestern Pennsylvania the Middle Woodland
extends to 1,000 B.P.
Hopewell-like burial mounds in northern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and western and
central New York are up to 50 ft in diameter and 9 ft in height. Burials were inside stone slab
cists and were typically extended; cremated remains of other individuals are occasionally found
in the mounds outside the cists (Ritchie, 1980:227). Among the elaborate grave goods found in
the mounds are: platform pipes (made from both ‘Ohio fireclay’ and local materials), some with
animal effigies; slate pendants; red and yellow ocher; two-holed gorgets; copper beads, ear
spools, breast ornaments, celts, and awls; copper or silver panpipe covers; stone celts and adzes;
prismatic flake knives; and projectile points (some of which are large examples of the Snyders
type manufactured from high-quality stone from Ohio) (Coe at al., 1986:50-55; Funk, 1983:340;
Justice, 1995:201-204; Ritchie, 1938; 1980:227). One example of Middle Woodland burial
mounds in northwest Pennsylvania is the Irvine Mound (Carpenter, 1956). Mounds tend to be
near major rivers or large bodies of water, such as the Genesee, Finger Lakes, and Lake Ontario.
They also are frequently not near habitation sites (Kostiw, 1995:41).
Relative to burial practices, little is known about Middle Woodland subsistence, settlement, and
other aspects of culture throughout the Northeast (Bowen, 1992:63; Funk, 1983:339; 1993:200;
Ritchie, 1980:226). However, the period is known to have witnessed numerous cultural
innovations, including the adoption of the bow-and-arrow (Kostiw, 1995:38) and maize
agriculture (Hart and Brumbach, 2003; Hart et al., 2007). Northwest Pennsylvania Middle
Woodland habitation sites are typically grouped into the Scioto/Watson Tradition (Brose,
Northern Border Activities H-30 July 2012