|
The Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter
I believe this same condition can be detected at the Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter. Thus, if my suppositions that points, m, n, o, p, q, and r (third row, Figure 6) are Lamokoid and the remainder are broadly Laurentian (save the lozenge or pentagonal form, s, and the triangular forms t, u, and v, which have parallels in later manifestations) are valid, then Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter yields a complex of projectile points quite in keeping with Ritchie's demonstrations in the Hudson Valley. Ritchie's Bannerman Site, incidentally, lies only some 30 miles northwest of my site. Statistically, too, the distribution seems in keeping with this view of prehistory for our region. That is, of the six points I see as Lamokoid, four, or about 67 percent, came from the low levels at this site (Levels 2 and 3). Two of these six points, or about 34 percent, came from Level 1, but were still associated physically with the broader-bladed Laurentian-like forms. Ritchie says specifically that the dominant Laurentian Culture of the Hudson Valley maintained itself in all essentials as time went by, but with the addition of the obviously older point form. Thus are the Lamokoid forms to be accounted for in higher, more Laurentian-like horizons. It remains to mention that the broad-bladed Laurentian forms may well be likened to, or include some of Witthoft's (1953) broad forms, too. Thus, there may be Susquehanna Broad forms present here. Witthoft (op. cit.; pp. 21-22) remarks on association of soapstone with his Lehigh and Susquehanna forms, and steatite scrap was present at Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter. Also, Ritchie (1958; p. 100) says that at the Bannerman Site in the lower Hudson Valley (closest to Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter) "…excavational data suggest that increments of the Susquehanna tradition (steatite pots, Orient Fishtail and probably related Susquehanna and Perkiomen Broad points) were added, seemingly by contacts from diffusions down river. . . ." The criteria for many of these refined point types seem unduly esoteric to me at times, and pose some question in my mind as to their objectivity; most likely this is a confession of inadequacy on my behalf. All of which in no way invalidates the general sequence in which points sharing broad, easily-noted characteristics (i.e., narrow, slender "fish-spear" Lamokoid forms generally common in lower levels but declining in frequency upwards) are accompanied and replaced in middle and upper portions of the sites by predominantly broad-bladed, side-notched points, and still higher yet, by the well-known isosceles triangle forms of Late Woodland times. Ritchie also remarks (Ritchie, 1958) that the Lamokoid and Laurentian aspects of the eastern New York and Hudson Valley sites emerge mostly via the projectile point forms, since there is a dearth of other stone artifacts associated with these cultures farther west. Again, at Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter, this proved true, since the inventory included very little beyond the projectile point assemblage.
One small triangular quartz point (v in Figure 6) came from Level 3. In New York and southern New England these points are mainly associated with pottery-making, agricultural peoples. The point seems, somehow, out of place in Level 3, but I do not think it intrusive. MacNeish (op. cit.; p. 48) cites triangular points among the diagnostics of the Vosburg Focus of northern New York - a Late Archaic manifestation. Further he sees points of his postulated "Finch Focus" (op. cit.; p. 54), coinciding with some of those of the Vosburg Focus. Byers (1959a; p. 243) mentions the occurrence of small triangular quartz points in pre-ceramic horizons in New England. The two large pieces (x and y in Figure 6) seem logically in context in the lower layers of this shelter. It is interesting that x has been broken and reworked along the break as a knife or scraper. Kidd (1952; p. 79) cites this trait specifically as evidence of the Archaic pattern in Ontario. Forty-nine percent of the points in Levels 2 and 3 are made from white quartz. I believe the quartz is local, probably derived from glacial till. Smooth "rinds" as in specimen ee in Figure 5, are common and are telltale clues to the cobbles from which these people worked their tools. Flint (1930; p. 73) says that considerably more than 90 percent of the stones in Connecticut drift are of local origin. The occasional translucent quartz and dirty, so-called "vein" quartz were perhaps pried from intrusions in the local rocks. At least one aboriginal quarry at such a vein not far from here is known personally to me. 6 The source for the quartzite and the chert may be local, or it may be some distance away. Chert occurs naturally a few miles west of this site in the vicinity of the Hudson Highlands. 7 The archeological literature contains many references to "source regions" for various stones, i.e. eastern Pennsylvania for a yellow jasper (Ritchie, et al., 1953; p. 35), or Flint Ridge, Ohio, for a widely renowned flint. It would seem careful petrographic data should always back - such references, since identification of stone from exotic regions should rest on more than apparent or gross attributes. Additionally, there are in Levels 2 and 3 many amorphous flake scrapers and a few pieces of burned stone, quarry scrap, and similar material. The peculiar specimens, cc and dd in Figure 5, come from this horizon. Out of a total inventory of 150 potsherds, only one was re-corded from this level, and, as mentioned, I believe this was intrusive or improperly recorded. Thus, I suggest on the basis of what specimens we do have from the lower levels of this rock shelter and their comparisons and analyses as given above, that a preceramic or Archaic occupancy for the shelter is indicated.8 There are 14 points in the remaining or upper layer, Level 1. The majority (56%) are stemmed or side-notched and not greatly different from those in the non-pottery-bearing levels below. There are present two triangular forms: an increase of one specimen (7%) over the lower horizon. The validity of my conclusions is certainly tempered by the small size of my sample, but an increase in small triangular forms is what one would expect as pottery begins to appear - and that, actually, is what my small inventory demonstrates. Otherwise, materials and technique do not differ greatly from Levels 2 and 3. The points in this layer do not definitely reflect late occupancy; typologically they seem more displaced toward Early Woodland times. Apparently no interior-cordmarked wares are present; neither is an early type Clearview pottery definitely present. However, 95 percent of the sherds are grit-tempered and 57 percent are cord-marked on the exterior - traits which, taken with the possible fiber tempering (5%), may generally be interpreted as early rather than late. Interestingly, steatite temper is absent, though this is a trait cited for the transition time between the Archaic and Woodland Periods in the coastal Northeast (Griffin, 1952; p. 357). There is no shell temper (in contrast to the finds in Finch II), which again may be significant in postulating an early ceramic date for Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter. This, together with the "early" projectile points, the grit temper, possible fiber temper, and cord marking are most suggestive of Early to Early-Middle Woodland times. In our area this is the time of the Windsor Culture.
Smith consigns the pottery of Finch II to the Clasons Point Focus of the East River Culture. Contact material was also found in Finch II, which is to be expected of some Clasons Point components, but no Contact material was noted at Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter. I suggest, then, that Level 1 of this shelter be tentatively assigned to occupancy somewhere between the first penetration of the area by the bearers of the East River Culture, and an earlier, unspecified focus of the Windsor Aspect - whose pottery, as suggested by very general criteria, is apparently intermingled with the later East-River-like wares. Unlike the situation recorded for Finch I and Finch II, Levels 2 and 3 were not separated from Level 1 by any discontinuity or sterile horizon. The artifact assemblage graded imperceptibly downward. Yet we find all pottery confined to Level 1, and conspicuous by its absence in Levels 2 and 3. Therefore, it seems these layers must definitely belong to an earlier period of time: a pre-ceramic period. If all three layers pertain to one occupancy, what mechanism could selectively sort the artifacts and move all potsherds into the uppermost layer? Lack of a separating layer between Levels 2 and 3 and Level I might seem incongruous in the light of the time interval, perhaps 1500-2000 years, that may separate some of the occupations in this shelter. In this connection, I might cite the condition we encountered at the Hunting Ridge Rock Shelter (Powell, 1959a; p. 43) not far from the Mianus Rock Shelter, where pottery vaguely reminiscent of Owascoid traditions was encountered in situ upon the floor of the shelter beneath only a shallow layer of leaf mold. If, it seems reasonable, the sherds in this latter shelter can be attributed to Late Woodland times, then (barring erosion) in the roughly 500--600 years since the Indians used this site, there has been essentially no soil accumulation over their remains. This, perhaps, is all (and possibly much more) than can justifiably be inferred about Mianus Gorge Rock Shelter. A pre-ceramic level here would push back the demonstrated presence of man in southern Fairfield County by quite some bit. That the shelter was used during later Woodland times coincides with much that is known and suspected about the aboriginal cultures in our region. _________________________________________________ Footnotes * Bernard W. Powell, Thistle Road, Norwalk, Connecticut. † Submitted April, 1960. Revised for length, July,1963. 1 Added in Press: In March, 1964, the Mianus Gorge was designated a Natural History Landmark of the National Park Service. Recognition was extended to the Mianus River Gorge Conservation Committee - a voluntary organization - by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall. As quoted in the New York Times, March 26, 1964, Secretary Udall said of the Gorge that it was "…an area considered unsurpassed in the East, one in which natural conditions have remained relatively undisturbed." A current goal of the Conservation Committee is acquisition of land in the southern Gorge still held by the Greenwich Water Company; this would permanently inhibit threats from further commercialization, development, or building. 2 I am indebted to the late Julius Lopez of the New York City Archeological Group, and to Frank Glynn of the Archeological Society of Connecticut for helpful comment on the original draft of this manuscript. 3 Schrabisch found aboriginal smoke stains on the walls of rock shelters in northern New Jersey. 4 I understand, only indirectly, that a group which dug here after me found evidence of a "lower" horizon. 5 Contact material is often reported from rock shelters in this general area. It was noted in a badly disturbed site at Saxon Woods Park, Mamaroneck, N.Y., by Blackie ( 1946; pp. 4-5). It was said to be present at an unspecified rock shelter in Greenwich, Conn. (Rouse, 1949, p.1). 6 Undescribed site at Samp Mortar Rock, Fairfield, Conn. (Powell, 1959; p. 3). Another quarry undoubtedly occurs as part of the complex at the unpublished and undescribed so-called Eckart Site near Sandy Hook. 7 Ritchie, Lenig, and Miller (1953; p. 35) mention Onondaga Chert present at the Turnbull Site near Rotterdam Junction, N. Y., as occurring naturally south of the Mohawk Valley. This chert, and others like it, might have been traded or brought into our region by early men. Tempering this suggestion somewhat is the fact that the direction of glacial flow during the last advance of the ice sheet, as depicted in Fenneman (1938), was down the eastern side of the Hudson Valley, and thence southeastwards through our part of Connecticut. The drift and the stones it contained thus originated in the same areas, and traveled over the same route, as that postulated for aboriginal importation. 8 Byers (1959; p. 230) mentions the importance of negative traits in establishing the Archaic, as lack of pottery, smoking pipes, or objects of shell. ______________________________________________________
REFERENCES Agogino, George A., & Frankforter, W. D. 1960 "A Paleo-Indian Bison-Kill in Northwestern Iowa." American Antiquity 25:414-415. Salt Lake City. Blackie, W. R., Jr. 1946 "Rock Shelter in Mamaroneck, New York." Newsletter of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, Ed. G. A. Jackson, No. 43, pp. 3-5. New Haven. Byers, Douglas S. 1958. "Two Sites in Southern New England." Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society 20(l): 1-7. Attleboro. 1959. "An Introduction to Five Papers on the Archaic Stage." American Antiquity 24:229-232. Salt Lake City. ….1959a. "The Eastern Archaic: Some Problems and Hypotheses." American Antiquity 24:233-256. Salt Lake City. Fenneman, Nevin M. 1938. Physiography of Eastern United States. McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc. New York. Flint, Richard Foster 1930. The Glacial Geology of Connecticut. State of Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey, Bulletin Number 47. Hartford. Glynn, Frank 1953. "The Pilots Point Submerged Sites." Bulletin of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 27, pp. 11-29. New Haven. Griffin, James B. 1952. "Culture Periods in Eastern United States Archeology." In Archeology of Eastern United States, ed. by James B. Griffin; pp. 352-364. Chicago. Harrington, M. R. 1909. "The Rock Shelters of Armonk, New York." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, 3:123-138. New York. Kidd, Kenneth E. 1952. "Sixty Years of Ontario Archeology." In Archeology of Eastern United States, ed. by James B. Griffin; pp. 71-82. Chicago. MacCurdy, G.G. 1914. "Passing of a Connecticut Rock Shelter" The American Journal of Science 38:511-522. New Haven. MacNeish, Richard S. 1952. "The Archeology of the Northeastern United States." Archeology of Eastern United States, ed. by James B. Griffin; pp. 46-58. Chicago. Patterson, Edward D. 1955. "Garvie Point-NAS Site I." Bulletin of the Nassau Archeological Soc., Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-3. Sea Cliff, N. Y. Powell, Bernard W. 1958. "Preliminary Report on a Southwestern Connecticut Site." Bulletin of The Archeological Society of Connecticut. No. 28, pp. 12-29. New Haven. ….1959. (Ed.) Newsletter of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 73, p. 3. New Haven. ….1959a."A Ceramic Find at Hunting Ridge (Conn.)." Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society 20:43-45. Attleboro. Ritchie, William A. 1944. The Pre-Iroquoian Occupations of New York State. Rochester Museum of Arts and Sciences, Memoir 1. Rochester. 1958. An Introduction to Hudson Valley Prehistory. New York State Museum and Science Service, Bulletin Number 367. Albany. Ritchie, William A., Lenig, Donald, & Miller, P. Schuyler 1953 An Early Owasco Sequence in Eastern New York. New York State Museum, Circular 32. Albany. Rodgers, John, Gates, Robert M., Cameron, Eugene N., & Ross, Reuben J., Jr. 1956. (Map) Preliminary Geological Map of Connecticut. Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey. Hartford. Rouse, Irving 1948. "Excavations at the Ragged Mountain Site." Newsletter of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 50, pp. 3-5. New Haven. 1949. (Ed.) Newsletter of the Archeological Society of Connecticut, No. 55, p. 1. New Haven. Schrabisch, Max 1909. "Indian Rock-Shelters in Northern New Jersey and Southern New York." Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 3. New York. Smith, Carlyle S. 1950. The Archaeology of Coastal New York. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 43, Part 2. New York. Stern, William L. 1958 (as quoted in) "Nature's Outpost in Exurbia," by Louis H. Bowen. New York Herald Tribune, 3/15/58. New York. U.S. Geological Survey 1951. (Map) Pound Ridge Quadrangle. U.S.. Geological Survey 7-1/2 Minute Series (NE/4 Stamford 15' Quadrangle). Washington. Witthoft , John 1953. "Broad Spearpoints and the Transitional Period Cultures." Pennsylvania Archaeologist, 23:4-31. Milton, Pa. END |
v:shapes="_x0000_s1026"> In all, 14
projectile points come from Levels 2 and 3. In addition, there are two
large forms which were most likely spear-points, but may have been
knives. Of the projectile points, 56 percent are side-notched.
I mentioned previously the fine serrated appearance of the corner-notched
point (w in Figure 6). Rouse (1948; p. 5) has said he believes
corner-notching earlier than side-notching. 
v:shapes="_x0000_s1027"> The "late"
triangular projectile points may just correlate with the presence of three
rim and near-rim sherds (Figure 7) with cord-impressed decorations on and
near the lips, and hint at a manifestation during later East River Culture
times. Perhaps finer stratigraphic discrimination than my 6-inch
levels would have verified this supposition, though any postulation based
on only two or three specimens rests on shaky grounds. Still, we
must work with what we have, not with what we might wish we had.