ARCHAEOLOGY
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Click to enlarge.
Caption:
East Steubenville Ridgetop from the south?
1938: FIRST DISCOVERY
In 1938, members of the West Virginia Archaeological Society discovered
the East Steubenville site, perched on a high ridgetop, 300 feet above the
Ohio River. Here, they found the remains of an ancient Native American
encampment, marked by lance-shaped spearpoints and drills of flint, pointed
awls of bone and antler, and stone adzes and fish net weights, scattered
among a shell midden--discarded shells of freshwater mussel that the site
visitors had harvested in the Ohio River and then eaten at the blufftop above.
NOTE TO RYAN: Please hyperlink the underscored to the
following scanned images.
Spearpoints
Caption:
[left] Projectile Points of Chert; [right] Straight and Expanded-base
Chert Drills, East Steubenville Site, 1938. Source: Mayer-Oakes
1955.
Pointed Awls
Caption:
Bone and Antler Awls [left to right] Notched bone splinter awl, bone
joint awl, and bone splinter awl, East Steubenville Site, 1938. Source:
Mayer-Oakes 1955.]
Stone Adzes
Caption:
Stone and Bone Artifacts [left to right]: Notched pebble for fish net
sinker, Groundstone adze for woodworking, East Steubenville Site,
1938. Source: Mayer-Oakes 1955.]
1953: INTRODUCING THE QUESTIONS
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Caption:
Mayer-Oakes, 1940
Twenty years later, these artifacts were brought to William Mayer-Oakes, an
archaeologist at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Studying these and
similar finds from other sites in his laboratory, Mayer-Oakes saw a pattern:
the spearpoints, bone tools, and adzes had mostly been found in shell
middens on bluff tops overlooking the Ohio River.
“The site locations are unusually high above the Ohio River and
often a type of place not likely to be used by later groups.”
--Mayer Oakes, Archaic Epoch, 1953
From stone tools found at other prehistoric campsites, Mayer-Oakes knew
that Native American hunters had roamed across Upper Ohio Valley,
stalking game as early as 11,000 years ago. But these bluff top Archaic shell
midden sites, believed to be 5,000 to 3,000 years old, were different: while
the mussel shell, fish bone and stone netsinkers found in the middens,
testified that these later Archaic peoples also harvested their livelihood from
the Ohio River.
Found only in the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia, these Archaic shell
midden sites marked a watershed in West Virginia prehistory between
earlier hunting lifeways and the later mound building cultures of the Upper
Ohio Valley. Mayer-Oakes coined the term Panhandle Archaic to refer to
this unique, riverine-focused lifeway of Native Americans that flourished
thousands of years ago in the Upper Ohio Valley.
“…Archaic people discovered the assured food supplies contained in
mussel shoals along the major streams. A shift in economy from one
primarily dependent on hunting to one depending upon collecting fish and
shellfish took place, and with it a change from a nomadic to a semi-settled
way of life. Camps established near the mussel shoals were occupied for
long enough periods of time to build up small deposits of refuse, especially
discarded mussel shells.”
--Mayer-Oakes, Archaic Epoch, 1953
Years passed. Decades later, many questions remained about the Panhandle
Archaic lifeway and the East Steubenville site -- Who were these people?
When did they camp on the blufftop? What was the land like? How did
they live from day to day? Only archaeological research could unravel these
mysteries of the Panhandle Archaic.
1999: AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ANSWERS
Planned construction of a four-lane highway (Follansbee-Weirton Route
2 Upgrade) would remove the ridgespur where the East Steubenville
Site lay. Faced with destruction of this important site and a lost
opportunity to answer many questions about the Panhandle Archaic,
WVDOT archaeologists laid plans for a data recovery excavation to
study the site through careful excavation, analysis, and reporting.
Conducted in 1999-2000, these data recovery excavations found the
tools and food remains of these prehistoric Native Americans that told
us how they lived, and unexpectedly, human burials were discovered
that revealed their identity.
NOTE TO RYAN: LET THE PHOTOS REPLACE SUBHEADINGS IN THIS SECTION
EXCAVATIONS AT THE EAST STEUBENVILLE SITE
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Caption:
Archaeologists excavating small test pits
In Fall 1999, fieldwork began. The first artifacts, found in small test
pits, showed that Native American visitors to the East Steubenville Site
only camped on the crest and upper flanks of the ridgespur.
Unfortunately, several decades of unsystematic digging by relic
collectors had disturbed some of the site—mostly in the shell midden
along the ridgeflanks.
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Click to Enlarge
Digging by test squares in the undisturbed parts of the site produced a
wealth of artifacts—worn or broken tools of stone and bone discarded
by the Native American inhabitants. For this work, we used flat
shovels and trowels to peel back the soil layers, and mesh screens to
separate artifacts from the excavated earth.
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Caption:
Hand Excavations and Screening
As winter closed in, we erected small weatherports for shelter and
continued working.
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Caption:
Weatherports for Winter Excavations
We also found shell, animal bone, and other food remains discarded by
the prehistoric Native Americans on the east and west flanks of the
ridge. On the west flank, small sections of undisturbed shell midden
had escaped the relic hunters, and were carefully excavated.
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Caption:
Prehistoric Shell Midden Uncovered by Excavations
Along the central crest of the ridgespur, only stonetools (spearpoints,
for example) and flakes from making or resharpening stonetools) were
found, along with a massive pitted anvil stone, probably used for
cracking nuts or breaking up chert cobbles to make stonetools.
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Caption:
Large Pitted Anvil Stone
During the summer of 2000, a trackhoe and hand shovels were used
to strip topsoil from the site. This work uncovered pits, fire hearths,
and other features built and used by the Panhandle Archaic visitors.
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Caption:
Topsoil stripping to uncover prehistoric features
Once discovered, these features were mapped, photographed, and
excavated, producing many more artifacts along with mussel shell,
animal bone, and carbonized plant remains.
Large basins or pits, some extending down to bedrock, were common.
The Native Americans may have dug these deep pits to steam shellfish
or cook other foods. Other features, simple clusters of rock, were
probably hearths where Native Americans kindled fires for warmth.
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Caption:
Half-excavated pit containing shell and artifacts
During these excavations, the remains of six Native American burials
were discovered. Laid to rest in shallow graves, these burials were
probably family members who died during the Late Archaic
encampments. After the first of these burials was discovered,
meetings with Native Americans and other interested groups provided
guidance on the respectful removal of remains and their study prior to
reburial.
ANALYSIS
After finishing fieldwork in the fall of 2000, we moved into the
laboratory to clean, classify and analyze the artifacts and other
archaeological materials from the site. [Photo of Lisa in lab ""] Our
team of experts has been studying the archaeological remains to
reconstruct the lives and lifeways of the Panhandle Archaic Native
Americans at the East Steubenville Site.
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Caption:
Cleaning Artifacts at GAI's Laboratory
NOTE TO RYAN: Please hyperlink the following underlined subheadings to their
appropriate web page
The Land
Soil scientist David Cremeens and botanist Justine McKnight have
joined forces to reconstruct the natural setting of the East Steubenville
Site ridgespur and the valley below, as it looked during the second
millennium B.C.
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Caption:
Soil Scientist David Cremeens collecting soil samples at the East Steubenville Site
The People
Dr. Paul Sciulli, Ohio State University, analyzed the human skeletal
remains from six Native American burials at the East Steubenville Site.
His work reveals the physical appearance and health of these visitors
who passed away at the site and provides the first glimpse into the
identity of Panhandle Archaic people.
Tools for Survival
By studying the 60,000 artifacts found at the site, Analyst Ken Mohney
can determine many of the day-to-day activities of the prehistoric
inhabitants and how they used prehistoric technology to make a living.
Lifeways
Identifying the food remains found at the site will tell us not only what
foods the Panhandle Archaic Native Americans at East Steubenville ate
to survive and during what seasons the site was visited. Faunal
analysts Marie Lorraine Pipes and Dr. Steven Thomas are identifying
animal bone, while Dr. Bud Rollins, Malacologist at the University of
Pittsburgh, and his assistant Lisa Dugas are classifying freshwater
mussels. Their findings reveal which creatures were caught and
collected in the food quest, and in what habitats (e.g., large rivers or
small streams) they were found.
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Caption:
Identifying species of freshwater mussel.
To know which plants the East Steubenville visitors harvested for food,
Botanists Justine McKnight and Dr. Gary Crites are classifying the
seeds and nuts preserved in pit features at the site.
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Caption:
Botanist Justine McKnight identifying prehistoric plant remains.
Now, by traveling through this web site, you can visit the prehistoric
world of the Native Americans who lived at the East Steubenville site
in that ancient time 4,000 years ago.