Tag: New York

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Archaeology Zooarchaeology

That’s No Dog

Another example of why you should always hire a professional zooarchaeologist when you find animal bones on your site (in this case, the professional zooarchaeologist was Renee Walker):

The internet erased my original meme, so this will have to do.

The Dog That Wasn’t: An Historical Pig Burial on the Sixteenth-Century AD Klock Site, Fulton County, New York

Hart, John P., and Robert S. Feranec. 2019. The Dog That Wasn’t: An Historical Pig Burial on the Sixteenth-Century AD Klock Site, Fulton County, New York.  Archaeology of Eastern North America 47:1-6.

Abstract. An articulated animal skeleton was found in a pit feature at the cal. sixteenth-century AD Klock site in Fulton County, New York during New York State Museum excavations in 1970. The skeleton was reported as a dog burial associated with the Native American occupation in Funk and Kuhn’s 2003 report on the site. Recent analysis indicates that the animal was a six-month-old domesticated pig. A radiocarbon date on the skeleton indicates the animal was most likely buried in the cal. nineteenth century AD, well after the Native American occupation of the site.

Categories
Archaeology

A Point from the Ellison Site

Haven’t had too much archaeology on the Ledger recently, so a here’s a projectile point from the Ellison Site, which is just uphill from the Lamoka Lake site. A brief surface survey of part of the site was undertaken with the permission of the landowner. Known as a Brewerton point, this likely dates to the Middle Archaic, or earlier than the occupation of the Lamoka Lake site.

Side-Notched Projectile Point
Brewerton Side-Notched point (PP#3) from the Ellison Site. Source: TCM
Tip of projectile point
Tip of Brewerton Side-Notched Point (PP#3). Source: TCM
Categories
History

So the Man behind the Salisbury Steak is from Upstate New York

Salisbury steak: not just a hamburger without a bun. The inventor was James Henry Salisbury and he was born in Cortland County, NY. The details are at Exploring Upstate.

Categories
History

How did Lamoka Lake get its name?

Lamoka is a word that you don’t see used much other than for the lake itself, and the prehistoric archaeological culture found along its shores. Does anyone know where its name came from?

On early maps, including the 1829 Atlas of New York and the 1869 New Map of the State of New York, Lamoka is named Mud Lake, and Waneta Lake to the north is called Little Lake. By 1874, in an atlas of Schuyler County, Lamoka Lake appears on the map, although Little Lake is still used for Waneta. In the 1879 book History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler Counties, New York, “Lamoka” is used repeatedly, and Little Lake has become “Wanetta.”

1874 Map of Schuyler County.

I’m not surprised they changed the name – there are at least 30 other Mud lakes in New York, and Lamoka has a nice sound to it—but I’d like to know where they got the name from.

If anybody knows, or has any clues, please leave a comment!

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Music

“Just Around the Corner to the Light of Day”

Categories
History

Albany Rural Cemetery

Founded in 1844, the Albany Rural Cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I don’t normally seek out cemeteries, but this is the second major rural cemetery I’ve visited in the last month or so.

President Chester Arthur is the most famous resident. New Jersey governor and U.S. Supreme Court justice William Paterson (namesake of the university in New Jersey) is also buried here.

Albany Rural Cemetery, Menands, New York.

Tomb of President Chester A. Arthur. Arthur benefited from political patronage and machine politics, but when he became president after the assassination of James Garfield, he threw his support behind the civil service reform movement. The 1883 Pendleton Act would lead to civil service jobs being awarded based on merit, not personal connections.


Continue reading “Albany Rural Cemetery”
Categories
Exploration History

Historic Cemeteries along the Finger Lakes Trail

Views of Lamoka Lake, Glenn Curtiss’ burial plot, and other historic cemeteries from the Evening Tribune.

Categories
History

Huguenot Street Stone Houses in New Paltz, New York

French Huguenots founded the town of New Paltz in New York state in 1677. Their first houses were made of logs, but by the beginning of the 1700s, they were building more permanent stone houses. Several of those buildings survive today on Huguenot Street, a National Historic Landmark.

Continue reading “Huguenot Street Stone Houses in New Paltz, New York”
Categories
academia Archaeology

Scholarship for New York Archaeology Undergraduates

For New York state undergraduates interested in a career in archaeology,  the Daniel H. Weiskotten Scholarship Fund 2018 awards $750 and a 1 year membership in the New York State Archaeological Association

To apply for this award, a student must be a New York state resident enrolled in an accredited New York state college or university undergraduate anthropology or history program. The student applicant must have completed a minimum of 30 credit hours; be majoring in anthropology or history; and be intending to pursue a career in archaeology (prehistoric, historic, military, industrial, underwater archaeology or museology); and have a financial need.

Details are at New York State Archaeology

The Scholarship is administered by the William M. Beauchamp Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association

Categories
Archaeology books

Iron in New York – New Open Access Book from the NYSM

The New York State Museum has just released Iron in New York, edited by Martin Pickands, a collection of eight articles on the history, geology, and archaeology of the iron industry in New York, primarily in the Adirondacks and the Hudson Valley. The book is free to download at the NYSM.