Dig Deeper

Bard Archaeology collaborated with Mill Road Elementary School in 1998, introducing fourth grade students to the concepts behind archaeology.

Learn More »

Even if you can't visit an archaeological site in-person, our online exhibit of the Bard 25 site lets you get up-close-and-personal with artifacts like this one.

Learn More »

Occassional Publications in Northeastern Anthropology, No. 15
A Golden Chronograph for Robert E. Funk

Edited by Christopher Lindner and Edward V. Curtain
Copyright © 1996 by Archaeological Services. All rights reserved.

Chert Microdrills from Eastern New York: Use-Wear on Bushkill Tools That Might Have Made Middlesex Beads

CHRIS LINDNER
BARD COLLEGE AND HUDSONIA

LISA FOLB
NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Our replicative experiments focus on chert microdrills from a Schoharie Creek site. Results argue against a proposed function of drilling holes in shell beads. This hypothesis derived in part from a similarity to Midwestern tools that high-powered microscopy has interpreted as worn by use on shell. Low-power photomicrographs clearly depict the character of wear on the 2400 year old tools in the Hudson River drainage of eastern New York. Such bright, linear polish closely resembles that produced by experimental drilling of wood and antler, but differs markedly from the dull, smooth patches caused by use on stone and shell. Our chert replicas were effective, however, in making holes in a wide variety of materials.

The senior author came to the Northeast twelve years ago, having recently finished a thesis in lithic analysis (Lindner 1982) that supported the functional identification of ironstone digging tools in the Scioto Valley of south-central Ohio. Bob Funk gave him a corner of the New York State Museum lab to work on certain sandstone implements of New York: choppers from the Archaic and chipped disks from the Woodland period. Funk and Rippeteau (1977:26, Plate 9) had suggested that some of these enigmatic artifacts were possibly used as 'hoes or, grubbing tools.' Lindner's (1983) replicative experiments demonstrated that this was not how their wear traces formed. Funk (1993:235, 316) revised his interpretations accordingly. He eventually became the principal advisor of a dissertation in field archaeology and environmental history that examined site preservation due to thick alluvium from periods of unusually frequent high floods (Lindner 1987, 1991).

The microdrills from the Lopuch 3 site may be the first such implements recognized in the Northeast. Recent excavations found them along Schoharie Creek, the main tributary of the Mohawk River in eastern New York. Two radiocarbon dates place them around 2400 years ago, in the half-millennium long Early to Middle Woodland transition that is one of the least understood time spans in the region. We undertook analysis of the microdrills in order to address an hypothesis (Lindner 1989) that the Middlesex phase, known from cemeteries in the Northeast, represented part of a cultural system that included in New York the contemporaneous Bushkill complex which has been discerned thus far only in habitation deposits. Robert E. Funk (1993:226) suggests the same interpretation of these cultural entities in his new Upper Susquehanna Valley volume, completed in the late 1980s.

In 1983 Dr. Funk was digging with the senior author at the Lopuch 3 site on Schoharie Creek when Beth Wellman, also of the New York State Museum, found probably the first chert microdrill to be identified in the Northeast (Figure 1: tenth from left). Her artifact envelope describes it as a "retouched flake thing." The State Museum funded a radiocarbon assay of wood charcoal from a hearth 2.6 m away that contained Point Peninsula Plain ceramics. The uncorrected date of 2405±145 B.P. (GX 11619) is consistent with the early range of this pottery (Lindner 1987).

The cultural stratum at Lopuch 3 rests relatively undisturbed, with the depth of its top ranging from 56 - 97 cm below surface (see stratigraphic profile in Figure 2). The depth of this layer varies because it spans a shallow trough, probably a flood chute, that has filled with alluvium, making the area more level than during its occupation (see topographic map in Figure 3).

In 1988 a field school from Bard College worked at Lopuch 3 for several weeks. The students found twelve more microdrills in or near the hearth (see map of excavations in Figure 4). Another microdrill turned up 10 cm from a second probably re-used fireplace that supplied charcoal for radiocarbon assay. At 2315±105 B.P. (uncorrected, GX 15149), it supported the mid-third-millennium date of the site, giving a mean age of 2360 radiocarbon years (Lindner 1991). The only point from the 19 square meters excavated at Lopuch 3 is a thin triangular biface similar to one from the Westhehner site, 26 km upstream, in a stratum of roughly the same age (Ritchie and Funk 1973:141; Plate 71, Fig. 16).

One of our final total of 15 microdrills came from dirt left over from a charcoal sample that had been cleaned for the first radiocarbon assay of Lopuch 3. This piece (Figure 1: second from left) and the other very small fragments should serve as warnings; sites of this era ought to receive eighth-inch mesh screening in the vicinity of hearths.

Because of Lopuch 3's age and proximity to the Mohawk Valley where Middlesex mortuary sites cluster, Lindner (1989) postulated that its microdrills might have been involved in the manufacture of shell beads found in contemporaneous cemeteries (see map of New York and southern New England in Figure 5). In support of this hypothesis he noted that these tools closely fit the narrow holes in the conch columella from the burials at the Middlesex affiliated Barton cemetery 60 km to the east. Robert Funk (personal communication 1993) recently radiocarbon-dated wood charcoal from this site at 2095:± 95) B.P. (uncorrected, GX 15751). If replicative study of the microdrills confirmed use on shell, it would strengthen the potential for Lopuch 3 to be the first unmixed, relatively undisturbed, habitation site in New York recognized as part of the Middlesex cultural system.

Three years later, Folb (1993) began her senior thesis at Bard College on this subject. She demonstrated that replicas of the Lopuch 3 microdrills can effectively make holes in conch shell. She was also able to drill various other materials: stone, bone, teeth, turtle carapace, antler, wood, and pottery, but not copper.

To make replicas of the Lopuch microdrills, we obtained Eastern Onondaga chert from a gravel bar in the middle Schoharie Valley. We knocked off some long flat spalis and pressure flaked two parallel edges from one face only. The resulting rod was triangular or trapezoidal in cross-section, roughly 3 mm in width and thickness. We set it into a notched stick and tightly wrapped thread around the slats we had whittled into the stick's end. We then rotated the stick's shaft between our palms, exerting downward pressure on the material being drilled. Wear began to appear aider about five minutes and the bit became dull after about forty minutes. In roughly ten minutes we could make a hole I cm deep in wood or in antler that has been soaked in water for several days. Stone and pottery took five times as long to drill to 1 cm; shell and teeth require almost two hours.

In 1993 we sent the Lopuch 3 microdrills to Dr. Richard Yerkes at Ohio State University to get his opinion on their use-wear. We included a set of nine replicas as a '*blind test" to gauge his ability to interpret wear on artifacts of New York chert. He had previously identified shell polish on Mississippi Valley chert microdrills from the Cahokia site near St. Louis (Yerkes 1983, 1993), tools that are very close in form to the Lopuch specimens. The crystalline composition of the Eastern Onondaga chert, however, caused too much glare for positive identification at high power magnification, such that he offered only tentative interpretations (Yerkes, personal communication 1993).

In no case could Yerkes correctly infer the material we had worked with the replicas. Yet his photo-micrographs and sketches of wear location helped us greatly. Thanks to the Illinois State Museum, we also borrowed some of the Cahokia specimens that he had analyzed earlier. At a magnification of 100 power we were able to see the fissures or crazing in the polished areas of these Mississippi Valley chert tools, the signature of use on shell as determined by Yerkes (1983, see particularly Figure 6:d).

We used a dual fiber optic illuminator and a stereo microscope with 15 power oculars and objectives that zoom from one to seven power, combining to give a maximum of 105 power. At magnifications greater than that, glare from Onondaga chert prohibits interpretation of wear, a problem noted also by McManamon (1976).

We spent much of a summer on 33 more experiments, for a total of 42 replications, so that key materials received testing by four to six drills. At 15 power we could locate the wear traces on the Lopuch 3 specimens and on our replicas. One could see polish with a 10x hand lens, but smoothing was not readily visible. Polish was distinguishable from smoothing conclusively at 30 power. Striations required magnification of 25 to 60 power for verification.

The antler and wood polish took place on the flake scar ridges within 5 mm of the tip (see Figure 6 photomicrograph of polish on replica dorsal face from use on soft wood). The smoothing from shell, stone, and pottery occurred on or near the tip in wide bands (see Figure 7 photomicrograph of smoothing on replica tip from use on shell).

After the multiple experiments with each material, we were able to identify the following three recurrent patterns of wear on our replica microdrills. Drilling antler softened by soaking in water for several days, and drilling hard or soft wood, caused a bright linear polish ranging in width between. 1 mm and .3 mm, sometimes with striations (Figure 8 photomicrograph of polish on replica dorsal face near tip from use on hard wood; Figure 9 photomicrograph of polish on replica tip from use on soaked antler). On the other hand, use on shell and stone caused relatively dull, smoothed patches around .5 mm in width, in texture appearing like citrus rind (Figure 10 smoothing on replica tip from use on slate).

Drilling pottery produced striations once, but always made relatively wide, smoothed patches -- not as dull as the wear caused by use on shell or stone, yet not as bright as antler or wood polish. Other materials did not cause wear that we could distinguish from manufacturing traces. These multiple fractures, caused by the antler flaker, appeared as crushing at the ventral edge of the tool.

In January our "blind tests" on another set of 10 replicas, two of each used by student Kara Gniewek on each of five materials, confirmed our criteria for identification of signature wear patterns. In all cases we were able to distinguish wear from drilling shell and stone, as opposed to pottery wear, and these traces as opposed to antler and wood wear, without knowing what kind of material which microdrill had worked. We are currently preparing a detailed report of our laboratory observations and the excavations at Lopuch 3.

Most of the 15 Lopuch 3 microdrills are fragmentary, and some may not include the bit end, yet none seem to represent part of the same implement. Twelve specimens exhibit no definite wear patterns. Three of the microdrills, (Figure 1, the second, seventh, and eleventh from left), by shape obviously bit ends, have the bright linear polish indicative of use on antler or wood. All three have striations in the polish (see Figures 11-14, photomicrographs of Lopuch 3 microdrill (Figure 1; seventh from left) with close-ups of side and tip). At 105 power, however, they exhibited none of the crazing Or fissures that Yerkes (1983) noted as signatures of shell wear on the Cahokia specimens. Nor did we observe on any of the Lopuch 3 implements the characteristic smoothing caused by drilling shell, stone, or pottery.

Thus, while the people at Lopuch 3 had tools that could make holes in shell beads, as demonstrated by our replicative experiments, the microdrill fragments we uncovered at the site instead have wear patterns indicative of use on wood or antler. No definite fragments of these materials turned up in the acidic sediments of Lopuch 3.

In conclusion, our work has only somewhat supported the inference that Lopuch 3 was a habitation site for people involved in Middlesex mortuary ceremonialism. The microdrills uncovered at Lopuch 3 exhibit wear from use on antler or wood, rather than shell. Our replicative studies demonstrate, however, that such tools could have made the holes in conch columella beads buried in the Early to Middle Woodland cemeteries. With increasing frequency, researchers have identified sites of this age in eastern New York (Kinsey 1972; Ritchie and Funk 1973; Funk and Rippeteau 1977; Vargo and Vargo 1986; Lindner 1987, 1992; Fiedel 1991; Chilton 1991, 1992). If excavation techniques are careful enough, more microdrills may come to light to provide the connection between beads in cemeteries and the workshop areas in habitation sites. Thus we will begin to discern a more of the cultural system in eastern New York between 2000 and 2500 years ago.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Dr. William Kelly, petrologist at the State Museum, for his helpful loan of equipment for the photomicrographs. Thanks to Bard College environmental studies graduate student Mary Burns, for additional expert photographic assistance.

References Cited

Chilton, E. S.

1991

The Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies. M.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

1992

Archaeological Investigations at the Goat Island Rockshelter: New Light from Old Legacies. Hudson Valley Regional Review 9(1 ):47-75.

Fiedel, S. J.

1991

Archaic and Woodland Occupations at Teller's Point. In The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of the Lower Hudson Valley and Neighboring Regions: Essays in Honor of Louis A. Brennan, edited by H. C. Kraft pp. 141-152. Occasional Publications in Northeastern Anthropology 11, Archaeological Services, Bethlehem CT.

Folb, L.

1993

Marine Shell Beads and Microdrills in Early Woodland New York: Possible Connections Between the Prehistoric Middlesex and Bushkill Complexes Suggested by the Analysis of Use-Wear on Microdrills. Unpublished Senior Project, Department of Anthropology, Bard College.

Funk, R. E.

1993

Archaeological Investigations in the Upper Susquehanna Valley, New York State. Volume I. Persimmon Press, Buffalo.

Funk, R. E. and B. E. Rippeteau

1977

Adaptation, Continuity and Change in Upper Susquehanna Valley Prehistory. Occasional Publications in Northeastern Anthropology 3, Man in the Northeast, George's Mills, NH.

Kinsey, W. Fred, III

1972

The Faucett Site. In Archeology in the Upper Delaware Valley, edited by W. Fred Kinsey, III, pp. 159-197. Anthropological Series No. 2. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg.

Lindner, C. R.

1982

Ironstone Hoes of South-Central Ohio: Their Technology. Utilization, Distribution, and Cultural Affiliation. Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati.

1983

Evidence Against Prehistoric Digging Tools of Sandstone in Central New York State. Man in the Northeast 26:55-73.

1987

Geoarchaeology of Culturally Induced Flood Impacts: Schoharie Valley, Eastern New York. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, SUNY Albany.

1989

Lopuch 3: A Stratified Site in the Mohawk Lowlands from the Middle 3rd Millennium B.P. Paper presented at the Northeastern Anthropological Association Annual Meetings, Burlington, VT.

1991

Archaeological Sites and Historical Floods in the Schoharie Valley, Eastern New York. Hudson Valley Regional Review 8:104-138.

1992

Grouse Bluff: An Archaeological Introduction. Hudson Valley Regional Review 9(1): 25-46.

McManamon, F. P.

1976

Experimental Utilization of Onondaga Flint. Man in the Northeast 11:63-70.

Ritchie, W. A. and R. E. Funk

1973

Aboriginal Settlement Patterns in the Northeast. New York State Museum Memoir 20.

Vargo, J. and D. Vargo

1986

Preliminary Results of Archaeological Investigations Conducted at the Multicomponent Tamarack Site. Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut 49:1-18.

Yerkes, R. W.

1983

Microwear, Microdrills, and Mississippian Craft Specialization. American Antiquity 48: 499-518.

1993

Methods of Manufacturing Shell Beads at Prehistoric Mississippian Sites in Southeastern North America. Traces et Fonction: Les Gestes Retrouves. Colloque Internationale de Liege 50:235-242.

Archaeology Home | Online Exhibits | Courses
Field School | Articles & Abstracts | Other Projects