Evaluation of Tivoli Bays Archaeology and Assessment of its Potential to Provide Paleoenvironmental Information

ABSTRACT

It is well known that the islands and bluffs at Tivoli bays contain numerous archaeological sites. Collections in the New York State Museum, a current excavation at Bard College, and collections of local avocational archaeologists were surveyed to provide a baseline of data and a framework for future research. This survey documents a possible site from the Early Archaic period, 10,000-8,000 years before present (BP), and a continuous series of occupations from the start of the Late Archaic (6,000 BP). An effort was made to obtain paleoenvironmental information about the Tivoli bays from the freshwater mollusk specimens previously excavated from shell middens on three islands. The collections, however, have only a single species, Elliptio complanata, that is tolerant of a wide variety of conditions. Its ecological niche is so broad that we learn little more about paleoenvironments than what can be surmised from the effects of changes in sea level and climate from earlier periods at Tivoli bays. A habitat favorable to E. complanata probably existed in Tivoli North bay near the middens on Cruger and Magdalen Islands in the Middle and Late Woodland periods (2,000-400 BP) and possibly earlier. The abundant stone artifacts and faunal remains from the middens suggest repeated campsites of people exploiting a variety of plants and animals, rather than specialized shellfish processing stations. Five recommendations for further studies emerged from this investigation: 1) comparison of sites in the Tivoli bays with sites in the Hudson Valley and other estuarine systems, 2) determination of seasonality from faunal remains, 3) assessment of new sites, 4) repair of damage caused by vandalism, and 5) cataloguing of artifacts in private collections. These efforts will enable investigators to gain more information about the prehistoric cultural adaptations and paleoenvironments of Tivoli bays.