Shoop Site, Pa.'s Paleo Indian culture

[pkfrey]

I submitted a post to waterglass, re: value of tools. This isn't really about value, but to repost some photos. I recently acquired the largest private collection of Paleo Indian tools from Pa.'s Shoop Site, and I thought those members who have a passion for Paleo Indian points and tools would like to see this collection. I've surface hunted the Shoop Site since 1968, and many of these tools were ones that I found, with the acquisition of two other private collections. The Shoop Site is the largest, and most researched Paleo Indian site in Pa., and those researching the site are still looking for answers, especially why it was spread out over 100 acres. Where did these people come from, and what happened to them? Every type of Paleo tool is represented in this collection, including, end and side scrapers, flake knives, wedges, gravers, spokeshaves, multi functional tools, flaked micro tools, and of course, the fluted points. 98% of all the artifacts are Onondaga chert from N.Y., with minority lithics of Houserville jasper and Belleville chalcedony. The second photo is an assemblage of tools from the only excavated area of the Shoop site that still exists in the woods, and was never farmed.

[chase]

Thanks Paul that is an awesome collection of site artifacts. Would love to read the site reports

[p kurt]

That is really something amazing, thanks for sharing.

[gregszybala]

Congratulations. Look forward to seeing much of this collection in more detail and like Chase if you have links to the site reports please share.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Paul, That sure is an exceptional Paleo site collection. Good for you man.

[Hoss]

That is just an awesome display!

[pkfrey]

I don't know how to find all the reports and create a link to them. John Witthoft did the first serious publication in 1952, shortly after the Shoop Site was recognized for what it was. That was called, A Paleo-Indian Site in Eastern Pa. Then H.M. Wormington reported on the site in his book, Ancient Man in North America. Then Barry Kent reported on it, and Gary Fogelman did an extensive report and publication on the site. So, since 1951, there must be about a dozen different reports and publications on the site. The site is still active, ( it's a very long story ), and I finally got permission to continue excavations in a wooded area that contains at least three more large areas that were never hunted. So who knows what artifacts may still lie buried. Every thing found in my excavation is only about 6 in. below the surface. It's just such an amazing site, and there are still dozens, hundreds, or more, artifacts still attainable. I think some of the flake pieces are the most interesting. Those being these tiny, needle sharp gravers. They are always made on thin slivers of chert, simply chipped from one or more edges. They're to tiny and fragile to perform any cutting, drilling, or incising on anything hard, and although the academics disagree with me, I think they were used for tattooing, or skin piercing, like ear lobes, or in similar fashion. Research continues on this site, and all we have to examine are the artifacts left behind, and then just theorize what might have attracted the Paleo Indians to this site, geographically. I loaned the Smithsonian a couple tools that escaped complete weathering, and using what ever technical tools they have, blood was actually extracted from some of the tools, and the DNA matched caribou. How they did this, I don't know. I'm only hoping I get to excavate the remaining portion of the site, that will no doubt be sold to a developer in the near, or distant future. Here's a photo of some of the flake gravers.

[SDhunter]

Wow. Very nice collection. Would love to hunt a site like that.

[pkfrey]

After nearly 65 years of research, there remains so many unanswered questions. This site doesn't conform to all the other known Paleo sites in the north east. There are missing tools forms, such as the large ovate bifaces, unsharpened fluted points, left over cores from making blades, the chert source itself is over 200 miles away, in western N.Y. How did they continue to have access to the chert quarry? Why was this site abandoned, and when it was, where did the Paleo Indians go? There isn't another single Paleo site in the eastern half of North America that yielded so many tools, and were simply left behind when the Indians moved on. Or, maybe they didn't move on. Was the encampment wiped out from a disease? Did other Paleo Indians intrude and the Shoop people left the site with them? Not just the Shoop site, but hundreds and even thousands of sites pose nothing but questions, and the answers are hard to come by. Theories are plentiful, but facts are few. Now I have to sit down and think again. I didn't want to have to think anymore today!

[11KBP]

I don't know how to find all the reports and create a link to them. John Witthoft did the first serious publication in 1952, shortly after the Shoop Site was recognized for what it was. That was called, A Paleo-Indian Site in Eastern Pa. Then H.M. Wormington reported on the site in his book, Ancient Man in North America. Then Barry Kent reported on it, and Gary Fogelman did an extensive report and publication on the site. So, since 1951, there must be about a dozen different reports and publications on the site.

That is a great assemblage pkfrey.
I agree that it can oftentimes be quite difficult and time consuming to find professional site reports.

By the way H.M. Wormington is a she rather than a "him".

[pkfrey]

OOPS! I didn't know that.

[sailorjoe]

Thanks for showing us the artifacts and your narrative explanation. Very informative!

[Wilson]

Man, I am a tool nut!! That is the ultimate

[Sharp Rocks]

Pkfrey, amazing artifacts! I recently was introduced to Paleo artifacts in the west and now really enjoy any Paleo artifacts! I wish I could open your pics and zoom in on iPad! Not sure what happened to this site to prevent zoom in function with iPad, but it is a bad weakness.

I found my first Paleo site in NV in winter of 2014, and pulled out 4 whole Paleo crescents, one real nice Paleo Black Rock concave base, and several partial crescents from the site in 2015. Can't wait to get back out there!

[Tam]

You should post them .

[Jethro355]

It’s not the forum, it’s the format he posted them in. I can usually zoom on a pic, after tapping it, but these won’t for me either. It’s not you. It’s you AND me. 😮

Also, I agree with Tam.
You got em, you should show em.

[bluemoose]

New member here, very interested in the Shoop site because it's 2 miles from our house. The slightly awkward spear head/arrow head was found here ( with quite a few more ) but there are a lot of amazing things in this whole valley. The puzzle is, when we locals report them, tend be told none are ' real '. It's crazy, thinking the site would be confined to one spot. Not only that, there are petroglyphs, too, which New York tribes wouldn't have bothered taking the time ( and calories expended ) to carve? What we see around here are indications that site was larger and more likely to have been inhabited permanently.

Non-expert, just baffled. Also cairns by the dozens, most, not all badly caved in and a plethora of tools. We'd just love to know who was here. It's wonderful stuff and it seems likely genuine collectors can tell us more. There are some amazingly large tools, too. Photos are for our own use, trying to figure out who on earth were these early Pennsylvanians?

We're not sellers, either, and have no agenda- sorry if there are too many photos.

[OnewiththewilD]

Welcome to Arrowheads.com! First pic is a beautiful artifact, possibly a spear point. The rest are just rocks and are not native stone effigies or artifacts. The tools they made would show very deliberate work on them, those are just water worn and broken natural stones.And the natives in New York would by all means spend the time making beautiful spiritual and artful objects. I really like that point, can we see more and better pics of it and please start your own thread on this topic.