The Skelton site

[chase]

This site is unique in the aspect of the occupation over the last 10,000+ years to present. Pkfrey (Paul) was asking some great questions. I have visited the site and can give my perspective on the use of the site. This site is in a spring fed area, where water flows year around, and can see that in earlier times it was even more so. The site sits on a dirt level of about two to three feet before a thick layer of clay contains the spring from becoming a bog. There is a layer of four to eight inches of the top layer being of modern trash that date back to the early settlers and continued through today ( that is to say at one time it appears to have been used for refuge)
This is predominantly a kill site that has been used extensively through all time periods. I believe that it did have camps that were used on a short term basis, but the main use was a site where Bison came for water and were killed and processed on site. The Amount of bison bone fragments with the bone crushing choppers allong with the assemblage of scrapers and flake tools and the relative small amount of waste flakes. IMO says the butchered the animals on site for transport back to a campsite that should be no less than a quarter mile away. It has paleo in places of the site but the majority of artifacts recovered are archaic.

[2ndoldman]

Do you happen to have any links Chase?It would be nice to see some pictures of this.

[pkfrey]

This says quite a bit, and I can visualize what it may have looked like. The springs would have had a good supply of water from the run off on the nearby hills. These springs could have produced enough water to form a shallow, but somewhat, enlarged pond. maybe one of the few water sources in the area which the bison would visit. The clay layer, would then be about 24 inches from the top. The pond would have risen from heavy rains that not only flooded the pond, but also added to the amount of water that was flowing up from the springs. After these periods of heavy rains, the pond would again return to normal size and depth, and it would have left sediments behind, covering up any evidence of the previous occupants. This could have played out for several thousand years, and at some point in past time, the pond simply dried up from a lengthy dry spell, and this should be revealed by studying the strata. At some point, there wouldn't be a good source of water, and with that, no longer a kill site. But the Archaic people found the springs very useful and important, and they would have formed either temporary, or permanent camp sites. This is noted from the large variety of tool and point types, and also the variety of so many different lithics. Which thousands of years later is what could have attracted the Archaic and later Natives to this spot. There is probably a good source of flints and cherts nearby. The lithics were just as important to the prehistoric Natives as fire and food. It probably wasn't a butchering site. At a butchering site vs. a kill site, you would find a fair quantity of small, resharpening flakes, and the small point types being found would be absent. But who really knows for sure, we can only make educated guesses, but that's the thrill of learning from studying what your finding.

[11KBP]

I believe that it did have camps that were used on a short term basis, but the main use was a site where Bison came for water and were killed and processed on site. The Amount of bison bone fragments with the bone crushing choppers allong with the assemblage of scrapers and flake tools and the relative small amount of waste flakes. IMO says the butchered the animals on site for transport back to a campsite that should be no less than a quarter mile away.

Sounds like an interesting site.
What condition are the bison bones in? Any pics of the bone material found there?
Do you think the scrapers are directly associated with the bone?

[Cskelton]

I'll post some pics of the bones later. I haven't had much time lately to even jump on the forum. Most of the bones are broken, a lot of them are shattered lengthwise which to me would suggest to get at the marrow.

[chase]

Paul, the topography the way it lays would not support a pond. There are a few other springs in the area but this one is quite large. Water flows out and makes a small creek that runs down a gentle slope to the low point which meets up with another small creek about 1/8 mile or less away. The Bison bone is all through the site and is broken up, evident's of marrow extraction. The reason I say it was strictly a kill site for the most part, comes with the lack of waste flakes VS tools. There is no evidence of fire hearths or rock that has been fired. The bones are broken up but not chard. The artifacts are points, flake knives, cores, Stones that show wear but not Manos and big choppers. From what has been dug there are signs of individual kill sites from various time periods. The signs I would expect to see from a campsite are not present, such as finish flakes, drills and other camp tools. By what I can see, is this was a place to harvest animals, do the processing and take back to a camp close by allowing the heard access to the water for future harvest. The area that has been explored is small and I believe that this site is quite large.
11KBP I am sure Chad can get pic's of the bone fragments that are coming out with the rest of artifacts.
Here is a very bad pic of an artifact that has come off the site that has my interest peaked.

[pkfrey]

Is this piece possibly photographed upside down? At the top, it looks like there is one basal ear, a short thinning flute, a prepared platform with the nipple still intact, and missing the other basal ear. The bottom looks like where there may have been a tip, now broken off. Has the bone material being found definitely identified as bison? And keep in mind on the present topography, is this what it would have looked like 10,000 years ago? Shifting sands and dirt, water run off from the hills, changing springs that altered where the creeks were, could all have been very different during Paleo and Archaic time frames. Finding smashed and broken pieces of bones doesn't always mean the occupants of the site were just extracting marrow, they could have been breaking the bones into smaller pieces suitable for making bone implements, needles, awls, etc. These I suppose aren't being found, which does suggest as you said, there is a more established habitation site nearby. I'm not being contradictory here, just offering some different scenarios based on what I've found to be the case during excavating Paleo and Archaic sites in Pa.

[Cskelton]

Pkfrey, if you are ever out this way for any reason you are very welcome to stop by... maybe dig a hole...

[chase]

Paul, I am going off the clay layer being a sterile below the occupational strata with all artifacts falling into those areas with Paleo being just above the clay would indicate that the topography has changed little The springs are what make up the creeks and could have had some movement down the slight and I mean slight slope. but all indications are it was pretty much established and has had very little movement. The bone leg joints are cleaved but not shattered. The teeth are def bovine. and only one bone tool that has been found that does show wear may or may not be apart of the other assemblage out of a virtual bed of bones. Yes at the top of the pic is what I consider the base with a striking nipple for a channel flake with one ear missing. The tip does not reflect an impact fracture but more a break from manufacture. A preform. I thought camp when I first saw it, but the more I studied the site, the less I am inclined to believe this. I do feel a site is near by either to the east which is about a 1/4 mile away or a long cresting hill to the west that ends above the spring and slopes down to the spring. My guess is the one to the west but may not offer a down wind for hunting. But talking with Chad it seems he had told me that the wind does come from the east. he can clarify which way the wind blows. Those two areas are the most likely to have campsites.

[pkfrey]

Chase, Has Chad found any complete fluted points at the site? At a kill site, you normally find the broken tips of fluted points, they were left behind, or left in an animal. Complete points are rare but can be found. The bases however, were usually taken back to main site for resharpening if there was enough of the point left, or sometimes the fluted bases were used as scrapers. It's possible to match up a broken tip from a kill site, to a base found on the habitation site. Dr. Gramly exhibited this on several sites in the north east. Also, after much research on dozens of sites, a theory was presented that a main habitation site usually exists within a ten mile ( as the crow flies that is ) circumference of a kill site. I tried this theory on the Shoop site. Using the site as a pin point, I drew a circle that contained all the area with a ten mile circle. And sure enough, after studying a topographic map and looking for the best places that caribou would have congregated ( the Shoop people were harvesting caribou, as opposed to bison ), I searched a flood plain area of the Susquehanna River, and there it was. A kill site associated with the Shoop site. Four fluted points were found, ( 2 complete, and 2 broken ), along with large butchering tools, but the absence of the finer scrapers and flake knives and flake tools. This was 7.8 miles from the Shoop site. I'm actually excited for Chad to start recovering more classic Paleo artifacts! Thanks for all your input on this site!

[chase]

Paul I am off to work will respond tonight.

[chase]

Paul, two other paleo artifacts have been recovered. One is a Goshen base which would have not been re-tooled into a a smaller point and the other I am on the fence about. looks too me to be Allen with extensive resharpening but could also be Goshen. no other fluted points have been found to date. There area where these were found along with the other tools is down the slope about 10 yards but is relatively on touched. The unifaced blades fit a Paleo kill site. I spoke with Dr. Gramley a few years ago but it was more on Cumberland than the other sites with just a little mix of the Sugarloaf site. The topography would suggest that the campsite would not be that far.(7 to 10 miles) But closer. the tools suggest that they processed the animals at the kills site and transported to the camp site. The scrapers are well made and of quality lithic as well as the flake knives. The stones with use wear would suggest the did some hide work on site as well. It is a fascinating site.