HEALING THE SCAR:
RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT THE BLACK CREEK SITE
An Interim Report
Prepared for the Vernon Historical Society
Cara Lee Blume, Ph. D.
Principal Investigator
July, 2009
HEALING THE SCAR:
RECENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT THE BLACK CREEK SITE
An Interim Report
Cara Lee Blume, Ph. D.
Principal Investigator
Beginnings
Society, the authorized Friends group
for Waywayanda State Park, proposed
to level the berm and fill the trench in
order to restore the appearance of the
site. They felt that this project could be
used to teach archaeological principles
by sifting the soil to remove any artifacts
before returning the soil to the trench.
Middle and high school students would
be invited to participate. The Society
asked me to lead the project. I had
served as primary archaeological
consultant in the legal effort to preserve
the site, representing the Nanticoke
Lenni-Lenape tribe.
Early on the morning of May 23,
2001, Vernon Township sent a bulldozer
to cut a shallow trench across the Black
Creek Site, an American Indian
settlement that had been repeatedly
occupied over some 8,000 years--just
two hours before a court hearing on an
injunction to prevent any construction
on the site. The bulldozer also left a
berm about two feet high parallel to the
trench. Both the berm and the trench
paralleled a dry-laid stone wall and
hedgerow that separated two cultivated
fields. Thanks to the efforts of the
Vernon Historical Society and other
local citizens and to the involvement of
the New Jersey state-recognized
Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribe, the Black
Creek Site was saved from destruction.
It has been listed on the New Jersey and
National Registers of Historic Places,
and is now part of Waywayanda State
Park. But the scar left by the bulldozer
has remained.
After consulting with the
Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape tribal council, I
agreed to serve as principal investigator.
The tribal council and I agreed that the
excavation of the berm was acceptable
because the soil had been disturbed by
the bulldozer, but that excavation
elsewhere in this protected site would
not be reasonable. We also agreed that
the project should be conducted in a
manner that would recover as much
archaeological information as possible.
Finally, we agreed that the tribe’s New
As part of an educational
program funded by a grant from The
History Channel, the Vernon Historical
1
Dawn youth group would be invited to
participate.
the more finished or heavily used tools
collected by Patterson but also the firecracked rock and stone debris, we
would have a more complete picture of
activities at the site.
What We Did and Why
The southern part of the Black
Creek Site, where the trench and berm
were located, had been extensively
studied by avocational archaeologist
Rick Patterson through a technique
called controlled surface collection, in
which artifacts recovered from cultivated fields were plotted on maps. The
mapped artifacts included tools such as
projectile points and scrapers, fragments
of pottery and a variety of battered
stone tools. But other indications of
activities at the site, including firecracked rock from fire hearths and
debris from making flaked stone tools,
were not collected or mapped, largely as
a practical matter. The maps produced
from Patterson’s data (see Appendix A)
showed that few artifacts were
recovered from the precise location of
the trench, though there is a
concentration just west of the southern
end of the trench. Thus, any
information recovered from the berm
would contribute to our overall
understanding of how people lived at
the site in the past.
The first excavation of the berm
was scheduled for the weekend of
August 1-2, 2008. The participants on
Saturday included high school and
middle school students from the local
area as well as a group of home school
students, assisted by members of the
Vernon Historical Society and other
citizens of Vernon and Sussex County.
We returned with few Society members
on August 23 to complete the excavation
of sections not completed earlier.
We cut half-meter wide sections
through the berm at five-meter intervals
along a 100-meter baseline that
paralleled the berm. The starting point
of the baseline was approximately 20
meters north of the beginning of the
berm, which ended at about 90 meters.
Over this weekend and a second
weekend later that month, ten narrow
sections were cut through the berm,
providing a 10% sample from about half
of the berm. A comparison of the
artifacts recovered from each of these
sections indicated that it was indeed
possible to discern quantitative and
qualitative differences along the length
of the berm.
Because the bulldozer had
pushed the soil to the side of the trench
into a berm paralleling the trench in the
same manner as a road grader or snow
plow, I concluded that it was likely that
gross differences in the distribution of
artifacts from one end of the trench to
the other could be discerned by
excavating the berm itself in controlled
increments. If we recovered not only
2
through the berm. This was done to
standardize the width of the sections,
some of which were narrower than a
half-meter and others wider. The wider
sections are also easier for untrained
participants to work in. Finally, the use
of the narrower sections seemed to
imply a level of clarity in the
distribution of artifacts that is not likely
to exist in deposits that have been first
cultivated for many years and then
scraped to the side. In future
excavations, the meter-wide sections
will be used.
On May 9, 2009, archaeologist Bill
Sandy led a group of students from
Chatham High School in excavating part
of the northern end of the berm.
Sandy’s approach was somewhat
different from that established
previously but nonetheless produced
information that will be useful in the
final analysis of the artifacts from the
berm. Sandy and the group from
Chatham High School excavated the
western half of the northern 4 meters of
the berm as a single unit. The eastern
half remains unexcavated, and will be
excavated at a later date in one-meter
sections.
Finally, on June 27 and 28, 17
members of the Nanticoke LenniLenape tribe worked at the site under
my direction. The participants included
seven members of the tribe’s New Dawn
youth group, five members of the Little
Acorns group for younger children and
six adult leaders. Members of the
Vernon Historical Society also
participated, as did one of the students
who participated in the first excavation
period.
What We Found
When archaeologists excavate
sites, they are looking for evidence of
the lives of the people who lived there,
primarily in the form of artifacts—
objects that have been deliberately
created or that have been modified
through use by human beings. The
artifacts recovered from the berm tell us
about some of the activities that took
place in a small area of the Black Creek
Site. I have included a complete
inventory of these artifacts in Appendix
During this latest excavation
period, we widened, to one meter, six of
the sections previously excavated
3
B. We can assume that these activities
also took place elsewhere in the 40 acres
that encompass the site, but the artifacts
we have recovered speak most directly
to this small area.
meters of the berm, and from the
sections at 55-56 meters south, 60-61
meters south and from 70-71 meters
south.
Projectile points are particularly
useful for archaeologists because the
styles change over time. For instance,
the projectile point on the far right of the
photograph below is a broken triangular
point, dating to the Late Woodland
Period, from about AD 700 to AD 1600.
The remaining points date to the Middle
to Late Archaic Period, from about 4500
BC to about 2000 BC.
In general, the artifacts we have
recovered tell us about obtaining the
food, medicines, and other raw
materials needed for daily life, and
about how those raw materials were
processed for use. Even the debris from
making stone tools or from the stones
used to build fire hearths can tell us
about some of the activities at the site.
Other objects we find may tell us about
less tangible aspects of life, including art
and spirituality.
We must always remember,
however, that what we find in the
ground represents only a small part of
the material culture—the things people
need to live their lives—that once
existed at the Black Creek Site. Many
more objects, made of wood, bone,
fabric, feathers, animal skins and hair,
have disappeared along with the
remains of the plants used for food,
medicines, flavorings and fibers. What
survives are the stone tools, ceramics
and other objects that have resisted the
decay promoted by the region’s
moderate climate.
The two crude knives recovered
from the berm, one from the northern
four meters and one from the section at
70-71 meters south, may also have been
used to procure a variety of resources,
though it is not clear precisely how they
were used. Perhaps they were used to
cut grasses or herbaceous plants.
Procurement Tools: The only
definitive procurement tools we have
recovered from the berm excavations at
the Black Creek Site are classified as
projectile points—used on spears or
arrows for hunting. Four projectile
points were found in the excavations,
from the west half of the northern 4
4
Processing Tools: Processing
tools were used to prepare foods or to
create finished products from raw
materials. The most frequent processing
tools found to date in the berm
excavations are pitted stones. These are
flattish cobbles of a dense material such
as quartzite that have depressions on
one or both sides. They are often
interpreted as having been used in
breaking up nuts such as hickory nuts
or in supporting chert or jasper blocks
that are being roughly shaped before
being made into more finished tools.
Four pitted stones have been recovered
to date in the berm excavations, one
each from sections at 55-56 meters south
and 60-61 meters south and two
fragments from section 65-66 meters
south.
Several of these pitted stones also
showed evidence of use as hammerstones, perhaps for breaking up bone to
obtain fragments that could be made
into bone tools. A more rounded
granitic cobble from section 65-66
meters south also showed signs of use
as a hammerstone, as did a broken
pebble from the same section. This
smaller hammerstone was likely used in
the manufacture of projectile points and
other chipped stone tools.
The smallest processing tools
recovered from these excavations
include five unifacial flake scrapers.
Four of these tools, consisting simply of
thin chert flakes that have been lightly
used as cutting or scraping tools, were
found in the northernmost four meters
of the berm. A fifth grey chert scraper
recovered from section 35-36 meters
south showed signs of resharpening,
indicating longer use for a specific
purpose, perhaps woodcarving.
5
Debris: Archaeologists find that
the amounts of various kinds of debris
can be useful in defining activity areas
of a site or in understanding the
intensity with which certain areas of a
site are used. Typically we look at the
debris left from making flaked stone
tools such as projectile points or
scrapers or at fire-cracked or thermally
altered rocks from fire hearths or
roasting beds. Both flaking debris and
fire-cracked rock fragments have been
recovered from the berm.
Fire cracked rock fragments have
also been recovered from the berm.
These fragments can generally be
recognized by angular breaks and
sometimes by a reddish coloration.
The majority of the chert and
jasper flakes recovered from the berm
sections excavated to date come
primarily from the final stages of
producing a projectile point or other
tool.
The figures presented in the table
below indicates that the greatest
intensity of occupation in this part of the
Black Creek Site is found at the south
end of the berm between the section 5051 meters south and 65-66 meters south.
Section
Fire-cracked
6
Flakes
Other debris
rock
North 4 meters, west half
25-26 meters south
30-31 meters south
35-36 meters south
40-41 meters south
45-46 meters south
50-51 meters south
55-56 meters south
60-61 meters south
65-66 meters south
70-71 meters south
4
12
1
7
4
9
6
13
9
0
7
21 (5/meter)
4
15
5
17
15
20
5
14
28
6
6 (1.5/meter)
2
2
1
2
4
2
5
2
1
Other objects: We have
recovered other kinds of objects from
the berm that cannot be described as
artifacts because they have not been
modified by human activity. However,
they may have been selected and
brought to the site for various reasons—
because the object is interesting,
attractive or a reminder of some story or
event of significance to the individual or
for other reasons. These objects,
sometimes dismissively referred to as
“ecofacts,” are often disregarded by
archaeologists as of no interest or
meaning. However, to my mind these
objects may be of particular interest as
indicators of the creative or spiritual life
of the community.
berm deposits, but this is the only one
with such inclusions.
Summing Up
The excavations we have
conducted so far to remove the berm
and fill the trench created by Vernon
Township in 2001 have demonstrated
that it is possible to discern variations in
artifact distributions related to the
occupation of the Black Creek Site.
Furthermore, this is a useful way to
teach archaeological principles to
students and other non-professionals
without destroying intact archaeological
deposits in this protected site. Much
work remains to be accomplished, but
we can complete the project over the
next several years with the assistance of
the groups who have already
demonstrated a commitment to
interpreting and preserving this
important site.
Three such objects have been
found so far in the berm excavations.
One is a clear quartz crystal recovered
from section 25-26 meters south. Other
quartz crystals have been recovered
from the site, and it is possible that they
come from geodes found in the
dolomite of the ridges forming the north
and south boundaries of the site. The
second object is a piece of a fossil
crinoid stem recovered from section 5051 meters south. Crinoids are animals
related to starfish that live attached to
the sea floor by a hollow calcareous
stem. They are found in geological
strata as old as 500 million years, as well
as in modern oceans. Crinoid stem
fragments have been found at other
archaeological sites and may have been
used as beads. The third object is a
black chert pebble with quartz
inclusions that resemble fossils, found in
section 70-71 meters south. Plain black
chert pebbles have been found in the
8
APPENDIX A
BLACK CREEK SITE ARTIFACT DISTRIBUTIONS
9
APPENDIX B
Artifact Inventory
Black Creek Site
28-Sx-297
Note: black flakes are likely from material obtained at the nearby Ring
Quarry.
Surface
1
black chert flake
20-25 m. south, west half
4
2
1
3
2
2
3
11
chunks, black chert
chunks, quartz
primary flake, unidentified material
flakes, unidentified material
flakes, red jasper
flakes, grey/black mottled chert
flakes, grey chert
flakes, black chert
1
1
1
1
1
1
grey/black chert flake, utilized
grey chert flake, utilized
black chert chunk, utilized
grey chert primary flake, utilized
argillite knife
grey chert triangular point, tip broken
1
1
1
1
nut/bolt fragment
plastic pigeon frag., “BLU”
clear window glass fragment
limestone frag.
25-26 m. south (partial)
4
1
1
fire-cracked rock fragments
grey chert primary flake
mottled grey chert flake
10
1
1
black chert flake
red jasper flake, possibly heat-treated
1
clear quartz crystal
1
1
pale green window glass fragment
coal fragment
30-31 m. south (partial)
12
2
1
4
6
1
1
2
1
fire-cracked rock fragments
black chert chunks
grey chert primary flake
black chert flakes
grey chert flakes
brown jasper flakes
grey/brown chert flake
flakes, unidentified material
hammerstone fragment
2
1
clear bottle glass fragments
agricultural lime fragment
35-36 m. south (partial)
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
fire-cracked rock fragment
black chert chunks
mottled grey/black chert flake
mottled grey flake
grey chert flake
dark brown jasper flakes
grey chert flake scraper
hammerstone fragment
hammerstone
40-41 m. south (partial)
7
1
1
9
fire-cracked rock fragments
quartz cobble/core
red jasper flake
black chert flakes
11
3
4
grey chert flake
mottled grey/black chert flakes
45-46 m. south
4
2
1
1
1
1
1
3
8
1
2
fire-cracked rock fragments
black chert chunks
mottled grey/black chert chunk
white quartz chunk
primary banded grey/black chert flake with cortex at both ends—
possibly Ring Quarry material
primary grey chert flake
banded grey/black chert flake
grey chert flakes
black chert flakes
dark brown jasper flake
brown flakes of a slatey material
1
small hammerstone
1
partially melted glass fragment
50-51 m. south
9
4
1
15
2
2
fire-cracked rock fragments
black chert chunk
black chert primary flake
black chert flakes
grey chert flakes
red chert flakes
1
crinoid stem fragment
1
annular whiteware rimsherd
55-56 m. south
6
2
3
1
fire-cracked rock fragments
black chert chunks
black chert flakes
grey/black mottled chert flake
12
1
cream-colored chert flake
1
1
small black chert notched projectile point
bi-pitted stone
1
iron strap fragment
60-61 m. south
13
5
2
1
2
4
1
4
1
1
1
fire-cracked rock fragments
black chert chunks
black chert flakes
grey/black banded chert chunk
grey/black mottled chert flakes
grey chert flakes
cream-colored chalcedony flake
flakes black unidentified slatey material
grey chert stemmed projectile point (Lackawaxen)
battered cobble with slight pit on one surface
possible pendant fragment
65-66 m. south
8
1
2
14
2
1
7
2
2
fire-cracked rock fragments
fire-cracked rock fragment that may have been part of a mortar
black chert chunks
black chert flakes
grey/black chert flakes
light grey chert primary flake
grey chert flakes
cream-colored chert flakes
flakes of unidentified slatey material
1
1
1
1
small pebble hammerstone
granitic cobble hammerstone
battered cobble with two pits on one surface
broken cobble with pits on opposite surfaces
1
whiteware sherd
13
70-71 m. south
1
2
3
1
black chert chunk
flakes unidentified slatey material, one with pink inclusions
black chert flakes
brown jasper flake
1
1
1
crude knife, unidentified material
black chert pebble with quartz inclusions that may be fossils
grey chert stemmed projectile point (Lackawaxen)
14