Andrew MyersLinks Section
An Exploration of the McFate Taskscape: A Case for Compromise
The McFate were a cultural manifestation of likely Iroquoian descent that occupied portions of the Allegheny Plateau of western Pennsylvania and surrounding regions during the Late Woodland period (circa. A.D. 1430-1580). This region is noted for its short growing season and the McFate adopted a subsistence strategy of hunting and gathering supplemented by a casual form of farming. The group while domiciled in the French Creek valley would disperse into the landscape occupying a number of temporary campsites including upland stockades and rock shelters in order to conduct a myriad of tasks.
Within this domain the McFate had intimate knowledge of the resources available to the group. While any number of tasks could be conducted on a daily basis much activity was likely based on the rhythmic seasonal round in which the tasks of the group changed seasonally corresponding to the availability of resources available at any particular time throughout the year. This paper seeks to explore the taskscape of the McFate. In order to do this a compromise between two opposing genres is suggested. This compromise melds processual forms of “observe and report” science with elements of phenomenology in an attempt to hypothetically recreate activities that likely occurred within the taskscape. The following study details the results of this inquest.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
The McFate were a Late Woodland cultural manifestation of likely Iroquoian descent that occupied portions of the Allegheny Plateau of western Pennsylvania and surrounding regions (Figure 1) from circa. A.D. 1430-1580. They appear to have evolved “in situ” in the region for at least 500 years and are subsequently known through a series of phases defined as the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau (GAP) tradition (Johnson 1994a). In this setting members of the group likely observed a pattern of living based on the seasonal round of procurement in in which major activities were determined based on the availability of certain resources found in differing forest ecosystems. Like many native groups tasks were conducted based on a division of labor distributed between the male and female members of the group.
The McFate pattern of dwelling included an opportunistic settlement and subsistence strategy. From a primary horticultural village members of the group would disperse into the surrounding woodlands to a series of outlying basecamps including upland stockades and rock shelters where hunting gathering and a host of other tasks were conducted. This pattern has been described by Johnson et al. (1979: 89) as being similar to the Ottawa pattern which has been used to explain settlement and subsistence strategies employed by various Late Woodland groups in the upper Great Lakes which occupied areas only marginally suited for agriculture (Fitting and Cleland 1969).
The McFate chose the French Creek valley to construct their primary villages where they tended to farming and a host of other activities. These villages were purposefully located within a short distance of two rich ecological areas including wetlands and river valley (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:7) which potentially offered members of the village a number of available resources obtained through a myriad of seasonally based tasks. This type of setting is a typical settlement pattern for Iroquois groups as the wetlands and swamps served as habitats for a variety of animals and plants (Funk 1992:25).
Like the Ottawa groups occupying the upper Great Lakes, McFate territory exhibited a short growing season which made the growing of corn difficult in many areas. During the McFate era of inhabitation growing season was greatly altered by the effects of the Neo-Boreal cooling episode. During this period temperatures plummeted to their lowest decline since the end of the Late Pleistocene (Campbell and Campbell 1984) and the effects of this climatic deterioration were particularly disastrous for many Iroquoian groups occupying territory on marginally suited for maize agriculture (Johnson et al. 1979).
The McFate responded to by adopting a pattern of procurement that involved casual farming which was supplemented with full time hunting and gathering. Various members of the group would stay behind and tend to the fields while others would travel to outlying basecamps which were occupied seasonally in order to extract any and all available resources. These sites were located in the deep recesses of the forest and were located in areas of potential hunting and fowling exploitation (Johnson et. al. 1979:88).
This region of activity located between village and the outlying base camps was the taskscape of the McFate. The many differing natural areas found between river valley and upland hilltop offered dwellers a wide variety of daily and seasonal tasks which occupied group activity. It is the concept of the taskscape that this paper seeks to explore. The taskscape has been described as the setting for the activities that characterize one’s life. Ingold (1993:158) has defined tasks “as any practical operation carried out by a skilled agent in an environment as part of his or her normal business of life”. Taskscapes can change over time for a number of reasons including the introduction new technology and customs.
The question that remains is how can we observe the taskscape of the McFate if there are no pictures or paintings to review, no written accounts of activity, and no imbedded souls to transcribe the life history of the group? Attempting to resolve this problem is the crux of this dissertation. This paper argues that to examine the taskscape we must determine what tasks people were conducting at various locations throughout the taskscape (cf Sturt 2006:125). Tasks can be ascertained based on the material culture that remains and from the locations from which it was collected.
As such a methodological approach has been devised to observe a taskscape. This paper examines site reports available from an assortment of McFate tradition sites including the McFate site which is the main village of the group and upland stockades including the Elk County earthworks (Kane, Russell City, and McKinley sites) and the Smith site and Dutch Hill rock shelter (see Figure 2). Certain clues present in the data can provide insight into the types of tasks that were likely practiced at each site. This data can then be compared to ethnohistoric accounts of activities witnessed by early European traders and explorers who were imbedded and made observations regarding culturally similar ethnically Iroquoian groups. Using the direct historical approach we may be able to observe a pattern of life once practiced by the McFate as many tasks witnessed were practiced for generations. This pattern of life when described in the rich and vivid descriptions employed by phenomenology can be used to generally recreate scenes from the taskscape (Tilley 2008:274). This approach is viewed as a compromise between empirical science and phenomenology borrowing on elements from opposing genres.
In the ensuing chapters we will first explore the concept of the taskscape. As man was immersed in the world from birth and during a specific period of time the tasks conducted reflect this inhabitation. On the Allegheny Plateau tasks were determined by seasonality and conducted based on availability of resources by a specific division of labor followed by many native groups. In Chapter 3 the landscape of the McFate is explored. This includes a physical description of their territory on the Allegheny Plateau along with an analysis of their cultural development and possible Iroquoian affiliation. Chapter 4 examined changes that have occurred in taskscapes over time culminating with McFate inhabitation. In Chapter 5 the site data from four documented McFate sites is examined. Some reports contain more data than others such as the McFate site report which documents findings based on an entire excavation of the village. Other reports offer limited clues regarding tasks so certain key tasks observed in the data sets have been extrapolated for discussion. In Chapter 6 the key tasks are presented using a mix of ethnohistoric data and rich vivid text as espoused in phenomenological approaches. Chapter 7 presents the concluding thoughts.
CHAPTER 2: THE CONCEPT OF THE TASKSCAPE
To arrive at a concept of the taskscape requires analysis of Tim Ingold’s theories regarding the process of human life. In “The Temporality of the Landscape” a number of concepts were presented detailing the activities of man and his immersion within a landscape during a particular time. First was the observation of the “dwelling perspective”. This concept was derived from the work of philosophers engaged in phenomenological research such as Merleau-Ponty (Tilley 1994:12-14) and Heidegger (Thomas 1996) and further considered in a number of important papers by Ingold (1993; 1995; 1996 as cited by Whittle 2003).
In an attempt to bridge the separation of man and the landscape Ingold suggested that mankind was immersed in the world from the beginning. The landscape was said to be not identical to nature or on the side of humanity against it, but in the familiar domain of dwelling, nature was said to be with us (Ingold 1993:154). This world could not be shut out by closing a door and turning on the television. This world was the entire measure of human existence including all plants and animals, organisms and animate and inanimate objects (Ingold 2000:189-90). People are born into a particular landscape during a period of time and conduct activities based on this immersion and use knowledge critical of the era for which they exist.
The “dwelling perspective” is a key concept for those archaeologists who attempt to explore past landscapes. Within the “dwelling perspective” the landscape itself was said to be an enduring record of the lives and works of these prior generations who have dwelt within in and have left there something of themselves (Ingold 1993:152). For prehistoric groups such as the McFate their remains, in the form of material culture, persist as an enduring record of the group’s existence. Possession’s once belonging to members of the group can be found scattered throughout the former taskscape. They are found buried on terraces located in the river bottoms and can be found lying directly on the surface in many upland rock shelters even after several hundred years since members of the McFate last visited the locations.
The process of dwelling is measured by a prescribed period of time which includes all events. The concept of temporality is measured by the cycles of life and the patterns of time. According to Ingold (1993:157) “temporality and historicity are not opposed but rather merge in the experience of those who, in their activities, carry forward the process of social life”. Thus we have the progression of time and an interrelated rhythm of events that occur throughout time. Everything has a temporal position; there is a beginning and an end to every life and to every event, to every era and to every season. Some temporal positions overlap while others are separated by the millennia but each fulfills a particular space and place in time. For there to be history there must be change and without regularity there is no time. Subsequently time and history are related as rule and variation and time is the regular setting for the vagaries of history (Kubler 1962:72 as cited by Ingold 1993:157). For the McFate they occupied a specific temporal position in a larger continuum of time. Their activities during this time occurred repeatedly corresponding to the seasonal round of procurement. Time then can be divided into distinguishable units by the tasks people undertake in their landscape and the passage of time is perceived first and foremost as a sequence of tasks, which in their turn are embodied in landscape forms (Ingold 2000).
The taskscape then was described as the setting for the activities that characterize one’s life. These tasks are social and involve movement throughout the landscape (Ingold 1993:158). A task could be said to be any form of work or event including a ritual or ceremony or anything that requires completion. Ingold has defined tasks “as any practical operation carried out by a skilled agent in an environment as part of his or her normal business of life” (1993:158). Tasks may also actively create the lived world as “the constitutive acts of dwelling” and “the entire ensemble of tasks, in their mutual interlocking” that defines the concept of taskscape (Ingold 1993:158).
But the taskscape is more active than one may experience for example by watching events unfold from a solitary room peering through a closed window watching others. For the taskscape is not an inanimate world but one of much activity including smells, colors, and sound. The rhythms of human activities resonate not only with living things but with a host of other phenomena including the cycles of day and night and of the season, the winds, the tides and so on (Ingold 2000:199). These cycles were important opportunities for native groups such as the McFate as the availability of many resources was based upon availability during a particular season.
The taskscape and the seasonal round
One method for examining tasks possibly conducted by the McFate would be through direct historical approach. This method involves the elementary logic of working from the known to unknown. This can be accomplished by determining sites of the historic period, analyzing the cultural complexes, and then carrying the sequences backward in time to the protohistoric and prehistoric periods and cultures (Steward 1942:337 as cited by Wright 1968). Since little is known about the McFate taskscape as there are no written records concerning their activity we may be able to rely on ethnohistoric sources to potentially unravel clues regarding cyclic events that occurred in the taskscape. This can potentially be accomplished by examining ethnically related groups in this case the Iroquois.
One primary account was drawn from the journal of Quaker Henry Simmons who lived among the Seneca at Cornplanter’s Village on the upper Allegheny River for one year in beginning in November of 1799. This region would have been part of the McFate taskscape some 300 years prior. It is worth cautioning however that profound change in the life ways of native groups occurred between the 15th century and the era that the Quakers visited the Seneca villages on the upper Allegheny. Still the events described as being a part of the seasonal round seem to fit favorable with the McFate subsistence strategy of hunting and gathering and farming. Many of the traditional events and tasks conducted by the Seneca likely occurred for many generations and changed little even after the arrival of European traders.
The concept of time was very different for native groups by comparison to their modern counterparts. Without the 24-hour clock and calendars to keep track of time the conception of such was regulated by the changing season and availability of resources. Like dwelled-in space, so is, the dwelled-in time by its nature quantitatively indivisible; the differentiation between different points in the experienced time and space is qualitative and depends on what kind of borders and distinctions dwellers decide to make through their own actions and movements (Lindström 2007:218). In Native American cultures such as the Iroquois the concept of time revolved around the seasonal cycle of procurement. The Jesuits upon observing the seasonal movements of the Huron stated that the Huron regulated “the seasons of the year by the wild beasts, the fish, the birds, and the vegetation.” Years, days and months were counted by the moon (JR 15:157 as cited by Tooker 1967:71).
For the Seneca every year at various times the village broke up as entire families moved to scattered camps dispersed throughout the surrounding landscape to exploit seasonally available resources. This annual cycle of Iroquois life was economic and religious as the schedule of seasonal subsistence was intertwined with a busy calendar of religious observances (Swatzler 2000:145). These forays from main village to base camps and back involved all members of the group each with specified tasks directed toward the task at hand. These journeys were likely very significant events in the lives of the people.
The seasonal round began with the collecting of maple sap to make maple syrup. This typically began in March and each extended family had its own designated grove of sugar maples and nearby campsite from which to tap trees and to collect and boil sap. The Thanks-to-the Maple festival came in early March (Swatzler 2000:145-50). One account by Halliday Jackson, a captive of the Seneca, observed that the whole family moved into the woods about six miles from the village and that both the men and woman of the group were involved in the labor of producing syrup (Jackson 1830a:16).
By April fishing was conducted in the many creeks and brooks that flow into the Allegheny River with trout being of particular importance. Fish weirs were constructed and most were taken by spearing, although some nets were dragged where practical (Swatzler 2000:150, 154). In late April into early May it was pigeon time. The McFate territorial sphere and taskscape were located in areas in Pennsylvania most frequented by passenger pigeons. According to Fenton and Deardorff (1943: 295) the northern counties were the areas utilized most by passenger pigeons. For a short period each year the passenger pigeon would return to their breeding grounds in the beech dominated forests of the region. They came in such large numbers that the ground was bare as though swept with a broom while they worked on their nests (Nammack 1969). There was no way to predict exactly where the main body of pigeons would land so by late March the Seneca would send scouts into the woods to locate the nesting grounds. Once located they would wait until the squabs were sufficiently fat and then knock them out of the trees with poles or cut the tree down to recover their bounty (Engelbrecht 2003; Swatzler 2000).
Like many activities pigeon time was very social and festive. It occurred at a time in the year when the winter provisions were beginning to run low and the people feasted sumptuously every day on fresh squab which was considered a delicacy (Gunn 1903:517). There was also a ceremony conducted to give thanks to the old birds or parent of the squabs who were left gifts at the nesting site in hopes of their return the following season. Like the bear, the Seneca gave the pigeon human qualities by honoring the bird in their ceremonies, myths, legends, and dance (Fenton and Deardorff 1943:302-305).
By early May the majority of the group would return to the main village in time for the Corn Planting Ceremony. The planting was done by woman and girls while men and boys continued to fish and hunt (Swatzler 2000:153). All members of the group would often assist in the task of planting. Although each family had a separate piece of ground to cultivate they would frequently join in large companies to assist each other (Jackson 1830a:17). The next big event that peaked around the first part of June was the Strawberry Festival. The strawberry was very important to the Seneca as the earliest strawberries picked during the season were believed to have medicinal qualities. There was also a belief that the road to the afterworld was lined with wild strawberries for the deceased to eat during their journey (Swatzler 2000:153). There was a summer hunting season in July and August in which many small hunting parties left the village comprised of men, woman, and children. The summer hunts were not very productive when compared to the winter hunting season and also included large fish drives (Swatzler 2000:153).
Groups would return in time for the next big festival, the Green Corn Festival and harvest time. All members of the group participated in gathering, preserving, and storing the harvest which lasted into October (Swatzler 2000:155). The Harvest festival held in November thanked the creator and his spirit forces for permitting them to reap a full harvest (Wallace 1972:58). During the fall and winter hunting season which began in November and continued well into January, whole families again packed up and moved to winter hunting camps for the season which was very productive (Swatzler 2000:156). By late January the hunting camps were vacated for the main villages. At this time the Midwinter Rites festival occurred and with the beginning of the new year marked the start of a new round of seasonal activities (Swatzler 2000:156).
A Division of Labor
Important to the understanding of the various tasks conducted throughout the McFate taskscape would be an understanding of the division of labor between male and female residents of a particular population. Using the Iroquoian Huron as an example which may serve as an equivalent for the McFate we find a sundry of tasks conducted by various genders. First of all women did all of the agricultural work while the men hunted, fished, and traded (JR 15; C 137 as cited by Tooker 1967:58). In this taskscape the woman tilled the ground; planted and harvested the corn; stored it; prepared it for eating, pounding it and roasting it in the ashes (JR 14:235; C 136, 156: S 101 as cited by Tooker 1967:58).
The men were involved in the clearing of the land by removing trees and burning what they could and uprooting others (Parker 1910 b: 21-22; Waugh 1916:7 as cited by Tooker 1967:58). The woman collected the firewood and this was conducted by all woman in the group so that each household was supplied in a few days (C 136, 156; S 101 as cited by Tooker 1967:58). Another important task applied to the woman was that of ceramic manufacture. To make pots, suitable earth was sifted thoroughly and mixed with a little sandstone. A lump was shaped into a ball which was malleated with a cord wrapped paddle and fired in an oven (S 106, 260 as cited by Tooker 1967:59). Woman also prepared hemp and bark. From this hemp cordage and fabric was likely prepared and during the winter the hemp was beaten and twisted by the woman and girls who rolled it on their thighs into twine which was subsequently made into snares and fishing nets by the men (S 98, 101, 240; C 136, 166-167 as cited by Tooker 1967:59). Also during the winter the woman made mats of reeds and of maize leaves that were used both to hang in the doors and to sit on. They dressed and softened the skins of beaver, moose, and other animals and made cloaks and coverings of them which they painted with various colors (S 102 as cited by Tooker 1967:59).
Along with hunting, fishing, warring, and trading the men made the houses and the canoes (C 137; S 101 as cited by Tooker 1967:59). While this is obviously an abbreviated description of all possible tasks the data provides insight into possible activities conducted by native groups such as the McFate.
This chapter has reviewed a number of Ingold’s concepts regarding man’s immersion in the world during a particular place in time. During this immersion tasks are completed in a finite realm known as the taskscape. The chapter was concluded with sections detailing the seasonal round of tasks conducted by the Seneca which may serve as an analogy for the McFate. The final part of the chapter explored the division of labor to observe who did what while working in the taskscape. The next chapter examines the territorial landscape of the McFate including the physical land surface of the Allegheny Plateau along with the cultural development of the group from early Late Woodland to their absorption into a larger neighboring group and ultimate demise through warfare created by competition for trade.
CHAPTER 3: A LANDSCAPE OF MCFATE
Physiography Allegheny Plateau
The McFate occupied portions of the Allegheny Plateau found throughout northwestern Pennsylvania, southwestern New York, and northeastern Ohio (Figure 1). This region is characterized by a number of distinctive physiographic subdivisions that are included in the broader Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province of the Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. These natural regions offered a variety of topographical settings and included distinct ecosystems producing a sundry of resources available for group utilization. Many areas would have been intimately known by members of the McFate including areas that were considered sacred or special to members of the group. This seemingly endless landscape comprised of hills and dales did have limits as neighboring group’s occupied similar territories dispersed across the landscape.
The McFate territorial sphere was devised based on the distribution of their distinctive ceramics which have been found throughout a finite landscape. According to Kent (1989) McFate Incised pottery is a hallmark of a cultural area that includes such stockaded sites such as the McFate site in Crawford County, the Elk County Earthworks and the Kalgren and Bell sites located in Clearfield County. There are also a host of lesser known sites including small temporary campsites and countless rock shelters that produce McFate ceramics found in this territorial region which is in effect the taskscape (Figure 3).
This territory can be described as follows: Beginning in the west McFate territory began on the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau found just east of the Grand and Mahoning Rivers in northeastern Ohio and continued east and included the region south of the Lake Erie plain (see Figure 4 for description of physiographic provinces Pennsylvania). The glaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau once covered by continental glaciation is characterized by broad rounded upland and deep, steep-sided, linear valleys partly filled with glacial deposits (Sevon 2000). Continuing east the territorial sphere entered the mountainous High Plateau Section of the unglaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau. This region is found on the eastern shore of the Allegheny River and is typified by broad, rounded to flat uplands having deep angular valleys (Sevon 2000). A sizeable portion of the McFate territory was located in this expanse which has been described locally as the “Big Level” (Henretta 1929) due to characteristic broad expanses of table like plateau that extend great distances without being cut by any major drainage. This region also serves as the dividing ridge that separates the Ohio River system from the West Branch of the Susquehanna.
Moving further east to the eastern edge of Mcfate territory occurs in the rugged Deep Valleys Section which exhibits very deep angular valleys and some broad to narrow uplands. Local relief in this region can exceed 1000 ft. (Sevon 2000). McFate territory generally concludes near the mountainous barrier known as the Allegheny Front which separates the Allegheny Plateau from the adjacent Ridge and Valley Province. From north to south McFate territory is generally confined to the headwaters of the upper Allegheny River and the drainage divide with the Cattaraugus Creek. This northern McFate territory includes both glaciated and unglaciated regions of the Allegheny Plateau. The southern portion of McFate territory was included in the Pittsburgh Low Plateau Section and concluded at the Conemaugh River. This region exhibits smooth to irregular, undulating surfaces and narrow to relatively shallow valleys (Sevon 2000). This greatly varied region containing an estimated 3 million acres represents the McFate core area where they conducted the majority of their daily and seasonal tasks although examples of their ceramics have been found beyond the limits of this landscape.
The majority of the McFate landscape is drained by tributaries of the Ohio River system. These drainages include the Allegheny River, which is the primary drainage of western Pennsylvania, French Creek, Tionesta Creek, the Clarion River, and a host of smaller streams and runs that enter the Allegheny River. These drainages originate in the north and east and typically flow in a south-southwesterly course and enter the Allegheny River which eventually joins the main stem of the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. In the eastern portion of the McFate landscape water courses drain into the West Branch of the Susquehanna River which flows east and south before discharging into the Chesapeake Bay. A small portion of northern McFate territory is drained by the Genesee River which flows north across western New York State before discharging into Lake Ontario. This drainage alignment places the McFate territorial sphere in contact with the Mississippi River, the St. Lawrence River, and the Chesapeake Bay, a point not lost on more powerful groups who later in time wished to seek control of the region for trade purposes.
The McFate landscape was comprised of two general forest regions each of which offered an assortment of resources including, nuts, berries, and plant resources for those inhabitants dwelling within. Braun (1950) in her seminal work regarding forest regions of the eastern United States was able to reconstruct the original forest patterns likely encountered by native groups prior to early European land clearing activity. The McFate homeland along with the majority of the upland portion of the Allegheny Plateau in Pennsylvania and New York was included in the hemlock-white pine-northern hardwoods forest. The forest in the river valleys near the major drainages such as the Allegheny River was included in the mixed mesophytic forest which extended from south of Pittsburgh northward into New York State. Important species in the hemlock-white pine northern hardwoods forest include maple and beech while important mast bearing species found in the mixed mesophytic forest include chestnuts, oaks, and hickories (Braun 1950:395). Both forest types provided the McFate a number of tasks such as nut gathering and maple sugar extraction and served to attract game species drawn to their favorite foods.
Homeland of the McFate: French Creek
It was in the French Creek valley in the Glaciated portion of the Allegheny Plateau that the McFate constructed their primary villages. From these sites they would conduct their daily and seasonal tasks and interact with their neighbors. French Creek is a north-south flowing drainage that originates in Chautauqua County New York and empties into the Allegheny River at Franklin, Pennsylvania. The French Creek valley has been said to be part of a regional landscape which strongly reflects the combined influences of bedrock geology and the effects of Pleistocene glaciation. The region exhibits relatively low relief; broad uplands separate wide valleys of periglacial origin which contain extensive marshes and small lakes and the floodplain of French Creek (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:7). One notable characteristic of the French Creek valley, referenced by a number of early observers, was the large open meadows that occupied the valley. George Washington wrote in his 1753 journal that there were several extensive and very rich meadows one of which was said to be four miles long and considerably wide (Larrabe 1924: 30). Bouquet (1760) commented referring to the area just south of Meadville that the richest meadows he ever saw were located there (Bouquet’s Journal, 1760 as cited in Waddell et al (1978:642). It is possible that the McFate were responsible for the creation and maintenance of these large anthropogenically altered meadows. Evidence suggests the Native Americans were adept at managing forest environments found throughout the landscape/taskscape. At the time of the first European settlement, natives regularly burned the woods to drive game, improve visibility, facilitate travel, and provide browse for deer (Day 1953). The effects of burning are such that certain heat tolerant tree species could be influenced or even maintained through the use of fire. According to (Black et al. 2006: 1267) any increases in anthropogenic disturbance, especially fire, could have a dramatic impact on forest composition, with expected decreases in sugar maple and hemlock and increases in oak, hickory, and chestnut. In a study of Native American sites in the Allegheny River drainage (Black et al. 2006) noted that in areas with high Native American activity oak, beech, hemlock, chestnut pine, and maple dominated. In areas with low Native American activity beech, hemlock, and maple dominated.
While the French Creek valley is rich in resources one significant characteristic of the watershed, and the whole of the McFate territorial sphere in general, is that fact that the region is only marginally suited for the growing of corn. Unlike Monongahela territory in southwestern Pennsylvania and areas along the Lake Erie Plain which experience rather lengthy growing seasons the majority of northwestern Pennsylvania experiences a short growing season. Groups living in the region appear to have practiced a more casual form of horticulture and would have been forced to supplement their diets through hunting and gathering. It has been suggested that to support a large horticultural based village as many as 120 frost free days are required to grow eight-row northern flint maize (Galinet 1967). Much of the French Creek valley is positioned near the 140 day frost free isoline while many areas on the Allegheny Plateau experience much shorter growing seasons (Johnson 1999a: Figure 1).
To worsen matter for the McFate the Neo-Boreal cooling episode (aka Little Ice Age) was effecting growing season by contracting valuable days from the already short growing period. This climatic deterioration was disastrous for many Iroquoian groups living in the Northeast in areas only marginally suited for aboriginal maize horticulture (Johnson et al. 1979). Other subsistence strategies would need to be employed to ensure the survival of the occupants of the village.
To adapt to the degradation of the climate the McFate depended heavily on hunting and gathering tasks which were supplemented by casual farming. Johnson (1979; 2004) has suggested that the McFate practiced a similar strategy as the Ottawa living in a similar environmental setting in the upper Great Lakes. The Ottawa were semi-sedentary and lived in agricultural villages which for most of the year were occupied primarily by children, woman and older men who tended to the farming activity. Both male and female hunting parties left the village in the summer while only male groups departed in the winter traveling as many as 75 to 100 miles from the village before returning to the comforts of village life periodically along with their bounty (Fitting and Cleland 1969:295). Johnson et al. (1979) view the McFate village sites in the French Creek valley as the group’s horticultural village sites while the upland stockades including the Elk County earthworks represent satellite base camps associated with hunting and occupied seasonally as needed.
Cultural development of the McFate
The McFate occupied this landscape for several hundred years before inexplicably abandoning the glaciated Allegheny Plateau. Johnson (1994a) has proffered a cultural development of the McFate which demonstrates a cultural progression lasting at least 500 years in the region. The McFate phase is the latest in a series of three successive phases that define the temporality of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau (GAP) tradition (Johnson 1994a). Johnson’s research was based on the analysis of ceramic modes and the study of cordage twist samples evidenced on the exterior surface of the vessel walls which argued for a case of continuity in cultural development.
The earliest phase in the GAP tradition begins with the Mahoning Phase (ca. A.D. 1100-1300) in which groups produced grit tempered ceramics with similar modes as terminal Middle Woodland Intrusive Mound complex ceramics. The Mahoning Phase was succeeded by the French Creek phase (ca. A.D. 1275/1300 to A.D. 1400)which was characterized by the appearance of shell tempered uncollared Chautauqua Cordmarked ceramics (Johnson and Myers 2004).
The final phase of the GAP tradition is the McFate Phase (ca. A.D. 1400-1550/1575) which is defined by the appearance of the shell tempered ware known as McFate Incised. This ceramic form originally typed by Mayer-Oakes (1955:204) exhibits straight sided rims and/or medium to high molded collars decorated with rectilinear incising typically in the form of right and left oblique plats separated by rows of horizontal lines (Johnson and Myers 2004:99). A companion type known as Conemaugh Cord-Impressed is similar to McFate Incised with the exception that the decorative motif is applied by impressing cordage or fabric onto the face of the collar rather than etching with a sharp stylus. Chautauqua Cordmarked would continue to be manufactured into the Protohistoric period at which time cordmarked exteriors were replaced by simple stamped surface treatments (Johnson 1999a). These distinctive ceramic types are important tools of analysis when tracking the group across the landscape as each type changed periodically permitting observation of the group in temporally defined phases.
McFate as an Iroquoian speaking group
The ethnicity of the McFate is poorly understood. Their material culture is a curious mix of influences derived from groups living to the north of the McFate homeland (e.g. the Iroquois) and south and southwest (e.g. the Monongahela and Ft. Ancient). While the majority of McFate phase material culture is temporally diagnostic of the Late Woodland period it is their distinctive ceramic remains which serve to identify the group. The typical McFate Incised vessel looks like a typical Iroquoian pot with the general difference being the addition of shell tempering to the ceramic paste rather than grit. The inspiration for McFate pottery appears to have been derived from the Iroquoian groups living to the north. Johnson (1994b, 1999a) has described the motifs found on the collared ware McFate Incised as being similar to those found on late Middleport horizon Ontario Iroquois tradition Pound Blank and Huron Incised types. The use of shell tempering however is in direct contrast of the Iroquoian potters living to the north. As evidenced by MacNeish (1952) in his extensive study of Iroquoian pottery all vessels and type varieties described displayed grit tempering. The use of shell temper found in McFate phase pottery was likely an influence derived from the Monongahela potters living to the south (Johnson 1999a:3).
Beginning in the late 15th century the McFate would gradually begin to abandon the Allegheny Plateau and seek refuge with neighboring groups. The reason for this migration is not entirely clear. There is no evidence for military expansion of neighboring groups including the terminal Late Woodland Erie or Seneca at this time. It would also seem too early for the group to seek a more advantageous position in possible trade between polities in the lower Great Lakes, Middle Ohio Valley or Chesapeake Bay (Johnson and Myers 2004:102). This event rather has been seen as a response to the climactic deterioration of the Neo-Boreal cooling episode rather from group warfare (Johnson 1999a). The McFate possibly moved from French Creek as a response to the shorter growing season encouraged by the Neo-Boreal cooling episode by seeking refuge with groups occupying territory better suited to agricultural practice.
As the Late Woodland era gave way to the Proto-historic period (circa. A.D. 1580-1635 in the region) the McFate appear to have emerged in a position that was advantageous for trade or possibly even survival of the group as they appear to have become involved in an alliance with the Monongahela who lived in the territory just south of McFate. Very late in the Middle Monongahela period McFate Incised ceramics appear south of their traditional territory in the Kiskiminetas River valley along the northeast margins of Monongahela territory. This amalgamation of groups has been defined as the Johnston Phase (George 1978, 1997) which persisted into the 17th century.
This phase marks a change for the McFate as their taskscape would move from the French Creek valley and surrounds to a much larger stage as early European traders entered the region. The larger Monongahela people when aligned with the McFate (i.e. Johnston phase) likely formed part of a confederation known as the Massowomeck or Black Minqua. Hoffman (1964) has proposed that the Black Minqua-Massawomeck were an Iroquois speaking group closely associated with the Susquehannock (White-Minqua) that lived in at least four villages. Although Hoffman originally thought the Black Minqua-Massawomeck were the Erie, the ceramic evidence does not substantiate this claim (Johnson 2001:81).
Recent research connecting seventeenth-century cartographic and enthnohistoric data suggests identification of the protohistoric Monongahela variously with the Massawomeck, the Black Minqua, and a little-noted Atiouandaron group shown in the trans-Appalachian upper Ohio River valley. All three appellation refer to Iroquoian speakers and suggests that the protohistoric Monongahela might represent three (or all) of the tribes composing the Massawomeck nation (Johnson 2001:67). This suggests that the McFate living under the umbrella of Massawomeck were likely an Iroquoian speaking group that may have followed customs similar to other ethnically related groups.
As relations between neighbors began to deteriorate due to competition brought on by trade for European goods the end was near for the McFate and Massawomeck. Johnson (2001:67) has proposed that the Massawomeck supplied fur to Iroquoian groups in the lower Great Lakes and acted as middlemen in a Neutral confederation-Chesapeake Bay trade axis. The McFate and Monongahela forming the Massawomeck sought to control a great trade network between the Great Lakes and the Chesapeake Bay via the Ohio River valley but in doing so cut off supplies of trade goods to the Seneca which resulted in reprisal. A 1673 a legend found on the Augustine Hermann map regarding the Massawomeck-Black Minqua reads: “Where formerly those Black Mincquas (Massawomeck) came over as far as the Delaware to trade but the Sassquahana and the Sinnicus Indians went over and destroyed that very great nation” (Hoffman 1964 as cited by Johnson 2001:80). This event in believed to have occurred around 1636 marks the end of the Massawomeck as a recognizable group. At this time the many remaining members of the confederation sought refuge with the Susquehannock in the lower Susquehanna River basin (Johnson 2001:82). The Monongahela and McFate groups were removed by force from the Allegheny Plateau as the Seneca seized control of the upper Ohio valley.
This chapter has briefly examined the evolution of the McFate from their origins as a recognizable entity to their demise and absorption by more powerful groups. Importantly evidence suggests the McFate were possibly an Iroquoian speaking group and as such followed an Iroquoian pattern of life. In the next chapter we will investigate the changing taskscape. Taskscapes change over time and this section will look briefly at the progression of changes in the Ohio River valley and related regions beginning with early Paleoindian groups that practiced different tasks than later groups. The chapter culminates with the Woodland period where we find groups involved in more sedentary life patterns conducting very different tasks than earlier occupants of the region.
CHAPTER 4: THE CHANGING TASKSCAPE AND NATIVE AMERICAN ADAPTATION
The landscape and the taskscape change over time. Certain changes in the landscape aside from cataclysm would be hardly noticeable over the course of a lifetime although change is a constant process. The rivers constantly flow eroding some floodplains while leaving deposits on others. Trees and plants live through their yearly cycle of rebirth and death while natural features such as rocks appear to change little when witnessed by humans but remained in a constant state of attrition that started well before the arrival of the earliest humans.
Tasks however can mark the passage of time including those conducted daily, seasonally, and even over longer expanses such as a lifetime. As Ingold (2000) has observed time is divided into distinguishable units by the tasks people undertake in their landscape and the passage of time is perceived first and foremost as a sequence of tasks, which in their turn are embodied landscape forms. In the taskscape many tasks would be so mundane that they would hardly be noticed while others would be considered major events that were repeatedly performed. Certain tasks no matter how grand in scope simply do not appear in the archaeological record so the focus of task inevitably shifts to information obtained from tool types which evidence procurement activities.
Tasks could also change due to the advent of a new tool or a new innovation such as the domestication of corn. Changes such as these have been used by archaeologists to form the basic temporal divisions that characterize particular periods of cultural development (see table 3). Anschuetz et al. (2001:181-84) have observed that changes in a group’s vernacular knowledge, traditions and worldview occur either as a breakdown or revolutionary overthrow of traditional cultural frameworks, marked by major discontinuities in the archaeological record, or more commonly as gradual changes that maintain the group’s fundamental structure and organization.
Important to the understanding the taskscape of the McFate is a review of major events that altered past taskscapes and brought change to the Ohio River valley. This progression of changes and events ultimately determined the taskscape of the McFate which was the culmination of years of gradual change as a result of learning and adaptation to the landscape in which they lived.
Big game hunters
The earliest occupants of the Ohio River drainage including the French Creek valley were Paleoindian groups which occupied the landscape/taskscape many thousands of years before the arrival of the McFate. These early groups have often been described as highly mobile “big game” hunters which initially entered a tundra like environment followed by a spruce parklands that gradually shifted to a spruce pine forest by the Younger Dryas period (Vento et al. 2008: Figure 4). These early colonizing groups were likely focused more on hunting than gathering and initially would have had little if any knowledge of the landscape they were entering. The lack of plant food resources and processing technologies in Paleoindian assemblages reflects limited plant use (Waguespack and Surovell 2003); a pattern not unexpected considering the historic origins of these groups in relatively plant free northern latitudes (Moore and Dekle 2010:597).
Primary tasks were associated with the basic requirements for human survival including the locating of water, finding and/or constructing shelter, producing food for the survival of the group, and the ability to consistently manufacture fire for heating and cooking purposes. As such, these tasks were heavily focused on food procurement and processing. The Paleoindian tool kit consisting of the fluted projectile point/knife form along with an assortment of other tools including scrapers, gravers, and retouched flakes among other items (c.f. Gramly 1992) demonstrates to the importance of hunting as a form of survival and the processing of hide for clothing for the members of the group.
As the Late Pleistocene ended and the Holocene began the Paleoindian lifestyle was slowly replaced by what has been termed Archaic way of living. This change in lifestyle corresponds to the improving climate which changed the types of resources available for exploitation. Gone were the big game species such as the Mammoth which had been replaced by smaller species such as white-tailed deer and a number of edible plant resources. From the array of potential food species, foraging locations, and pathways, the foragers can choose combinations which more or less effectively and efficiently procure subsistence (Winterhalder 1981:66). These groups have been characterized as hunter-gatherer groups and lived in environments characterized by diverse and heterogeneously distributed resources.
Like earlier Paleoindian groups, hunter-gather groups can be observed by the tools they left behind at any given site location. Binford (1979, 1980) has described hunter-gather societies as foragers and collectors who possessed distinctive tool kits and moved frequently to new patches of food when others were depleted. Collecting groups typically established a single home base and launched logistical forays to gather resources from distant patches. Foragers with high residential mobility should use and discard more generalized, expedient tools, made on the spot should the need arise while collectors should have more specialized tools designed for particular tasks that are highly curated. It must be noted that a single group could display both foraging and collecting behaviors depending of the season and the resource in question (Hollenbach 2009:7-8).
In the lower Ohio River valley like many areas in the central and eastern United States the geographic distribution of forests and grasslands was in a state of flux during this time. This resulted in the reorganization of animal life that included an alteration of ranges, or in some cases, the extinction of species (Jeffries 2009:77). It was during the early Holocene that groups began employing a subsistence strategy based on the seasonal round. This shift in strategy generally corresponds to the pine-oak forests becoming established during the Pre-Boreal and Boreal periods which were characterized by a warm dry climate (Vento et al. 2008: Table 4). Walthall (1998a:15-16; 1998b:232) has proposed a seasonal round scenario based on the activities of the Late-Paleoindian/Early Archaic Dalton groups. These groups would begin the round during the warm season with individuals occupying floodplain camps. Groups would aggregate for a short time in fall encampments then disperse into the upland, mast rich, sheltered valleys, at the onset of cold weather.
Beginning in the Middle Archaic period the perception of immobile organisms as major food sources greatly altered the Archaic landscape and taskscape. Suddenly the hunting blinds and trails that were previously important places were supplemented by and sometimes replaced with mussel shoals and hickory and oak-tree stands located within major river valleys (Moore and Dekle 2010:601). The majority of the Middle Archaic period was characterized by the warm and slightly moist climate of the Atlantic climatic episode (Vento et al. 2008: Figure 4). Interestingly this economic shift likely resulted in a reinvention of the sexual division of labor. Woman were no longer just the processors they had been during the Paleoindian and Early Archaic periods (Waguespack 2005), but now took on the more socially role of procuring food sources.
By the Middle Holocene which extended from Late Archaic through the Early Woodland periods, the Lower Ohio Valley as well as the rest of eastern North America was experiencing essentially modern environmental conditions (Schuldenrein 1996:3). This era also marked a time when distinct archaeological cultures were developing throughout the eastern United States. Variations occurred among these cultures, attributable to the different and physical and cultural worlds in which they were evolving which is reflected archaeologically by a variety of technological, settlement, subsistence, and social characteristics (Jefferies 1996b:47).
Mast bearing oak-hickory forests were now widespread having been established throughout the Lower Ohio Valley. Nuts such as acorns were important foods not only for hunter-gathering groups but the animals in which they relied for food, clothing and raw materials for tool making (Jefferies 2009:188). During this time there was greater intergroup cooperation or competitive interaction, resulting in more sites in intervening areas; greater permeability of social boundaries, promoting increased movement of groups or individuals over the landscape and/or increased group mobility within larger territories (Anderson 1996a:171). During the Late Archaic groups were acquiring nonlocal raw materials into their technologies as long interregional trade networks had become established (Marquardt and Watson 2005b:10).
From hunter-gatherers to farmers
Separating the Archaic lifestyle from the Woodland lifestyle was a period of transition in the Eastern Woodlands including the Ohio River valley and related regions. This time period, confined to the Middle Holocene Sub-Boreal period (Vento et al. 2008), has been designated the Terminal Archaic period and has been described as a period of change characterized by increased sedentism, higher population densities, intensified subsistence systems, a focus on riverine and estuarine settings, and the storage of food resources (Stewart 2003). This was the period when the earliest cooking vessels appeared in the form of the soapstone pot. The presence of pit houses and the evidence for a greater reliance on food storage in the later part of the Archaic period (i.e. Terminal Archaic) suggests that sites were occupied for longer periods, with a corresponding decrease in group mobility (Custer 1988, Hay and Graetzer 1985). This period of transition marked the end of a hunter-gather only society as groups began to experiment or gain knowledge of early horticultural methods.
By the Early Woodland period groups or bands of family units lived in scattered households and still persisted in hunting and gathering but now practiced forms of agriculture. In this era a shift to semi-sedentary settlement due to a stable economic base supervened (Kent, Smith, and McCann 1971:4). This period was characterized by the warm-moist Sub-Atlantic period (Vento 2008:4). This era generally marks the introduction of early clay ceramic pots and forms of ceremony regarding burial of the dead. In the upper Ohio Valley the period is known as Adena.
By Middle Woodland times there was an increase in sedentism. Sedentism can be understood as a response to perceived population densities, changes in the way that subsistence activities are organized, and shifts in economic focus or as part of a group’s strategy for controlling a territory (Steponaitis 1986 as cited by Stewart 2003). During the Middle Woodland burial ceremonialism reached its apex in portions of the Ohio River during the Hopewell period. Based on evidence from Meadowcroft Rockshelter Early and Middle Woodland period subsistence practices represented a continuation and intensification of Late Archaic food procurement strategies (Adovasio et al. 2003:75). Analysis of faunal remains from Meadowcroft indicate a number of game species were present including white-tailed deer and elk, which were supplemented by food sources including turkey, ruffed grouse, hooded merganser and probably passenger pigeon. Evidence also suggests that occupants of the rockshelter also collected a number of riverine oriented resources including box turtles and freshwater mussels (Adovasio et al. 2003:75). Interestingly they note that based on the evidence recovered that the floral resources were again similar to those found in the earlier Late/Terminal Archaic period. The predominate floral species recovered in the sample included hackberries, walnuts, hickory nuts, blackberries/raspberries, cherries, grapes, goosefoot and amaranth (Adovasio et al. 2003:75).
During the Early and Middle Woodland periods there were two significant non-local additions to the food supply for inhabitants of the Ohio River valley that would greatly alter future events occurring in the taskscape. This was the addition of squash and corn to the diet. Squash made an appearance in Early Woodland times dating to (ca. 1115 +/-80 B.C.) while corn in the form of a small 16 row primitive popcorn was found with associated dates of (375 +/-75 B.C.) and (340 +/-90 B.C.) (Adovasio et al. 2003:75). With the growing of domesticated food items groups could become larger and more sedentary as tasks could be conducted closer to the comforts of the village.
This brief outline detailing significant developments in procurement strategies which altered events in the taskscape has set the stage for a Late Woodland way of existence. In the next section the focus will shift to the taskscape of the McFate which operated in a complex pattern of subsistence based on seasonally available resources. Site data will be examined from a variety of site types in order to determine what major tasks were being conducted by the McFate at differing locations.
CHAPTER 5: EXAMINATION OF EXISTING DATA
By Late Woodland times a long evolution of subsistence and settlement change culminated with many native groups relying on intensive agricultural production. As such the period was generally characterized by sedentary tribes occupying the best farm land with a settlement pattern consisting of villages and hamlets including stockaded villages (Kent, Smith, and McCann 1971:4). It was during this period that the McFate coalesced in the French Creek valley constructing a number of stockaded forts and ultimately attempting a casual form of farming rather than an economy centered primarily on maize. This is not unique among groups such as the Iroquois as farming never entirely replaced hunting, fishing, and gathering. Rather it required additional tasks for both men and woman and provided an additional source of storable food (Engelbrecht 2003:22).
Within the taskscape of the McFate there were certain important places that the group occupied including primary villages, temporary upland stockade forts, and a host of rockshelters and small open-air campsites. In this chapter we will examine the data present in the few existing site reports that concern the McFate including information pertaining to the McFate site in French Creek, a number of upland stockades including the Elk County Earthwork cluster and the Smith site. One rock shelter report has been examined for comparative purposes. This analysis will permit examination of taskscapes found in a range of topographical settings.
The McFate site: tasks at the primary village
The McFate site (36Cw1) is considered the main village of the group where all activity would emanate from. The site was proposed to be a primary village rather than a seasonally occupied site based on the recovery of carbonized cultigens in the form of corn, a community pattern indicating highly nucleated villages, and on relative ratios of artifact classes reflecting economic activity and sexual division of labor (Johnson et al. 1979:88).
The site report data was examined order to observe possible tasks conducted by the inhabitants both in the confines of the village and surrounding region. Any attempt to visit the site and observe based on phenomenological perceptions is not possible due to the fact that a housing development has been constructed over the site. Thus the information garnered from the site reports is all that remains of this important site. Prior to their destruction, four stockaded forts were known to exist on a terrace located a few meters above French Creek on a bend in the river which served to surround the village on three sides. At this location the site area was situated within a short distance of two rich ecological settings including wetlands and river valley (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:7) which could potentially offer members of the village a number of resources available through a myriad of seasonally based tasks. The location of the site is a typical settlement pattern for Iroquois groups as the wetlands and swamps served as habitats for a variety of animals and plants (Funk 1992:25).
The McFate site has been known to the public for a number of years. Three of the four stockades were originally identified by Harry Schoff during excavations sponsored by the Work Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. A fourth stockade was discovered and excavated by Fred Brown and the Cussewago Chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology in the 1960’s (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:10-11).
The most thoroughly studied of the four villages was the village labeled Village One (see Figure 6). This fort exhibited a double palisade enclosure with the inner palisade wall with the perimeter measuring 120 feet north to south by 97 feet east to west (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:11). Within the interior of the stockade were constructed a number of houses. These typically were spaced in circular fashion along the interior perimeter wall of the fort leaving the central area open for possible ceremonies. The internal settlement pattern appears somewhat muddled do to the overlapping stockade features. The most easily discernible house pattern encountered during excavation at Village One was House 1 (see Figure 7) which was a circular shaped structure that measured 19.6 feet in diameter and exhibited a semi-detached, post lined storage pit with internal storage/refuse type pits (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:13).
The various excavations investigated a number of features that offer clues to the tasks conducted by members of the village. A great deal of Schoff’s unpublished report focused on the pit features which he assigned to three functional categories, hearth, cache, and refuse (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:13). A small number of hearths were located that typically contained ash, fire-cracked rock, and small quantities of refuse, bones and artifacts. There were some 448 refuse/storage type pits excavated. From these features Schoff (see Table 4) identified 15 mammals, six birds, and two reptiles, while lumping into one group each, fresh water mussels, fish, and snails (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:14). Percentages of faunal remains recovered from 382 pit features identified deer (33%), turtle (7.9%), rodent (3.1%), beaver (2.6%), elk (2.4%), bird (2.4%), fish (2.1%), bear, wildcat, and dog (1%), with snail and rabbit making up a smaller percentage of the pit sample. Numerous other animals were not listed in the pit record but were said to appear elsewhere in the report including red fox, muskrat, squirrel wolf, trumpeter swan duck, turkey and passenger pigeon to name but a few (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:14).
The McFate site produced small numbers of carbonized vegetable remains. Interestingly domesticated plants were found in only (1.6%) of the pits with one containing squash or pumpkin rind and six containing maize kernels, stalks and/or cobs. Other vegetable remains identified include walnuts, butternuts, hickory nuts, chestnuts, acorns, and a wild plumb pit while the use of tobacco was inferred based on a number of pipes recovered from the site (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:14). The gathering of nuts and berries and other food sources was a task that helped supplement hunting and fishing. At McFate some 40 pits (8.9%) contained nutting stones (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:14) attesting to the importance of gathering nuts as a dietary staple and task.
Certain fruit types missing from Schoff’s report almost certainly must have been present in the pit features. Both recovery techniques used in the 1930’s and preservation issues likely accounted for the small percentages of plant remains recovered during the excavation. Fruits and berries have been commonly identified in samples examined from Iroquoian sites. Data examined from four historic Huron sites and the Jesuit mission Sainte Marie I identified a number of fleshy fruits were contemporary with corn, beans, and squash. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and other fleshy fruits were particularly important, but pin cherry, plum, elderberry and black nightshade were also commonly represented (Monckton 1992:44-45). Raspberries were the most common berries identified in Seneca graves at the Adams and Culbertson sites (Wray et al. 1987:135; 1991:144).
The McFate sites topographic setting in a riverine location is evident based on the number of aquatic species present in the faunal data including, ducks, geese and swans being exploited. We also find the group engaged in hunting and gathering activities that were likely conducted away from the village. The faunal data includes species such as deer, bear, elk, turkey, and passenger pigeons which were known to roost east of the French Creek villages. Numerous fur bearing species were present including muskrat, red fox, bobcat, otter, and beaver.
In Schoff’s site report a number of tool forms have identified that offer insight into activities within the taskscape. While the McFate site sample of tools is small, a fair amount of these were associated with the task of hunting including projectile points. Only a small number of blades and knives were mentioned in the report and no scrapers were mentioned which suggests butchering and skinning was a task conducted away from the main village. There were also a number of tools used in woodworking and woodcutting including celts and a variety of chisels. Eighteen celts were recovered and many of these may have been used in the construction or field clearing activities. In fact wood dominated the material culture of the McFate people. Palisade posts, poles for house walls and storage structures were all procured for the building of the villages. Many tasks involved working not only with wood but bark, and bast lashing (Burkett and Cunningham 1987:14).
Only a small number of tools found onsite evidenced fishing activity. This was likely a task conducted at favorite locations on the river where campsites would be constructed and tools would likely be cached. Groups such as the Seneca would leave the village and occupy eddy’s found along the Allegheny River in order to set up their fish drives. This type of strategy was likely employed by the McFate in their particular taskscape.
An assortment of other tools was recovered. Food processing tools recovered include hammer stones, grinding stones, metates, and mullers. Hammerstones and grinding stones were found frequently while metates and mullers occurred rarely. Numerous awls were recovered which suggest hide working and clothes making activity possibly by the woman of the group.
The McFate site produced some 7,595 ceramic sherds. Many of the ceramics were found contained in refuse pits (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:15). These ceramics were likely crafted from local clays gathered in the immediate taskscape and found along the creek bed close to the village. Some of the rarest items recovered during the 1938 excavations and not listed below include perishable items. A cord-wrapped paddle and a fiber net were among items recovered (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:15). The cord-wrapped paddle was used by the woman of the groups in ceramic manufacture activities in which they would maleate the exterior walls of the vessel.
The high numbers of celts and beaver incisor chisels implies male woodworking activity while a number of bone awls were recovered that were likely used to work hide, bark, and basketry by woman members of the group. The typical McFate toolkit likely included a hammerstone, drift, crude chert like knife, turkey bone awl, beaver incisor chisel, sinew stone, several triangular points all likely placed in an animal skin bag for storage (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:15).
The McFate site produced a number of burials (Table 5). The majority of these were found in a flexed position. Of the thirty-two burials excavated by Schoff 25 were adults while 7 were infants. The majority of these were found in house floors with Marginella beads noted in some burials and based on the placement of items of value behind the heads of the individuals it was suggested that they were purposefully placed in a bag (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:18).
This analysis has examined clues inherent in the site sample of tasks that were likely conducted near the primary village. We will now leave the village and venture into the uplands, a journey that will takes us from the clearings of French Creek into the deep recesses of the forest. According to Hamell (1987:69) to cross from forest to clearing is to cross a metaphorical threshold from “the other world” to “this world”. The world of the forest is seen as a different physical, spiritual, and social realm. Located beyond the comforts of the village was a big landscape and a place where an array of good things and potentially bad could influence daily life.
Elk County earthworks
There are a number of upland stockaded villages formerly inhabited by the McFate. These sites likely served as temporary base camps for seasonal hunting and gathering activities. The majority of these sites are positioned close to historically recorded trail systems (c.f. Wallace 1987:27). Probably the best known of the upland stockades in the McFate taskscape is the Elk County Earthwork cluster consisting of four sites including the Kane, Russell City, McKinley and Russell City II earthworks. Unlike the McFate site which was located in the river valley the Elk County earthworks were positioned on lobate upland plateau settings which average some 230 feet above the valley floor.
This clustering of sites has been known to the archaeological community for many years. In 1928 investigations were conducted at the Kane and Russell City earthworks by Dr. William A. Ritchie who was at the time Assistant Archaeologist for the Rochester Municipal Museum (Smith and Herbstritt 1976: 41). Details of the Elk County investigation appear in Ritchie’s 1929 manuscript entitled ‘An Early Iroquoian Hilltop Fort near Kane, PA.’ In the late 1960’s the Kane and Russell City earthworks were again the focus of archaeological testing. Members of the Kinzua Chapter #18 of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology once again investigated the Kane Earthwork and tested the nearby Russell City Earthwork (LaBar 1987). In 1975 a third earthwork known as the McKinley site which was found on a nearby hilltop in close proximity to the previously tested earthworks was investigated. During this survey a small portion of the site was investigated. Archaeologists were able to map portions of the village near the center and investigate the stockade mound (Smith and Herbstritt 1976: 11-19).
Unlike the McFate site little data regarding the contents of the pit features in the form of floral and faunal analysis is currently available regarding the Elk County earthworks. One comparative study has focused on the analysis of percentages of points to rims sherds found at the McKinley earthwork. The data obtained in this research suggests that the sites were used primarily for hunting activity. Johnson (1981:61, Table 9) has examined the ratio of points to pots of a number of Late Woodland/Late Prehistoric sites from the Upper Ohio River valley. The McKinley Earthwork (36El17) produced a ratio of 1:11 points to pot sherds which suggests the site was occupied as a male dominated hunting camp. A higher ratio of ceramic rims to points would be expected if the site was an agricultural village occupied by large numbers of female occupants. The sites are also positioned in some of the shortest frost free day areas in Pennsylvania. Although small amounts of corn have been recovered there, these types of enclosures are characterized by a lack of deep storage pits and a paucity of midden debris (Johnson, et al. 1979:89) which argues against mass storage of cultigens that typically characterize sedentary horticultural villages.
Typical tools found at the Elk County earthworks evidence butchering and skinning activities associated with the hunting of game species such as deer. Other tasks include food processing, woodworking and tree cutting tools. Typical artifacts include small triangular projectile points, blades, knives, celts, hammerstones, milling stones, mullers, and anvil stones. The upland earthworks produce numerous clay pipes (Smith and Herbstritt 1976) which suggests that tobacco was an important commodity used regularly by the occupants.
The Elk County earthworks may have served as the basecamps to conduct passenger pigeon hunting and gathering activity due to the large stands of beech trees and nuts which attracted pigeons and grew near the sites. This postulation is purely speculative as no faunal remains of the passenger pigeon has yet to be identified from pit samples. However, the sites are positioned in an area known locally as the “pigeon plateau”. According to Wallace (1987:129) pigeon hunting was one of the favorite Seneca seasonal activities and the favorite nesting grounds of the passenger pigeon were on the high plateau at the headwaters of the Clarion River and Tionesta Creek. For those occupants of the earthworks spending time hunting in the forest would have knowledge of the arriving pigeons and eventually locate the nesting grounds of these large flocks of birds. The task could then shift to pigeon hunting while available in the spring.
The Smith site
The Smith site is an upland stockade overlooking the Little Genesee Creek located near the village of Bolivar in Allegany County, NewYork. The site has been test excavated by amateur archaeologist Kelly Lounsberry and is considered to be the latest radiometrically dated site in the McFate sequence (Johnson from Johnson and Myers 2004:100). The site is a typical upland stockade much like the Elk County earthworks constructed in a defensible upland setting where the vestiges of the stockade walls are still visible due to lack of cultivation on the hilltop.
An analysis of the site report data has offered clues to the types of food being grown and consumed by the occupants. The site has produced quantities of carbonized corn and fish scales which were recovered through flotation analysis (Lounsberry 1997:29) offering clues to the activities occurring in the taskscape.. Typical tools forms include 39 complete triangular points, various scraper forms, drills and an assortment of unspecified stone tool types. The ceramic inventory includes more than 4000 pot sherds and an indeterminate number of McFate incised vessels present in the sample (Lounsberry 1997:23-25).
Important to our understanding of the tasks conducted at the Smith site concerns the internal settlement system. Excavations conducted by Lounsberry have offered clues to the types of structures occupied by the sites inhabitants. The alignment of eight hearth features in a north-south alignment suggests that longhouse type structures were constructed within the stockade (Lounsberry 1997:23). This pattern is a typically observed in longhouse type structures (Tooker 1967:40) but not in the roundhouse type structures observed at the McFate site.
Rock shelters: temporary way stations
Rock shelters served a wide variety of functions and each one exhibits a distinct ambiance. The McFate occupied numerous rock shelter sites while travelling through the taskscape. Sites of this nature functioned as ready-made domiciles while living away from the main village. In Huron lore certain large rocks were thought to be the homes of powerful spirits. As travelers passed these rocks, they made offerings to them by throwing tobacco into a campfire or placing it in the clefts of the rocks (Trigger 1990:107). Many rock shelter sites appear to have been associated with trail systems (Lantz 1969; Myers 1997). This observation was based on the fact that certain important rock shelters appear to occur at key locations such as near saddles that link adjacent drainages suggesting trails may have crossed the ridges in these locations.
Sites of this nature were occupied for a sundry of reasons including tasks associated with hunting and gathering. Hollenbach (2009:238-239) has noted based on an analysis of plant assemblages that gathering activities conducted from rock shelter types sites were tailored to local landscapes. The rock shelters were located within a short distance of an available resource suggesting that the group(s) occupying such sites had an intimate knowledge of the landscape and its resources.
One McFate phase site where preliminary analysis of function is available is the Dutch Hill Rock Shelter. This site is a small rock shelter located on a side slope overlooking the Clarion River in northern Jefferson County, Pennsylvania (Myers 2001:43). Found in the artifact sample were six Madison projectiles points and a small assortment of end and side scrapers, drills, a few hammer stones, and a small celt. The sample also produced a number of ceramics of both McFate Incised and Chautauqua Cordmarked pottery thought to represent some 29 individual vessels (Myers 2001:47). This evidence suggests that the site may have served as a temporary way station occupied by small family groups while hunting and gathering in the Clarion River valley.
One hearth produced evidence of dinner in the form of a black bear as burned bear molars were recovered during excavation (AAR 2009). Tasks conducted by the men likely included hunting for game along with meat and hide processing activities while woman possibly gathered in the forest and cooked food while occupying the site. The rock shelter face is oriented north and open on the east and west. One observation made while testing the site concerned the fact that the early morning sun, appearing from the east, dried out the interior portion of the overhang early in the morning. As the day progressed and the sun continued to move west any direct sunlight was then blocked by the overhang leaving the shelter dry, comfortable and importantly shielded from the mid-day sun (Myers 2001:46). This observation regarding the comfort of the site was likely understood by the McFate occupants who used the site repeatedly.
In this chapter we have reviewed site data available regarding the McFate. The data varies greatly by site as one has been totally excavated while the others have experienced limited testing. An attempt was made to pick out certain obvious tasks based on information found in the site reports. Personal observation was employed with respect to observations regarding the comfort of the rock shelter. In the next chapter we will examine certain tasks that possibly occurred in the taskscape. These tasks will be compared to ethnohistoric data and then described in rich text as if being witnessed.
CHAPTER 6: INTERPETATION OF DATA
This chapter seeks to interpret the data sets examined in the previous chapter. Certain major tasks that unequivocally occurred have been selected for presentation and compared to ethnohistoric data for description. The final three scenes described however are purely speculative events offered in an attempt to explore other activities that may have been held in the taskscape associated with religious beliefs and/or superstitions of native cultures such as the McFate. Tooker cites various sources including Champlain (C); Jesuit Relations (JR); and Father Gabriel Sagard (S).
Building the stockade
McFate sites were typically surrounded by a stockade. In the previous chapter a number of stockaded forts were examined including the McFate site found in a riverine setting and the Elk County earthworks and Smith site which were constructed on hilltops high above the valley floor. Regardless of location the selection chosen for construction may have simply been based on availability of building material. Heidenreich (1971:113) has argued that construction of a fort and the houses held within required suitable stands of young timber that could be easily managed during construction. With that said members of the group likely had an understanding of where such resources could be found in the taskscape.
Building the fort would have been a substantial task requiring a great deal of time and effort while employing prehistoric technology. Digging may have been accomplished by using a wooden hoe (Parker 1968:24) or perhaps one manufactured from stone. The McFate typically constructed stockades by borrowing dirt from an inner and outer “borrow” ditch to form the stockade wall. Cutting timber posts was likely accomplished with a ground axe or celt.
We can envision a group of men walking through the forest looking for a suitable location to construct a village. In the French Creek valley they have chosen a high dry terrace overlooking the creek positioned near large wetlands in fertile valley. In the upland settings the men have climbed the hillside from the valley floor and have selected a location offering a commanding view of the valley below. We can see the group of men clearing the site areas by girdling trees and burning stumps, activities that may have begun many seasons prior. The sound of a celt hitting a tree during the girdling process resonates throughout the forest while the crackling of fire and the smoke rising above the clearing completes the scene. We then see the men creating a circular earthen palisade by borrowing dirt from inner and outer ditches with a digging implement to form a sizeable mound in excess of three feet high. Timber posts that had been cut in the nearby forest were then placed upright to form the palisade wall. The dull sound of the wooden or stone hoe hitting the earth and the smell of fresh dirt fills the air. Palisades wall were typically filled with bark as reinforcement and large tree trucks were sometimes placed at the base (Sagard as cited by Tooker 1967:39).
Building a house
Within each palisade were constructed a number of houses. McFate sites typically contain round, oval, and longhouse type structures depending on location within the territorial sphere. The building of a roundhouse such as those found at the McFate site would require construction of a frame and an understanding of certain building principles. One can envision the male members of the group constructing a circular frame with flexible timber poles that they have acquired in the nearby forest.
They are placing the thick end of the sapling into the ground and have tied the opposite or thin ends together to form a series of arches. They then can be seen adding horizontal members to strengthen the structure (George 2002:52). The sound of voices can be heard as older members of the group pass on knowledge of construction to younger members. We now see the men peeling bark from tree. They can be seen completing the construction by affixing the bark pieces and covering the frame of the structure.
At the Smith Site a longhouse was constructed. Here we see the men designing a linear shaped wooden frame which they covered with slabs of bark. In Iroquois tradition the walls of the house consisted of vertical support poles which were sharpened at the bottom and driven into the ground. These support poles were then carefully reinforced with horizontal ones that were lashed with bark or rope (Trigger 1990:70). The men are now focusing on the roof. They now take additional poles and fasten them to the uprights which forms a semicircular arch. Their final task involved covering the structure with slabs of bark which were tied to the wooden frame (Steckley 1987a).
The data recovered from the analysis of site features such as hearths and trash pits provides a wealth of information pertaining to tasks. At the McFate site faunal remains of the passenger pigeon and corn were recovered from the pit features (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:14), while three sites examined including McFate, the Elk County Earthworks (Smith and Herbstritt 1976); and Smith (Lounsberry 1997:29) produced remains of corn. The following scenes can be envisioned.
It is the end of April and members of the group have been engaged in maple sap extraction for the past few weeks but a new task will be soon be at hand. Word has spread throughout the village that massive flocks of passenger pigeons have been returning to their rookeries (Swatzler 2000:151). At this time we can see the members of the village moving along marked trails to the nesting grounds located on the “pigeon plateau” where they have constructed a number of upland stockades located in the beech groves.
On the day of the hunt we see the men in the group begin to fell a number trees which causes much commotion as the pigeons begin to fall to the ground. Other members of the groups quickly rush in to capture the squabs (Swatzler 2000:152). Pigeon time was a festive time of the year and members of the group will spend much time eating fresh squab as it was a special treat when their stored food from the previous autumn was beginning to run low (Swatzler 2000:152).
Corn planting and harvest
It is late spring we can envision a group of woman and older people tending the fields. In the previous spring a group of men entered the woodlands near the village and began the task of girdling the standing trees. Earlier this season the men returned and burned the underbrush which left the soft loam easy to maneuver for planting (Parker 1968:21). As the women enter the field to plant we can envision a social experience with much talking and laughter. Smoke emanating from the village is seen in the distance as the woman work. They begin planting the corn by excavating a series of holes or trenches about five or six feet distant each other. The earth is opened with a hoe about 4 inches deep at which time four or five grains are thrown in each hole and then covered with earth (Harris 1891).
By autumn the women return to the fields to pick the ripened corn. We can envision groups of women picking ears from the standing stalks and throwing the ears over shoulder into the waiting harvesting basket. Some cornstalks are being pulled by the roots and taken to the house where they are being piled for future husking (Parker 1968:31).
It is the warm summer season and members of the group not engaged in hunting are preparing to move to the river to set up camp sites to conduct tasks associated with fishing. Members of the group have been active traversing along the river observing favorite eddy’s that might contain the right amount of water during a time when the river was low (Swatzler 2000:154).
We now see the men building a large V-shaped stone weir across the downstream end of the eddy. Posts were then driven vertically into the riverbed next to one another forming a stockade and the weir itself served as a giant funnel in order to channel fish into the stockade (Swatzler 2000:154). As this task was being finalized the woman and children can be seen working along the shoreline cutting brush for a net which was stretched across the river at the upstream end of the eddy where groups had gathered with spears and clubs waiting for any fish that missed the weir or the net. Most fish fled downstream swimming into the weir which funneled them into the stockade where we can now envision the waiting woman and children clubbing and spearing the fish darting through the water (Swatzler 2000:155).
Small triangular points were recovered at all sites under discussion. These points were used to hunt various games species. Deer were said to be hunted with bows and arrows or traps (JR 26:313; JR 30:53; C 85 as cited by Tooker 1967:65). In this scene we are witness to a deer drive occurring in late fall. The leaves are in peak color and the winter chill is in the air.
Various members of the group have assembled themselves in an area known to be abundant for game including deer. The participants are lined up in the forest facing the river which occurs in the distance (Tooker 1967:65). With bows and arrows in hand the group proceeds through the forest shouting and making as much noise as possible. Several deer have been flushed out of hiding and are heading to the river. We can see several deer pass by the oncoming line of hunters and are shot while the others jump into the water with a loud splash. We now see canoes approaching the swimming deer which are being hit with a blade attached to a stick (C 60-61 as cited by Tooker 1967:65).
Ceramics were found at all four sites examined. The making of a clay pot was a task conducted by the woman of the group. Based on a description by Sagard in 1632 we can envision a group of woman gathered together kneading suitable earth which they have cleaned and mixed with a little sandstone before making a little ball of clay.
The faunal evidence detailed in Table 4 indicates tasks associated with hunting and trapping were being performed at all three sites listed. Of particular importance during the fur trade era would be the taking of beaver pelts. In this scene we are at a portion of a creek now ponded by beaver activity. We can see a series of dams skillfully located along the creek to trap the water. It is winter and the impoundment is iced over, dark gray clouds fill the air and the wind is moderately blowing. There are a number of poplar trees that have been cut down by the beaver and used for construction of their dams. The smell of the fresh cut poplar fills the air. The scene shifts to a stick built beaver den located near the center of the ponded creek. Here we see a group of men blocking the passages leading in and out of the den. They are breaking a hole in the ice and attempting to scare the beaver back to its house at which time upon approach the animal will be skillfully seized by the back of the neck and removed from the water (Tooker 1967:67). The hunt has been successful and the men can now prepare the pelt for transportation back to the village.
Smoking and ceremony
The McFate site, the Elk County earthworks, and the Smith site have all produced numerous pipes including some classic Iroquoian “trumpet pipes” (see Smith and Herbstritt 1976, Figure 6). The Iroquois believed that tobacco could give them a means for communication with the spirit world. By burning tobacco they could reach the Great Spirit to thank him for his blessings (Tooker 1967:80) following a successful day of hunting.
Following a long day of hunting in the forest the men have returned to the village for an evening ceremony. The spirits who resided in the earth, sky, rivers, lakes and elsewhere in nature exerted control of every aspect of human life (Trigger 1990:107) and as such would need appeased. It is dark and the stars are visible in the sky. We can envision members of the hunting party preparing for the ceremony by packing their trumpet pipe bowls with tobacco until the bowl was full. By obtaining fire from the hearth they light their pipes.
Within a short time a sensation of flying was experienced by those involved in the ceremony which put them in touch with the Sky World (Von Gernet and Timmins 1987:37). In a muffled tone the men begin to pray, “O Sky, here is what I offer thee in sacrifice; have pity on me, assist me.” (JR 10:159 as cited by Tooker 1967:80). Throughout the ceremony smoke can be seen slowly rising into the night air and the scent of burning tobacco can be smelled in the forest well beyond the confines of the stockade.
A dinner and thanks
Dutch Hill rock shelter produced a number of small triangular points and ceramic sherds found on the floor of the shelter along with a sundry of items associated with butchering and hide processing such as drills and scrapers. Excavations conducted at the rock shelter by the author produced evidence of a dinner consisting of bear as calcined molars were recovered during testing (AAR 2009). It would be reasonable to assume that the points had been cached on site for future use. But another scenario is extended here.
For a moment we can envision a small family unit sitting around a fire in the rock shelter. The early morning sun has comfortably dried the interior portion of the rock shelter leaving the shelter cool and dry. They have just finished a meal consisting of black bear and have gathered water in a clay pot from the nearby spring for drinking. Following the morning meal the group will proceed downriver by canoe conducting the tasks at hand and moving slowly closer to their homes in the French Creek valley.
Before they go we can see an older man deposit six small arrowheads and various tools in locations around the hearth as a form of sacrifice. This ritual appeases the bear who is pleased that the instruments of his death are not kept by the hunter (Parker 1918:36). As they prepare to go they leave a number of their distinctive ceramic pots cached against the shelter wall because this site is one of a number of sites located in their taskcape. Leaving familiar objects can form a sense of place for members of the group and can be used upon return when the time is right.
A funeral and burial
The McFate site produced a number of burials. All adults were buried in the flexed position and grave offerings including Marginella beads were found along with a possible funeral wrapping to cover the deceased (Burkett and Cunningham 1997:16). Ethnohistoric data observed in Huron villages produced the following scenes. We see a deceased man being placed in the flexed position in a crouching position similar to a child in its mother’s womb (Tooker 1967:125). Members of the group are wrapping the body tightly in his finest robe and placing him on the mat on which he had died. In witnessing the funeral we hear the mourners crying, groaning, and wailing to express their grief. Children are crying as if the deceased was their father and we hear the mother crying “my son, my son” (Tooker 1967:129). At this time the feast of souls was prepared with all members of the village attending as we see the chief passing through the houses announcing the death. Still more weeping is heard, but after enough time the chief said “it’s enough, stop weeping” and the weeping stopped (Tooker 1967:130).
A friend of the family has appeared to take care of its dead, coming as soon as possible to take charge of everything and to determine the day of the funeral. During the day of the funeral we see the mother or wife of the deceased man at the foot of the grave calling to the dead man with singing or frequently complaining in a lugubrious tone (Tooker 1967:130). The Huron believed that the soul did not immediately abandon the body after death. When the corpse was taken to the grave the soul walked in front and remained in the cemetery until the Feast of the Dead (Tooker 1967:134).
Here we see a scene unfolding as members of the group are gathering for the Feast of the Dead. It was believed that this feast was attended not only by the living but the dead as well. We can see a group of woman organizing the feast. The duty of maintaining friendly connection with the ancestors fell mainly on the woman who organized the feast, presided over it and performed dances to the attendant music of ohgiwe songs, the chants to the dead (Swatzler 2000:194). In witnessing the beginning of the feast we smell the scent of tobacco as a man is offering tobacco as an invocation and is inviting the dead to participate. We can now hear songs and dances and soon the group will feast on a communal meal (Swatzler 2000:194).
At the McFate site the men are seen digging a hole in the center of the man’s house. The body is being accompanied by a number of grave offerings including Marginella beads which are being prepared to accompany the soul into the afterlife. Sagard observed in Huronia that burial offerings had souls which depart to the next life to serve the soul of the deceased (Sagard-Théodat 1968:172). We can now see the body being placed in the house floor and covered. By now the soul had long since journeyed beyond this world to the afterlife.
This chapter has explored a number of tasks including some ceremonial events that may have occurred in the McFate taskscape. The site data has left us with glimpses of tasks and other events that could have occurred. This data was combined with enthohistoric accounts and then described in rich vivid text as if one were imbedded in the taskscape. In the final chapter the concluding thoughts will summarize the inquest of this research.
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION
This paper has explored the taskscape of the McFate. It has been argued that to accomplish this type of analysis that a compromise between two opposing genres should be employed. As such a blending of processual “observe and report” science was combined with phenomenological approaches to interpretation to generally recreate activities that may have taken place in the taskscape. In attempting to recreate these events we have used available data in the form of site reports, ethnohistoric accounts, and personal observation in order to describe in rich vivid text hypothetical situations that could have occurred.
This research was introduced with a review of Ingold’s concepts regarding inhabitation of a particular landscape during a specific period of time. In the course of dwelling people conduct certain tasks within a finite realm known as the taskscape. In many native cultures tasks were conducted seasonally based on available resources based on a sexual division of labor.
To define a taskscape a territorial sphere must be determined. For the McFate this has been defined based on the distribution of their distinctive ceramic forms found dispersed across the landscape which included portions of the Allegheny Plateau. This landscape offered a variety of resources found in two geographical settings including river bottom and uplands and included two basic forest types which provided inhabitants a variety of procurement opportunities.
The next step involved a review of the cultural development of the McFate. This was a crucial element of the research because recent studies have demonstrated that the McFate aligned with the Monongahela as witnessed by the Johnston Phase formed portions of the Massawomeck, a likely Iroquoian speaking group. This would place the McFate into the larger sphere of Iroquoia and as such may have practiced similar life patterns as other Iroquoian groups such as the Huron and Seneca visited by early European explorers. To lead into the taskscape of the McFate, a review of significant changes in native taskscapes from the Paleoindian period forward to Late Woodland times was presented. The taskscape changes over time as new technologies were adopted and innovations in the growing of food created differing tasks.
An analysis of available data in the form of site reports was then implemented. This research sought to observe many of the most obvious tasks the group likely conducted such as house construction and hunting, gathering, and fishing. It is the material culture left behind that evidences the tasks. The McFate site report included a description of findings that included a listing to tool types recovered and an analysis of pit features and their associated remains. A compilation of faunal data offered a variety of clues into many hunting and gathering tasks. Other site reports were limited in their scope of detail including the upland stockades and the rock shelter examined but each presented a number of tasks available for analysis.
Tasks were then recreated using ethnohistoric descriptions of events by describing them in rich vivid text as if a witness to a task or event. By employing a compromise between scientific methods found in basic site reports with the vivid rich text advocated by the archaeology of the senses we have been able to extend our thinking about a prehistoric way of life and as such validates the case for compromise and its use as an analytical tool.
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Dutch Hill Rockshelter Preliminary Report of Findings |
An Examination of Late Prehistoric McFate Trail Locations |
Testing at Indian Camp Run No. 2 |
Upland Bedrock Mortars and the Significance of Acorn as a Dietary Supplement in Marginal Landscapes |
Shenks Ferry Material Culture in the Ohio River Valley |
An Exploration of the McFate Taskscape: A Case for Compromise|
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