Funk Foundation Fellowships for Archaeological Research

Awarded Spring 2004

Research Results [ Figure 1 ] [ Figure 2 ] [ Figure 3 ]

Carpenter Brook Revisited: A Study of Early Late Woodland Pottery
from the Carpenter Brook Site, Onondaga County, New York, by
Donald Smith, graduate student, University at Buffalo, State University
of New York (Paper presented at the 2004 Conference on Iroquois
Research)


Donald Smith received a Funk Fellowship for radiocarbon dating and study
of the Carpenter Brook site. Carpenter Brook has long been considered an
important example of sites of the first period of villages and agriculture,
predicted to have begun roughly about (cal.) 1100 AD. Carpenter Brook
pottery styles have been used to estimate the age of other, similar sites.
Smith’s research offers the first radiocarbon (AMS) dates for this site,
around (cal.) 943 and 1021 AD. These dates are earlier than expected and
change the estimates of site age based on these pottery styles. Carpenter
Brook is an unusual type of site, apparently a ceremonial midden. The site
was largely composed of broken pottery vessels and the remains of bear.
Interpretation of the site has previously emphasized bear ceremonialism, a
custom seen elsewhere in the Northeast. Smith has drawn on historic sources
and recent studies to offer an expanded site interpretation. He emphasizes
the importance of the numerous vessels at the site, viewing them as offerings
to spirits of the water. Donald Smith’s research offers new insights into the
nature of the finds at Carpenter Brook and provides new age determinations
for diagnostic pottery types found throughout the region.

The New York State Museum Institute — 3025 Cultural Education Center — Albany, NY 12230