The Allen's Creek site was identified by PAF crews in 1993 during a cultural resource reconnaissance survey (Lutins and Kastl 1993). Diagnostic artifacts placed the site temporally in the Late Archaic to the Transitional Archaic periods. Following the completion of the survey, PAF recommended a Phase 2 site examination, but since the project involved only the replacement of the sidewalk and nothing below the subbase, no further archaeological work was authorized.
In October 2005, NYSDOT asked PAF to assess potential impacts to the site as part of ongoing utility construction and road reconstruction. PAF recommended monitoring and data recovery excavation of any cultural deposits found for any work planned below NY 36 in the vicinity of the Allen's Creek site. However, after monitoring and feature excavations began, road reconstruction was delayed until a later date. The limited excavations and the amount of precontact material recovered from these excavations indicated that the Allen's Creek site represented a longer and more intense occupation than a short-term hunting/procurement camp. Intact precontact deposits were located as deep as 145 cm (57 in) below the surface, indicating that the Allen's Creek site would be impacted by any future utility placement and road reconstruction within the site boundaries. Therefore, PAF recommended that any further reconstruction of NY 36 within the road be preceded by archaeological testing and/or monitoring for cultural resources associated with the site. In April 2006, PAF proposed a data recovery plan to mitigate the effects of the proposed construction on the site (Hohman 2006). The archaeological monitoring and data recovery excavations of the Allen's Creek site took place in three stages during the period from October 2005 to October 2006.
Within the approximately 3,372 m2 (36,283 ft2) site area within the current project limits, crews excavated 219 shovel test pits (STPs), one 1 x 2 m (3.3 x 6.5 ft) unit, and 25 1 x 1 (3.3 x 3.3 ft) units, in addition to monitoring the excavation of 58 backhoe trenches.
