Material Culture

Archaeologists recovered 33 precontact items of material culture from the site examination and data recovery investigations at Beaver Creek VI including a Meadowood point, 22 non-cortical flakes (1 heated or burned), 6 cortical flakes, 3 pieces of chunk or shatter (one utilized), and one Stage 3 bifacial tool fragment (also utilized). All were recovered from the Ap horizon. Archaeologists also recovered 296 historic artifacts throughout the reduced site boundaries. Of this total, 294 historic artifacts were recovered from the Ap horizon with the precontact artifacts, suggesting that plowing mixed the deposits. Two historic artifacts (two fragments of undifferentiated glass) were found in the B1 horizon. Archaeologists recovered nine fragments of bone or shell: eight cow bone fragments, and one fragment of shell, possibly mussel shell. 

All lithic materials are made from Onondaga chert. The Beaver Creek VI site’s lithic assemblage was smaller than that of other sites within the Unadilla headwaters region. When average numbers of lithic artifacts per unit are compared, the Beaver Creek VI site shows very low numbers of bifacially flaked tools as compared to other nearby sites. Debitage (or waste flakes) from the Beaver Creek VI site also had the second lowest rate of lithic utilization (such as using a flake as an expedient tool) of any of the nearby sites. When looking at Beaver Creek VI in isolation, it appears to fit the definition of a resource processing location. 

Meadowood Point

Meadowood projectile point recovered from the Beaver Creek VI site

Stage 3 Biface

Broken Stage 3 biface fragment recovered from the Beaver Creek VI site