Environmental and Cultural Context

The Broome Tech site lies adjacent to an old channel of the Chenango River, approximately 4.8 km (3 mi) north of its juncture with the Susquehanna River. The site is on a glacial terrace and its adjacent floodplain. Portions of the Chenango River were artificially channeled and redirected during the construction of I-81 in the 1970s, but the river's original configuration around Nash Island showed a meander just east of the site.

 Test Description
The Broome Tech site lies adjacent to an old channel of the Chenango River, approximately 4.8 km (3 mi) north of its juncture with the Susquehanna River.

The Broome Tech site is situated in a locale with easy access to a variety of resources, including river meanders, wetlands, diverse forest/vegetation communities with numerous nut species, and large tracts of land with highly productive soils. Branching off from the Chenango River are numerous tributary streams. In addition, the lower Chenango Valley contains several kettle hole ponds, including Cutler Pond to the southwest of the Broome Tech site. These kettle holes are large water-filled depressions in the landscape marking the location of remnant glacial ice blocks that later melted in place. The site is located immediately adjacent to an oblong-shaped wetland, likely made from an abandoned early channel of the Chenango River. The diversity and abundance of these valued natural resources made this area an attractive place for repeated seasonal and long-term uses of the site during prehistory.