The Denton Reed II site was a seasonally reoccupied camp with the main periods of use during the Late Archaic (3100-2910 B.C.), Transitional (1500-1000 B.C.), and Early Woodland (1000 B.C. to A.D 0) Periods. The site was also used very briefly during the historic period (post-A.D. 1650). The site's chronology was determined using diagnostic material culture (projectile points and glass beads) and radiometric analysis. Dating of a charred nutshell from an amorphous charcoal stain produced a date range of A.D. 685-885, or well within the Middle Woodland Period or early Late Woodland Period. No associated Middle/Late Woodland style artifacts (triangular points or pottery) were recovered from the site, and an assessment of the stain's botanical remains (only coniferous wood), suggests a natural burn and not a cultural hearth feature.
Diagnostic material culture was recovered from the Denton Reed II site during the 2008 site examination, but none were found during the 2019 data recovery excavations. Projectile points include three Late Archaic variants (Bare Island, Normanskill, and Vestal), one Transitional Period point (Orient Fishtail or Dry Brook), and two Early Woodland points (Meadowood). Based on these point types the precontact chronology of the site probably extended from at least 2500 B.C. to 500 B.C.
Diagnostic projectile points from the Denton Reed II site
The glass trade bead assemblage is made up of 21 beads and bead fragments. All of the beads are of the wire-wound type, with oval and doughnut shapes present. Oval beads are evenly split between dark olive and milky white opaque glass. Doughnut-shaped beads were mainly of opaque glass, with one each of red, black, milky white, and dark olive colored glass. Transparent specimens included two lime green and eight aqua blue doughnut-shaped beads. A 2008 personal communication with scholar and bead expert Martha Sempowski (Rudler 2008b) helped place the Denton Reed II bead assemblage from the late-seventeenth to early-eighteenth centuries (ca. 1690-1725).
Example of glass trade beads found at the Denton Reed II site
