The Rochester Museum and Science Center (RMSC) is the repository for about half of the assemblages from the New York sites in our project. Thanks to the amazing staff at RMSC, who approved our request to conduct radiocarbon dating and consistently facilitated our research, we have finished collecting all of our samples from RMSC.
Samantha, a research assistant with our Cornell team, has been traveling to Rochester over the last few months to collect data for radiocarbon sample selection. After piecing together information from site maps, RMSC site files, primary artifact files, and field notes, Samantha selected samples that will provide the most amount of information for our project. During subsequent visits, she assessed the condition of the samples and made sure that enough organic material from these specific contexts would remain in RMSC collections for future archaeological projects. Lastly, Samantha made one last round of visits to Rochester in order to collect the samples and bring them back to Cornell for further analysis. After which point, the samples will be sent off to the lab for radiocarbon dating!
It was incredible seeing the massive amount of organics recovered from some of the sites (see the gallon-sized bag full of carbonized beans from the Alhart site, pictured below) and it was fascinating learning more about how past peoples lived. The Alhart beans were recovered from a rectangular underground storage pit. The pit housed two bark barrels full of beans surrounded by corn cobs and contained a wooden ladle sitting on top of one of the barrels of beans – how cool!
Next, Samantha will travel to Albany to visit the New York State Museum.
Dating Iroquoia 