Marbles Bottles and Toys Oh My Artifacts

alterations or transformations through long term immersion and chemical reactions in saltwater environs. Thus each of these specimens have been deduced to be varieties of ‘brown or yellow’ jasper; both show the perplexing shift in color from the original yellow brown, to black and darker greyish brown and green colors with telltale remnant patches and swirls of the original colorations. It is not known for certain, whether these jasper materials are local or non local but given the period and technological patterns of tool production in the Paleoindian episodes it is most likely that the materials are indeed primary source jaspers from the Reading Prong, Pa.

SPE CIMEN NO. 1

This biface is multiply fluted on both faces and reflects a sub lanceolate shape that exhibits an irregular margin, the result of retooling and use wear. The lower basal edges show light abrasion and dulling but this attribute is not apparent on the base. This biface appears well used and likely was left as a discard after its last functional use. There was no evidence of catalog numbering on this specimen. The biface measures 41.6 mm in length, 21.3 mm in width, and 5 mm thick. The basal indentation measures 1.5 mm long. It weighs 5 grams. The largest primary flute length and width are 34 mm and 10 mm respectively. The fluting channel scar thickness is 3 mm. The obverse face shows three channel flake scars; one is a primary detachment. with two overlapping secondary flute flake removals, detached sequentially right to left. The reverse face exhibits two fluting flake removals; a primary flake aligned centrally and a secondary removal aligned on the right, to widen the basal channel area. This face exhibits the longest fluting flake at 34mm. Marginal retouch is present on the right side. The remnant evidence of the manufacturing techniques show a range of both pressure and likely indirect percussion or pressure to prepare faces, edges and detach channel flakes. Clearly the type, style and manufacturing techniques are of the Middle Paleoindian Period. Ca. 8500 -8000 BC.

SPE CIMEN NO. 2

This bifaces is singly fluted on both faces and is more robust than Specimen NO. 1. It’s shape is of sub oval configuration that reflects severe use wear and distal damage from projectile impact stresses.

C ontinued on page 3

Archaeological Society

of New Jersey

Established 1931

Newsletter No. 258 January 2018

Richard Cook Collection-Fluted Points By Jack Cresson

During the recent analysis and assessment of the Richard Cook artifact collection from Lower Township, Cape May, Co. several examples of Paleoindian artifacts (fluted bifaces or points) were identified. It is presently unknown if these specimens were logged in the earlier efforts to record NJ Paleoindian fluted points. eg. either the Mason, K raft or Marshall surveys, but the effort in this report is to provide a follow up record and more detailed analysis of the artifacts in question.

The two specimens were found mounted adjacent to one another within the same display frame or panel labeled No. 13. These along with the majority of the artifact recoveries that comprise the Cook Collection (see ASNJ Newsletter, No. 256, May, 2017) were found along the Delaware Bay beaches of Lower Township, Cape May County.

The western margin of the Cape May peninsula lies adjacent to the ancient estuary of Dennis and Cedar Swamp creek and the southeastern ‘gut’ of the Delaware Bay: from Reeds Beach south to Cape May Point, beaches along these tidal waterways have long been known to reveal prehistoric artifacts washed up from submerged or inundated ‘sites’; or washed out of sites still extant.

The two artifacts are similar in style and type and both exhibit technological attributes that betray origins to the Middle Paleoindian episode in prehistory, observations reveal typical but unusual characteristics of certain lithic materials (silicates) to exhibit surface

ASNJ E XE CUTIVE BOARD

E lection Ballot at January 20, 2018

Meeting

2nd VP – MembershipLauren Lembo laurenlembo@ hotmail.com

3rd VP – ProgramsDarryl Daum ddaum3@ gmail.com

TreasurerSevrie Corson

Recording SecretaryCarolyn Cresson carolyncresson@ gmail.com

Newsletter E d./ Corr. Sec’ty Jesse Walker asnjnewsletter@ gmail.com

Bulletin E ditorRichard F. Veit rveit@ monmouth.edu

Webmaster/ Social MediaTabitha Hilliard tchilliard@ gmail.com

Happy 2018 and I hope your winter holiday season was full of hope, cheer, faith, joy, and love. We hope that new beginnings come with renewed support for New Jersey’s archaeological heritage and new challenges and opportunities.

It has been an honor to serve as ASNJ president from 2012-2014 and 2016-2018. There have been some great volunteer dig opportunities and other events, issuance of excellent ASNJ Bulletins, increase in membership, the initiation of the Sean Bratton Memorial Grant and memorial donations from the Cook and Flynn families and others. We have met at wonderful new venues in the state such as Tulpehaking in Hamilton Township and the Pinelands Commission. We have a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer board. We fund critical research in the state and would like to do even more with more support and more participation. Of course more is needed. We have a lot to proud of and a lot to strive to protect and preserve. Over 6,000 sites are registered with the New Jersey State Museum but we still have many more to register and to learn about.

So many people ask us - what archaeological resources could possibly exist in New Jersey? What indeed? How about 12,000 years of Native American occupation including major Paleo-Indian sites, evidence of long range trade, manifestations of the Midwestern centered Adena complex, vast evidence of shell fish harvesting, 17th century Contact? How about Dutch, Swedish, and E nglish settlement, early colonial development, decisive Revolutionary War battles, early industry, the Morris Canal and Delaware and Raritan Canal, the first electric lights and electric grid, the Movie industry? How about free African American villages and towns? We need to continue to let people know about our rich heritage with talks and publications while we explore this heritage.

I am pleased to be able to support the candidacy of Michael Gall for the ASNJ presidency. Mike is one of the state’s most talented, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic archaeologists and my friend and colleague. Mike has been the ASNJ treasurer for several years. He organized the well-attended September 2017 volunteer dig at E dison's Menlo Park Home with Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission. Mike brings years of experience, dedication, and hard work to the position. Please come out to our January meeting and vote for the excellent slate of candidates. You may also request an absentee ballot from the membership coordinator prior to the meeting (contact Lauren Lembo at laurenlembo@ hotmail.com).

The ASNJ was founded in 1931 to support archaeological knowledge in the state – how well we do that depends a lot on our membership. So please get involved – run for board positions and volunteer, write for the newsletter, bulletin, or post on our Facebook or twitter, come to meetings, events, and digs, read about archaeology in the bulletin and newsletter, and speak about archaeology in your town and to your elected officials. Stay tuned to hear more about upcoming events and let us know what you want the society to do!

Feel free to stay in touch with me in the future. And best wishes. Ilene Grossman-Bailey, President

A Publication of the Ar chaeological Society of New Jer sey Established 1931 ISSN 095 –6337I ASNJ RE SE ARCH GRANTS (UP TO $700)

2019 DE ADLINE IS JUNE 30, 2018

Potential applicants should contact Jack Cresson,

knapperjack@ gmail.com or

40 E . 2nd Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057 for full details including the grant guidelines &

ASNJ Bulletin Update By Richard Viet, Ph D.

The 2012-2015 (Vols. 68-70) edition of the Bulletin is at the printer and should be mailed soon. This is a special edition on the archaeology of the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark. It includes articles by Stewart and Obermeyer, as well as Greg Lattanzi, Robert Grumet, and Andrew Martin. It weighs in at 225 pages and will be the largest Bulletin in recent memory. We hope to have it to you before the January meeting

The Abbott Farm volume will be followed by a general issue, also sizeable, with articles on topics ranging from Paleo-Indian projectile points to 17th-century town planning. Authors include: Marshall Becker, Matthew Boulanger, Jack Cresson, Michael Gall, Chris Hummer, George Leader, Greg Lattanzi, Alan Mounier, and Drew Stanzeski. Based on the amount of material, this will likely be a double issue (2016-2017), which will get us almost caught up.

Next on the docket is a volume focused on Archaic triangle points edited by R. Michael Stewart. It will be a major contribution. We are also looking at publishing Dick Regensburg’s Savich Farm monograph.

We are always looking for good copy for future Bulletins so please consider submitting an article for consideration. Site reports, synthetic pieces, case studies, and artifact articles are all welcome. The review process is straightforward. Our goal is to share the latest scholarship on New Jersey’s archaeological heritage with the broadest possible readership. Articles for consideration should be submitted electronically as Word documents with minimal formatting. Please send articles as Word documents with accompanying image files to Richard Veitrveit@ monmouth.edu; Dept. of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898; Phone: 732-263-5699

Apply for the Sean Bratton Memorial Research Fund

The Sean Bratton Memorial Research Fund celebrates the life and contributions of Sean Bratton, an outstanding field archaeologist and mentor, who enjoyed hearing about regional research and applying insights from new research to his own work. The fund will provide up to two (2) yearly research grants/scholarships to students or working professional archaeologists who are conducting original archaeological research on New Jersey topics. Assuming sufficient funds are available and if there are appropriate applications, one grant will be awarded for research based in prehistoric archaeology and one grant will be awarded for research based in historic archaeology. Applicants should be ASNJ members in good standing on the student or individual level. Each grant will consist of $400.00 to support original research, publication of the results of research in the ASNJ bulletin, presentation to the ASNJ within a year of the award, and presentation to a regional conference as applicable. The grant will be awarded annually at the society’s October meeting and formally presented in January and will be announced in the newsletter and social media. The grant committee will solicit applications from undergraduate and graduate students and young professionals employed in the region. The application will include a brief cover letter summarizing the proposed research, a CV, and at least one letter of recommendation from a professor, supervisor, or associate. Grant applications will be due via email to ilenebailey36@ gmail.com by 5/21/18 and will be awarded by the following October. G rantees will present their research to a meeting of the ASNJ by the following January or when scheduled by the program chair.

C ontinued from Page 1

Like Specimen No. 1 this biface appears well used and left as a discard after its last functioning use, In this instance, clearly as a projectile, ostensibly in hunting pursuits. The lateral lower biface margins and base reveal moderate dulling. Also and unlike Specimen No.1 there is a remnant catalog number, 949 written in black ink on the reverse face. It is unfortunate the Cook Collection catalog was not found among the bequeathed materials to the Greater Cape May County Historical Society and Nature Center.

Smith Collection by Jack Cresson

In April 2017 I was contacted by an heir of Richard Smith, about a small cache of prehistoric artifacts found by ASNJ member Richard Smith in 1962 during a construction project in Hamilton Township, NJ on a parcel of land known then as the Pitman Tract near the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark. The cache of eight items was apparently part of a larger grouping of so-called ‘cache blades’ that were unearthed at the time and were in the possession of the finders heir. I was tasked to make an assessment and evaluation of these eight prehistoric artifacts with the ultimate purpose that they be donated to the NJ State Museum.

The specifications of the eight items are included below; one through five are the ‘cache blades’, 6 through 8 are three formalized specimens that were thought to have been among the context of the cache blades. The photo background scale is ¼ ”,( four squares to the inch).

No. 3- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (110 grams), 12 cm (4.¾ ”) long, 6.8 cm (2.11/16”) wide and 1.1cm ( ”) thick. No. 4- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (128 grams), 13.1cm (5.3/16”)long, 6.4 cm (2.½ ”)wide and 1.2 cm (½ ”) thick. Apparently based on eyewitness accounts these five specimens were once part of another of the documented larger caches uncovered during house lot clearing and foundation excavations in 1962.

T he Infamous A bbott F arm F inds of July 1 9 62

During this summer of ‘62’ a cache of very large bifaces was unearthed on July 25th during the clearing of a house lot in the so-called Pitman Tract.

This find set in motion a melee of ‘digging’ at the location for a several days which created a maelstrom of public attention and ultimately led to the discovery of several more caches and the participation of the NJ State Museum involving Dr. Dorothy Cross.

Based on newspaper accounts and informant interviews there were at least two large caches and several smaller cache groupings discovered during this time. Many ASNJ members took part in the salvaging of cache features and artifacts over these several days of frantic digging and screening in advance of construction deadlines. Some of these personalities include Matt Horvath who was involved in the Steward cache excavation, Mrs. William Struve and her young son, E dwin Struve, Mr. Anthony Baker, Mr. Anderw Stanzeski, and Mr. and Mrs Leon Van Sant.

S teward C ache

The first and most spectacular cache of 37 items include 35 very large biface ‘blades’ of argillite, a large celt and a hammerstone were unearthed by the bulldozer operator, Mr. Sam Steward. At the time ASNJ member Mathew Horvath was in the area looking for artifacts and was alerted to the find by Steward. The two men worked together to fully unearthed the cache. According to Dorothy Cross, the ‘cache blades’ were the largest known from NJ. The specimens averaged 9 inches long and 5 inches wide and were very robust lanceolate forms showing strong percussion reduction techniques, apparently executed with soft mineral hammers. The celt, of an unknown material, measured near 12” long was also found.Continued on page 7

In summary, the quality and character of the five argillite early stage bifaces (primary quarry bifaces) are characteristic to the Middle Woodland Fox Creek Phase ca. 100 BC to 700 AD. The three examples of formalized ‘stemmed’ bifaces represent items that may or may not have been part of the primary cache deposit. These specimens, also of argillitic materials, represent tool and weapon forms that were in vogue a thousand years earlier in the Late Archaic/E arly Woodland period, ca 3000 to 700 BC. However, specimen number 6, a broadly side notched ‘point’ of an unusual argillite material (light grey to white) is indeed suspected to have been related to Middle Woodland provenience and associated with the cache.

PAGE 5 Marble, Bottles, and Toys, Oh My!: Artifacts from the Thomas E dison House Site in Menlo Park, NJ

Michael J. Gall

In July and September 2017, the Archaeological Society of New Jersey (ASNJ) conducted fieldwork for a public archaeological and research study on the site of Thomas Edison’s former residence in Menlo Park, Edison Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. The study was completed through funding provided by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders with dozens of volunteers as a collaborative effort with the Middlesex County Office of Culture and Heritage (MCOCH) and the Thomas A. E dison Center at Menlo Park (TAE CMP). The property formerly contained a dwelling with an attached kitchen wing, a windmill, and large two-story carriage house. Focus of the study was in the area of the former home, which stood from circa 1868 to 1924. The kitchen wing was severely damaged or destroyed by fire between 1922 and 1923. The study sought to determine if intact cultural features and deposits exist associated with the E dison family.

Research indicates that the former house stood on a rectangular parcel and initially served as the Menlo Park Homestead Association model house and office from circa 1868 to late 1875. Inventor Thomas E dison purchased the residence as his family home on December 29, 1875. The E dison family resided in the dwelling until 1882, after which time it was used as a part-time residence. There, Thomas resided with his wife Mary, who passed away in the home in 1884 while in her late ‘20s. The E dison household also included Thomas and Mary’s children: Marion, Thomas, Jr., and William Leslie; extended family members; and two African American domestic servants (United States Census Bureau 1880; Israel 1998:122). The property was incorporated into Thomas E dison’s outdoor incandescent light and electrical generation system experiments in late 1879 and early 1880.

On January 31, 1894, Thomas sold the residence to his daughter Marion, who later conveyed it to Trustee Charles B. Elliott (MCCO 1894, 1903). Charles may have been a distant relative of Thomas Edison, whose mother’s maiden name was E lliott. Like Thomas, Charles was also an inventor. In 1892, Elliott receive a patent (No. 487,213) for an incandescent lamp socket, a patent (No. 476,192) for a hanger used in electric railway wires, and a swivel pull-off for overhead wires (No. 476,193) (Anonymous 1892a:292, 1892b:31). In 1903, after purchasing the former E dison residence, Elliott received another patent for a rubber playing ball (No. 731,026) (Pearson and Hill 1903:386). Following his patent, E lliott founded the Purete Rubber Company, incorporated in New Brunswick on November 6, 1903, which was to manufacture “pure gum dress shields, golf balls, and India Rubber and Gutta-percha sundries” along present-day Rt. 27 in Menlo Park just a short distance from his home (Secretary of State, 1914:583; Pearson 1903:283, 320). The rubber company was later known as the Elliott Manufacturing Company (Daily Home News 1916). The Elliotts sold their Menlo Park residence in 1905, possibly due to financial troubles and large, burdensome mortgages, and repurchased the parcel in 1915. The family resided on the lot as owners and tenants until Charles’ death in 1915, after which time the parcel was leased to the Lowman family, which purchased the tract from Charles E lliott’s widow, Eva, in 1922. Electrical Testing Laboratories purchased the lot and likely razed the former Edison home in 1924.

Archaeological excavations in 2017 included the excavation of 19 shovel test pits (STPs) on a 25-foot interval grid, one off-set two-foot square STP, and two units each measuring four-feet square. In total, two prehistoric and 2,351 historic artifacts were found at the Thomas Edison House Site (28-Mi-272). Intact brick and stone foundation remains to the former Edison house were identified, as well as burnt deposits associated with the kitchen wing and side yard cultural deposits.

PAGE 6

C ontinued from page 5

a toy tea set as they imagined life as adults, and Mary E dison wearing an elegant dress adorned with a stylized cut glass pendant.

Excavations in the two-foot square STP adjacent to the east or front wall of the out kitchen in an area formerly covered by a front porch yielded 667 historic artifacts, most of which are glass vessel fragments. Close examination of the material revealed a minimum of two ceramic vessels and 54 glass vessels are represented (Figure 4). Of these, one beer bottle, manufactured between 1903 and 1906 by William Stramm and William Holzworth in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was found, suggesting the deposit dates to the Elliott family occupation period (Anonymous 2011). Sixteen Rubsam and Hormann Brewing Company bottles made in Staten Island were found. In addition, 1 beer, 1 medicine, 1 square, and 1 brandy bottle; 1 mug or pitcher; 1 jar; 2 amethyst and 2 alcohol bottles, 4 cups; and 22 non-descript bottles are represented. The data reveal that during the early 20th

century, likely during the Elliott family tenure, numerous alcohol bottles, along with a very low number of broken kitchenware, were discarded below the kitchen wing’s porch. The space below the porch may have served as a convenient location to secretly dispose large quantities of alcohol bottles. Alternatively, the space below the porch may have also served as a convenient place to discard bottle and glass ware in general. Excavations at the Thomas Edison House site reveal the potential for additional cultural features associated with the various families who resided on the property, and historic documents indicate the parcel has the potential to contain features associated with Edison’s underground wiring system associated with the 1879 and 1880 incandescent lighting experiment. Completion of the report detailing the results of the archaeological study is expected in early 2018. The assistance of all volunteers, the ASNJ, MCOCH, TAE CMP, E dison Township, State of New Jersey, and Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders is greatly appreciated. Members of the public who visited the site are thanked for their curiosity and interest in the project. Artifacts will be transferred to the MCOCH. Contact author for references. Figs 2-4 by Allison Gall F igure 1:Reverse of

burnt, fragmented marble mantle or fireplace surround. Note the probable residue of burnt wallpaper decoration in the area circled in yellow.

F igure 2: Artifacts found in Unit 1, Fill 3, Level . Left: burnt marble door knob. Top Row, cork, porcelain female figurine head, two oyster buttons; Bottom Row, two bone buttons, two oyster buttons.

Figure 3: Jar canning lid liner; Top Row: prosser button, black glass pendant, clothing clasp; Bottom Row: medicine bottle, white clay pipe bowl.

F ig 4:

PAGE 7

Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Pinelands Commission

Meeting date: Saturday January 20, 2018

Location: The New Jersey State Museum (Auditorium), 205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ

10:00am – 11:30am Board Meeting (Auditorium), All are welcome

11:30 – 12:00 Elections and Awards (Auditorium) 12:00 – 1:00 Break for Lunch (On your own) Lecture Series (Auditorium)

1:00 – 1:15 Presidents Welcome

1:15 – 1:35 “Not Unmindful of the Unfortunate”: Giving Voice to the Forgotten through Archaeology at the Orange Valley Slave Hospital, Trelawny, Jamaica. Authored by: Richard Veit, Nicky Kelly and Sean McHugh

Presented by: Richard Veit, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Monmouth University 1:35 – 1:55 “Down by the River – Archaeological Investigations in South Camden” Presented by: Ilene Grossman-Bailey, Senior Archaeologist, Richard Grubb and Associates 1:55 – 2:15 “A Steatite Turtle Effigy Pipe from New Jersey” Presented by: Sevrie Corson, RPA 2:15 – 4:00 Artifact Identification: bring your artifacts in to discuss and be identified (Auditorium) Free Parking behind museum and in parking area next to museum.

For more information, contact Darryl Daumddaum3@gmail.com

Membership Report 12-22-2017:The ASNJ has 299 current members. Memberships include 35 Families,

17 Institutions, 20 Students, 139 Individuals, 15 Sustaining, 52 Life Members, 1 Corporate and 20

Organizations. L auren L embo- V. P . M embershi p

C ontinued from page 4 S mith C ache

The second cache later found by Richard Smith in an area about 50 yards from the initial Steward find contained 26 moderately large primary quarry argillite biface ‘blades’ and a few ancillary items among which were ceramics. There is no mention of any finished items however this cache remnant, the impetus of this research contained three formalized bifaces.

Other C ache F inds:At least three other caches were found in the Pitman Tract. These were smaller argillite biface cache of less than 10 specimens. Six items seem to be a dominate pattern. Andrew Stanzeski found one with six argillite items all of formalized Fox Creek types near E xcavation 3, off Julia Ave.

A NJSM associate named John Shourling found a six specimen biface cache similar to the Smith forms. One of these was measured at 6.25 inches long, 2 7/8 inches wide and a half inch thick and Mr. Leon VanSant uncovered another primary quarry biface cache of six “blades” near E xcavation 6 at the Abbott Farm. The photograph of the Steward cache supplied by A. Stanzeski shows a very impressive assemblage of the large blades, the celt and the hammerstone.

TRE ASURE R’S RE PORT 12/ 23/ 2017

PNC Bank Checking Account: $12,839.52

ING Savings Account: $44,406.78

by Mike Gall, Treasurer

No. 5- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (102 grams), 11.9 cms (4.11/16”) long, 5.5 cm (2.3/16”) wide and 1.1cm (7/16”) thick. No. 6- Very light grey Lockatong argillite (14 grams), 6.8 cm (2.11/16”) long, 2.9 cm (1. ”) wide.

PAGE 8

Archaeological Society of New Jersey

New Jersey State Museum

Bureau of Archaeology & Ethnography

205 West State Street

PO Box 530

Trenton, NJ 08625-0530

First Class Mail

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY Membership Application

Active... $25.00 Institutional...$30.00 Family...$30.00 Student*...$20.00 Sustaining...$35.00 Corporate...$100.00

Life...$1000.00 *Student Membership requires a photocopy of a valid Student ID.

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Make checks payable to: Archaeological Society of New Jersey and return to: ASNJ c/o Michael Gall, 119 South Main Street, Medford, NJ 08055