The Express from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania • Page 6

Page 6-Thursday, August 5, 1971-The Express, Lock Haven, Pa. Remains of 400-year-old i Indian village probed By DENNIS KULCHYCKI Express Staff Writer PINE The nature of human problems has changed very little over the centuries, says Ira F. Smith, a field archeologist and associate curator of the William Penn Memorial Museum in Harrisburg. Mr. Smith, a Williamsport native, made that observation recently as he and other archeologists uncovered what may be one of the largest finds of a Susquehannock Indian village in North Central Pennsylvania.

Standing at the excavation site on a hilltop field just outside the village of Pine, Mr. Smith said that the Susquehannock Indians lived in a stockade village here around 1550 A.D., but they experienced, on a smaller scale, many of the problems of modern man overcrowding, a dwindling food supply, invasions from neighboring tribes and garbage disposal problems. He pointed to a row of metal stakes driven into the hard, clay-like ground. "Each of those stakes driven into the round, discolored stains in the soil indicates what was once a pesthole for the stockade," he explained. The stakes form two long, arching lines about 50 to 70 feet in length at one end of the Indian village site.

The stockade was a pair of parallel walls a few feet apart. "The stockade was used for protection, to keep 'out invaders from other tribes," Mr. Smith said. Outside the length of the stockade is a wider discoloration in the soil. This discoloration is a ditch in which the Susquehannock dumped their refuse, Mr.

Smith explained. From the ditch area of the stockade, the archeolgists found remants of animal bone and fish, arrowheads and even the remains of two small infants, one of which probably was stillborn, Mr. Smith said. The Susquehannocks' practice of dumping their refuse into a ditch outside the village obviously parallels modern man's use of landfills to dispose of garbage. Inside the stockade, Mr.

Smith pointed out several circular patterns of discolorations where the Indians drove posf-holes for their "round houses," in which one or more families lived. Mr. Smith estimated that the stockade probably dates back to about 1550 A.D. One of the round houses may have been from an early Indian village located here at about 1400 A.D. Because of population pressures and dwindling game lands, the Susquehannocks, an Iroq- uoian speaking people, moved from New York State into the West Branch area between 1400 to 1500.

Eventually the Susquehannocks moved into Maryland, where they finally settled at Conestoga. An unsuccessful archeological expedition in 1929 by Dr. Thomas Stewart, a former Lock Haven dentist, prompted Mr. Smith and other state archeologists to believe that a Susque- hannock village might be found near Pine. Dr.

Stewart's expedition was largely unsuccessful because of the antiquated methods used to recover artifacts and the lack of good equipment, Mr. Smith said. When Mr. Smith and his group arrived three weeks ago at the hilltop site, they used a bulldozer to skim off the first layer of topsoil, 10 to 12 inches deep. This brought the site down to the clayish soil which retained evidence of the Susquehannock development.

Foot by foot, Mr. Smith and other archeologists dug through the soil, looking for artifacts. Much of what they found were pieces of information parts of skeletons, cooking utensils, arrowheads and other tools used by the Susquehannocks. After they conclude their excavation, they will recover the farmland, and then back in Harrisburg, at the historical museum, will come long winter months of work, analyzing the data. Mr.

Smith said that until he has the opportunity to study the artifacts found and the maps of the village, he cannot draw definite conclusions on how many Susquehannocks inhabited the village. From the data recovered at the Pine excavation, Mr. Smith said he hopes to gain insight into the travels and living habits of the Sus- quehannocks. Mr. Smith said he is "quite excited" about what has been found, thus far, at the village site.

Among those assisting in the excavation are Steven Warfel, of York, crew leader; Dana Ward, Chambersburg, Andy Jarvis, Lancaster, and Brice Little, Camp Hill. They are all state employees. Three other state employees who were on the job for about a week were Benjamin Love, Hershey; Daniel Kent, of York, and Charles Douts, Washington. Local volunteers working at the excavation are Leroy Young and Don Confer, both of Pine, and Steven Nicholas, of Avis. The excavation will be concluded Friday.

STOCKADE The metal stakes, driven into discolorations in the soil where pestholes once were, form two long lines in the background. This is believed to be the stockade built by Susquehannock Indians at about 1550 A.D. to protect the village located on a hilltop near Pine. The wide discoloration immediately in front of the first row of stakes is the ditch where the Indians dumped their refuse. The circular pattern of stakes was a "round house" built in an earlier Indian settlement about 1400 A.D.

(Express Photo) COLLECTING DATA Members of the archeological expedition from the State Historical Museum in Harrisburg are shown here using a transit to get precise data on the size and location of the Susquehannock Indian village found near Pine. The bulldozer in the background stripped the first 10 to 12 inches of topsoil to the clay-like subsoil where some Indian artifacts were preserved. (Express Photo) GRAVESITE This gravesite believed to be that of an infant Indian was found at the Susquehannock village near Pine. Although the skeleton is decomposed, several bones of the child were found. Another Indian child's bones was found nearby.

(Express Photo) INDIAN POTTERY This small piece of Indian pottery was found by archeologists within the confines of one of the "round houses" in the Susquehannock Indian village near Pine. (Express Photo).