The Shawnee Minisink site is located in northeastern Pennsylvania. Archeological records found that it was first inhabited around 10,500 years ago. It was excavated starting in the 1970’s by Don Kline, and later handed over to the Department of Anthropology at the American University.
Over 55,000 artifacts have been found all together. The site is about 3,900 square feet and is only around 25 percent of the total site. It is a very old archeological finding with evidence dating back to the Paleo-Indian period.
As for the Middle to Late Woodland times it was also very populated. During the Middle Woodland the carrying capacity was very large. There was an abundance of wood and plants. There was also evidence of early attempts at pottery. These usually had the Orient Fishtail point that came from Hopewell cultures. There was not any evidence of horticulture yet in this area. With the appearance of pottery though, it showed that these people were mainly sedentary. Most of these periods were very well stratified and excavation techniques such as flotation were used.
During the Late Woodland period more sherds were found around this site. The area had a cooling period and many of the trees stopped growing in this area. Horticulture was now found and was firmly established. Nuts were also found in abundance along with plant evidence. This fat from nuts was important to their diet, since fat was not found in much of their daily eating habits.
The evidence of their long houses was also found. They were up to 20m in length. This area was used by the Minsi or Munsee people. This site, Shawnee Minisink, is now called Minisink Flats.
This excavation was funded by the National Geographic and the National Science Foundation. The artifacts were given to the Smithsonian Institution from the landowner of the site after research had been conducted.
References:
http://www.american.edu/cas/anthro/shawnee_minisink_1.html
http://www.american.edu/cas/anthro/shawnee_minisink_2.html
Written by Tarah Bjorklund, 2004