Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies

The First Pennsylvanians—an overview of the Indian occupation of the state from the terminal Pleistocene to early contact with Europeans—is written for the public, including young readers. That is singularly appropriate because public funding of archaeological work has contributed much to our understanding of Pennsylvania's deep history. Nationwide, such investigations have become commonplace over the past several decades, but in Pennsylvania substantial governmental involvement in archaeological research dates to Great Depression work-relief programs. Those surveys and excavations have been complemented by the work of many university and museum archaeologists, as well as amateurs. We now have a picture of the distant past that is simultaneously crystal clear and frustratingly opaque, depending on what is of interest, when it took place, and where it occurred.

The authors fully embrace the existence of a controversial pre-Clovis horizon, which is said to have lasted for several millennia until about 11,200 Before Present (BP). That is not surprising because one of the best-documented early sites in the northeast, Meadowcroft Rockshelter, is in southwestern Pennsylvania. In contrast to sparse information about a pre-Clovis presence in unglaciated North America, Clovis and later Paleoindians, extending to as recently as 10,000 BP, are known from many distinctive fluted spear points and a number of campsites once occupied by small groups. The dating of this early human presence in Pennsylvania and elsewhere varies from one publication to the next, and that is also true of later cultural developments. Such differences result from regional variation in the nature and pace of changes in ways of life, as well as the artifacts used to separate cultural horizons. Criteria used to accept radiocarbon dates from organic materials, which often come from equivocal contexts, are not always the same, and individual estimates vary in accuracy and precision because dating methods have improved over time.

Much better documented are Archaic (10,000–4,300 BP), Transitional (4,300–2,700 BP), Woodland (2,700–500 BP), and Contact (500–300 BP) period occupations. From beginning to end, these peoples hunted game, fished, and gathered wild plants. A few native plants that produce abundant [End Page 130] edible seeds were cultivated early in the Woodland period, and after about 1,100 BP Late Woodland diets increasingly focused on maize, squash, and beans. The size, permanence, and distribution of settlements changed accordingly. By the Late Woodland period, many people were living in long-occupied villages, often surrounded by defensive palisades. The extent of contact with groups beyond Pennsylvania's borders varied over time, perhaps most notably with the exchange of symbolically meaningful artifacts and the construction of burial mounds during the first part of the Middle Woodland period (2,100–1,100 BP).

Regardless of how reasonable a book centered on Pennsylvania might appear to us today, for the distant past the state's boundaries might be likened to a cookie-cutter shoved uncomfortably onto ever-changing natural and cultural landscapes. During the Late Woodland period, archaeologically separable ways of life were pursued in the state's eastern, central, and western river drainages. Such cultural distinctions, although they were spatially different, were present as early as the Archaic period. They probably date back even further in time, considering the geographical distribution of Paleoindian tools fashioned from different types of stone. It would make more sense to tailor archaeological coverages to natural or cultural areas instead of modern political entities However, that is not how academic or cultural resource management work is structured, governmental funding is allocated, regional data are organized and maintained (e.g., state site files), or citizen interest is oriented.

Professional archaeologists will especially like the book's many maps showing statewide distributions of sites dating to different periods. From these maps, it is possible to gain some appreciation of geographical and temporal variation in occupation. As is true throughout eastern North America, settlements were concentrated near rivers. Site distributions also reflect unevenness in archaeological attention and a differential occupation of an environmentally diverse state. Developing such broad-brush views of land use represents one of the greatest, and potentially most rewarding, challenges for archaeologists in the coming decades. Much of what is of interest about how groups interact—notably population movement, trade, and warfare, all covered in this book—are best understood by looking at geographical areas that range up to, and often far beyond, the borders of present-day states.

Short stories that illustrate life in the past are sure to engage young readers. Pairing these narratives with their evidentiary basis would be an excellent way [End Page 131] for teachers to stimulate classroom discussions focusing on how inferences about past peoples are derived from a mix of archaeological data, historical accounts, and ethnographic sources. Some of that information, especially archaeological and historical details, are specific to local areas, whereas ethnographic material is typically drawn from many parts of the world.

Adult readers will find much of interest in extended treatments of what archaeologists examine, how those materials are collected, and why they are studied. One such example is Stephen Warfel's essay on how archaeological data complement what can be gleaned from historical documents. The biased nature of all such sources of information, archaeological as well as historical, is a good place to start students thinking about how archaeologists build evidence-based perspectives on past societies and why they changed over time.

The book's temporal coverage is brought up to the present by Robert Winters, a Shawnee, in an essay that reminds readers that Indian cultures are not simply a thing of the past. His experience as an Indian in the twenty-first century and archaeology's role in promoting greater cultural understanding are messages all of us in contemporary America should think deeply about.

The authors, and the other contributors, are to be congratulated for achieving the near impossible: a book that everyone from young readers to professional archaeologists will find enjoyable and rewarding to read. They nicely balance the challenges of making sense of the archaeological record with what is now known about Pennsylvania's rich cultural heritage extending many millennia into the past.