Archaeological investigations in the Maurice River tidewater area, New Jersey

Mounier, Robert Alan (1972) Archaeological investigations in the Maurice River tidewater area, New Jersey. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis concerns a prehistoric cultural sequence in the Maurice River tidewater area, New Jersey, as revealed by recent archaeological excavations on three small sites, coupled with data from previously investigated sites and surface collections. Excavation was restricted to single, closed components and distinctly stratified sites so that discrete, culturally significant assemblages could be isolated and defined. Data relating to subsistence patterns and ecological adaptation were collected where possible. The composite sequence was ordered within a chronological framework which was established by relative and absolute dating techniques. -- This study documents the lengthy and more or less continuous occupation of the lower Maurice River area beginning no later than Late Archaic times and terminating in the historic era. Our investigations demonstrate the presence of several Late Archaic Susquehanna tradition phases, the earliest of which was dated by means of radiocarbon analysis to c.1900 B.C, In addition two new complexes have been defined, viz., the Cadwalader complex and the Fralinger complex. The Cadwalader complex, probably first appearing about 750 B.C., relates to an Early Woodland group whose vestiges include broad side-notched projectile points, crude flat-bottom ceramic vessels, a variety of bone, antler, and shell tools, and large refuse deposits suggesting a well balanced hunting and gathering economy. On the Late Woodland time level, the Fralinger complex comprises small triangular points, plain, fabric-impressed, and cord-marked conoidal pottery, ceramic smoking pipes, and a few associated historic artifacts. -- Paleo-Indian, Early to Middle Archaic, and Middle Woodland manifestations are rather dimly perceived, being represented by a scattering of distinctive and presumably diagnostic artifacts. Accepting this inferential data, the advent of human occupancy in this area is pushed back several millennia. The proposed sequence is essentially complete and consonant with the current understanding of prehistory in the rest of the Northeast. -- This research has answered some of the long-standing problems of southern New Jersey archaeology and has also given rise to many others which still await elucidation.

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