Reports on Tivoli Bays

Robert E. Funk, State Archaeologist Emeritus for New York, compared his decades-long research along the Susquehanna River west of the Catkills, with a multi-year project on Fisher's Island, near Connecticut, and discoveries at the Tivolli Bays [near site 63 on his map, left].

Explored initially in 1988, upon discovery by a colleague at the NY State Museum, the low-lying terrace received additional research in two senior projects, a field school, and four seasons of the autumn field methods course. Students may soon return in tutorials on the stratigraphy of this campsite, 1400-years-old based on its pottery and spearpoints.

Soil from 12 pits was dissolved to retrieve charred botanical and microfaunal remains. Huckleberry seeds occurred frequently and hazelnut shells were present, among the hickory and acorns. The 2nd link below magnifies the resultant exhibit, left, that includes dig pictures, with a perch scale and a sturgeon scute in close-up.

Mary Burns did her Goat Island thesis in Bard's Graduate School of Environmental Studies, which  she then edited as this report for the Hudson River Estuary Program grant project. She has continued as steward of sites on the island, efforts garnering recognition from the NY Times and the Preservation League of NY State.