Marbles Bottles and Toys Oh My Artifacts
Newsletter of the
Archaeological Society
of New Jersey
Established 1931
Newsletter No. 258
Richard Cook Collection-Fluted Points
By Jack Cresson
During the recent analysis and assessment of the
Richard Cook artifact collection from Lower Township,
Cape May, Co. several examples of Paleoindian artifacts
(fluted bifaces or points) were identified. It is presently
unknown if these specimens were logged in the earlier
efforts to record NJ Paleoindian fluted points. eg. either
the Mason, K raft or Marshall surveys, but the effort in this
report is to provide a follow up record and more detailed
analysis of the artifacts in question.
The two specimens were found mounted adjacent to
one another within the same display frame or panel
labeled No. 13. These along with the majority of the
artifact recoveries that comprise the Cook Collection (see
ASNJ Newsletter, No. 256, May, 2017) were found along
the Delaware Bay beaches of Lower Township, Cape May
County.
The western margin of the Cape May peninsula lies
adjacent to the ancient estuary of Dennis and Cedar
Swamp creek and the southeastern ‘gut’ of the Delaware
Bay: from Reeds Beach south to Cape May Point, beaches
along these tidal waterways have long been known to
reveal prehistoric artifacts washed up from submerged or
inundated ‘sites’; or washed out of sites still extant.
The two artifacts are similar in style and type and
both exhibit technological attributes that betray origins to
the Middle Paleoindian episode in prehistory, observations
reveal typical but unusual characteristics of certain lithic
materials (silicates) to exhibit surface
or transformations through long
term immersion and chemical reactions in
saltwater environs.
alterations
January 2018
alterations or transformations through long term
immersion and chemical reactions in saltwater environs.
Thus each of these specimens have been deduced to be
varieties of ‘brown or yellow’ jasper; both show the
perplexing shift in color from the original yellow brown,
to black and darker greyish brown and green colors with
telltale remnant patches and swirls of the original
colorations. It is not known for certain, whether these
jasper materials are local or non local but given the period
and technological patterns of tool production in the
Paleoindian episodes it is most likely that the materials are
indeed primary source jaspers from the Reading Prong,
Pa.
SPE CIMEN NO. 1
This biface is multiply fluted on both faces and
reflects a sub lanceolate shape that exhibits an irregular
margin, the result of retooling and use wear. The lower
basal edges show light abrasion and dulling but this
attribute is not apparent on the base. This biface appears
well used and likely was left as a discard after its last
functional use. There was no evidence of catalog
numbering on this specimen. The biface measures 41.6
mm in length, 21.3 mm in width, and 5 mm thick. The
basal indentation measures 1.5 mm long. It weighs 5
grams. The largest primary flute length and width are 34
mm and 10 mm respectively. The fluting channel scar
thickness is 3 mm. The obverse face shows three channel
flake scars; one is a primary detachment. with two
overlapping secondary flute flake removals, detached
sequentially right to left. The reverse face exhibits two
fluting flake removals; a primary flake aligned centrally
and a secondary removal aligned on the right, to widen
the basal channel area. This face exhibits the longest
fluting flake at 34mm. Marginal retouch is present on the
right side. The remnant evidence of the manufacturing
techniques show a range of both pressure and likely
indirect percussion or pressure to prepare faces, edges and
detach channel flakes. Clearly the type, style and
manufacturing techniques are of the Middle Paleoindian
Period. Ca. 8500 -8000 BC.
SPE CIMEN NO. 2
This bifaces is singly fluted on both faces and is more
robust than Specimen NO. 1. It’s shape is of sub oval
configuration that reflects severe use wear and distal
damage from projectile impact stresses.
C ontinued on page 3
PAGE 1
Newsletter No. 258
ASNJ E XE CUTIVE BOARD
E lection Ballot at January 20, 2018
Meeting
President Michael J. Gall
mjgall79@ yahoo.com
1st VP – E d./ PR/ E SAF Representative
David Mudge
arkydave@ aol.com
2nd VP – Membership Lauren Lembo
laurenlembo@ hotmail.com
3rd VP – Programs Darryl Daum
ddaum3@ gmail.com
Treasurer Sevrie Corson
Recording Secretary Carolyn Cresson
carolyncresson@ gmail.com
Newsletter E d./ Corr. Sec’ty Jesse Walker
asnjnewsletter@ gmail.com
Bulletin E ditor Richard F. Veit
rveit@ monmouth.edu
Webmaster/ Social Media Tabitha Hilliard
tchilliard@ gmail.com
Members-At-Large
Jack Cresson
Jim Lee
Kimberly Keene
Matthew Tomaso
Sean McHugh
Steve Santucci
ASNJ RE SE ARCH GRANTS (UP TO $700)
2019 DE ADLINE IS JUNE 30, 2018
Potential applicants should contact Jack Cresson,
knapperjack@ gmail.com or
40 E . 2nd Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057 for full
details including the grant guidelines &
requirements
January 2018
PRESIDENT'S LETTER
Dear fellow ASNJ members:
Happy 2018 and I hope your winter holiday season was full of
hope, cheer, faith, joy, and love. We hope that new beginnings come
with renewed support for New Jersey’s archaeological heritage and
new challenges and opportunities.
It has been an honor to serve as ASNJ president from 20122014 and 2016-2018. There have been some great volunteer dig
opportunities and other events, issuance of excellent ASNJ Bulletins,
increase in membership, the initiation of the Sean Bratton Memorial
Grant and memorial donations from the Cook and Flynn families
and others. We have met at wonderful new venues in the state such
as Tulpehaking in Hamilton Township and the Pinelands
Commission. We have a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer board.
We fund critical research in the state and would like to do even more
with more support and more participation. Of course more is
needed. We have a lot to proud of and a lot to strive to protect and
preserve. Over 6,000 sites are registered with the New Jersey State
Museum but we still have many more to register and to learn about.
So many people ask us - what archaeological resources could
possibly exist in New Jersey? What indeed? How about 12,000 years
of Native American occupation including major Paleo-Indian sites,
evidence of long range trade, manifestations of the Midwestern
centered Adena complex, vast evidence of shell fish harvesting, 17th
century Contact? How about Dutch, Swedish, and E nglish
settlement, early colonial development, decisive Revolutionary War
battles, early industry, the Morris Canal and Delaware and Raritan
Canal, the first electric lights and electric grid, the Movie industry?
How about free African American villages and towns? We need to
continue to let people know about our rich heritage with talks and
publications while we explore this heritage.
I am pleased to be able to support the candidacy of Michael Gall
for the ASNJ presidency. Mike is one of the state’s most talented,
knowledgeable, and enthusiastic archaeologists and my friend and
colleague. Mike has been the ASNJ treasurer for several years. He
organized the well-attended September 2017 volunteer dig at
E dison's Menlo Park Home with Middlesex County Cultural and
Heritage Commission. Mike brings years of experience, dedication,
and hard work to the position. Please come out to our January
meeting and vote for the excellent slate of candidates. You may also
request an absentee ballot from the membership coordinator prior to
the meeting (contact Lauren Lembo at laurenlembo@ hotmail.com).
The ASNJ was founded in 1931 to support archaeological
knowledge in the state – how well we do that depends a lot on our
membership. So please get involved – run for board positions and
volunteer, write for the newsletter, bulletin, or post on our Facebook
or twitter, come to meetings, events, and digs, read about
archaeology in the bulletin and newsletter, and speak about
archaeology in your town and to your elected officials. Stay tuned to
hear more about upcoming events and let us know what you want
the society to do!
Feel free to stay in touch with me in the future. And best wishes.
Ilene Grossman-Bailey, President
A Publication of the Archaeological Society of New Jer sey Established 1931 ISSN 095 –6337I
PAGE 2
January 2018
Newsletter No. 258
Apply for the Sean Bratton Memorial Research
Fund
The Sean Bratton Memorial Research Fund
celebrates the life and contributions of Sean Bratton,
an outstanding field archaeologist and mentor, who
enjoyed hearing about regional research and applying
insights from new research to his own work. The
fund will provide up to two (2) yearly research
grants/scholarships to students or working
professional archaeologists who are conducting
original archaeological research on New Jersey
topics. Assuming sufficient funds are available and if
there are appropriate applications, one grant will be
awarded for research based in prehistoric
archaeology and one grant will be awarded for
research based in historic archaeology. Applicants
should be ASNJ members in good standing on the
student or individual level. Each grant will consist of
$400.00 to support original research, publication of
the results of research in the ASNJ bulletin,
presentation to the ASNJ within a year of the award,
and presentation to a regional conference as
applicable. The grant will be awarded annually at the
society’s October meeting and formally presented in
January and will be announced in the newsletter and
social media. The grant committee will solicit
applications from undergraduate and graduate
students and young professionals employed in the
region. The application will include a brief cover
letter summarizing the proposed research, a CV, and
at least one letter of recommendation from a
professor,
supervisor,
or
associate.
Grant
applications
will
be
due
via
email
to
ilenebailey36@ gmail.com by 5/21/18 and will be
awarded by the following October. G rantees will
present their research to a meeting of the ASNJ
by the following January or when scheduled by
the program chair.
PAGE 3
ASNJ Bulletin Update
By Richard Viet, Ph D.
The 2012-2015 (Vols. 68-70) edition of the Bulletin is at the
printer and should be mailed soon. This is a special edition on the
archaeology of the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark. It
includes articles by Stewart and Obermeyer, as well as Greg
Lattanzi, Robert Grumet, and Andrew Martin. It weighs in at 225
pages and will be the largest Bulletin in recent memory. We hope
to have it to you before the January meeting
The Abbott Farm volume will be followed by a general issue,
also sizeable, with articles on topics ranging from Paleo-Indian
projectile points to 17th-century town planning. Authors include:
Marshall Becker, Matthew Boulanger, Jack Cresson, Michael Gall,
Chris Hummer, George Leader, Greg Lattanzi, Alan Mounier, and
Drew Stanzeski. Based on the amount of material, this will likely be
a double issue (2016-2017), which will get us almost caught up.
Next on the docket is a volume focused on Archaic triangle
points edited by R. Michael Stewart. It will be a major contribution.
We are also looking at publishing Dick Regensburg’s Savich Farm
monograph.
We are always looking for good copy for future Bulletins so
please consider submitting an article for consideration. Site reports,
synthetic pieces, case studies, and artifact articles are all welcome.
The review process is straightforward. Our goal is to share the
latest scholarship on New Jersey’s archaeological heritage with the
broadest possible readership. Articles for consideration should be
submitted electronically as Word documents with minimal
formatting.
Please send articles as Word documents with
accompanying image files to Richard Veit rveit@ monmouth.edu;
Dept. of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University, West
Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898; Phone: 732-263-5699
C ontinued from Page 1
Like Specimen No. 1 this biface appears well used and
left as a discard after its last functioning use, In this
instance, clearly as a projectile, ostensibly in hunting
pursuits. The lateral lower biface margins and base
reveal moderate dulling. Also and unlike Specimen
No.1 there is a remnant catalog number, 949 written in
black ink on the reverse face. It is unfortunate the
Cook Collection catalog was not found among the
bequeathed materials to the Greater Cape May County
Historical Society and Nature Center.
The biface measures 43.3 mm in length, 26.4 mm in
width and 5 mm thick. The basal indentation measures
2 mm long. It weighs 7.grams. The largest primary flute
length is 31mm, the width is 10.5 mm. The fluting
channel scar thickness is 2.8 mm. The obverse face
shows a single ‘fluting’ flake scar that extends 31mm
long. The lower portion of the channel flake at the base
exhibits lateral ‘finishing’ or channel widening thinning
flakes. The reverse face is markedly ‘impact fractured’
on the distal portion, This face also exhibits a singly
detached flute flake that extends 28 mm and at least
three laterally invasive thinning flake removals that
extend into the flute channel. Clearly this is evidence of
bifacial thinning episodes after channel flake removal.
Newsletter No. 258
Smith Collection by Jack Cresson
In April 2017 I was contacted by an heir of
Richard Smith, about a small cache of prehistoric
artifacts found by ASNJ member Richard Smith in 1962
during a construction project in Hamilton Township, NJ
on a parcel of land known then as the Pitman Tract near
the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark. The
cache of eight items was apparently part of a larger
grouping of so-called ‘cache blades’ that were unearthed
at the time and were in the possession of the finders
heir. I was tasked to make an assessment and evaluation
of these eight prehistoric artifacts with the ultimate
purpose that they be donated to the NJ State Museum.
The specifications of the eight items are included
below; one through five are the ‘cache blades’, 6
through 8 are three formalized specimens that were
thought to have been among the context of the cache
blades. The photo background scale is ¼ ”,( four squares
to the inch).
January 2018
Apparently based on eyewitness accounts these five
specimens were once part of another of the documented
larger caches uncovered during house lot clearing and
foundation excavations in 1962.
T he Infamous A bbott F arm F inds of July 1 9 62
During this summer of ‘62’ a cache of very large
bifaces was unearthed on July 25th during the clearing of
a house lot in the so-called Pitman Tract.
This find set in motion a melee of ‘digging’ at the
location for a several days which created a maelstrom of
public attention and ultimately led to the discovery of
several more caches and the participation of the NJ State
Museum involving Dr. Dorothy Cross.
Based on newspaper accounts and informant
interviews there were at least two large caches and several
smaller cache groupings discovered during this time.
Many ASNJ members took part in the salvaging of cache
features and artifacts over these several days of frantic
digging and screening in advance of construction
deadlines. Some of these personalities include Matt
Horvath who was involved in the Steward cache
excavation, Mrs. William Struve and her young son,
E dwin Struve, Mr. Anthony Baker, Mr. Anderw
Stanzeski, and Mr. and Mrs Leon Van Sant.
S teward C ache
No. 1- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite, (144 grams)
13.5 cm (5.3/8”) long, 7 cm (2 ¾ ”) wide and 1.4 cm
(9/16”) thick. No. 2- Grey Lockatong argillite, (147
grams) 13.3 cm (5.1/4”) long, 7.3 cm (2.⅞”) wide
In summary, the quality and character of the five argillite
early stage bifaces (primary quarry bifaces) are
characteristic to the Middle Woodland Fox Creek Phase ca.
100 BC to 700 AD. The three examples of formalized
‘stemmed’ bifaces represent items that may or may not
have been part of the primary cache deposit. These
specimens, also of argillitic materials, represent tool and
weapon forms that were in vogue a thousand years earlier
in the Late Archaic/E arly Woodland period, ca 3000 to
700 BC. However, specimen number 6, a broadly side
notched ‘point’ of an unusual argillite material (light grey to
white) is indeed suspected to have been related to Middle
Woodland provenience and associated with the cache.
The first and most spectacular cache of 37 items
include 35 very large biface ‘blades’ of argillite, a large celt
and a hammerstone were unearthed by the bulldozer
operator, Mr. Sam Steward. At the time ASNJ member
Mathew Horvath was in the area looking for artifacts and
was alerted to the find by Steward. The two men worked
together to fully unearthed the cache. According to
Dorothy Cross, the ‘cache blades’ were the largest known
from NJ. The specimens averaged 9 inches long and 5
inches wide and were very robust lanceolate forms
showing strong percussion reduction techniques,
apparently executed with soft mineral hammers. The celt,
of an unknown material, measured near 12” long was also
found. Continued on page 7
No. 3- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (110 grams), 12 cm
(4.¾ ”) long, 6.8 cm (2.11/16”) wide and 1.1cm ( ”) thick.
No. 4- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (128 grams), 13.1cm
(5.3/16”)long, 6.4 cm (2.½ ”)wide and 1.2 cm (½ ”) thick.
PAGE 4
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
Marble, Bottles, and Toys, Oh My!: Artifacts from the Thomas E dison House Site in Menlo Park, NJ
Michael J. Gall
In July and September 2017, the Archaeological Society of New Jersey (ASNJ) conducted fieldwork for a public
archaeological and research study on the site of Thomas E dison’s former residence in Menlo Park, E dison Township,
Middlesex County, New Jersey. The study was completed through funding provided by the Middlesex County Board
of Chosen Freeholders with dozens of volunteers as a collaborative effort with the Middlesex County Office of
Culture and Heritage (MCOCH) and the Thomas A. E dison Center at Menlo Park (TAE CMP). The property
formerly contained a dwelling with an attached kitchen wing, a windmill, and large two-story carriage house. Focus of
the study was in the area of the former home, which stood from circa 1868 to 1924. The kitchen wing was severely
damaged or destroyed by fire between 1922 and 1923. The study sought to determine if intact cultural features and
deposits exist associated with the E dison family.
Research indicates that the former house stood on a rectangular parcel and initially served as the Menlo Park
Homestead Association model house and office from circa 1868 to late 1875. Inventor Thomas E dison purchased the
residence as his family home on December 29, 1875. The E dison family resided in the dwelling until 1882, after which
time it was used as a part-time residence. There, Thomas resided with his wife Mary, who passed away in the home in
1884 while in her late ‘20s. The E dison household also included Thomas and Mary’s children: Marion, Thomas, Jr.,
and William Leslie; extended family members; and two African American domestic servants (United States Census
Bureau 1880; Israel 1998:122). The property was incorporated into Thomas E dison’s outdoor incandescent light and
electrical generation system experiments in late 1879 and early 1880.
On January 31, 1894, Thomas sold the residence to his daughter Marion, who later conveyed it to Trustee Charles
B. Elliott (MCCO 1894, 1903). Charles may have been a distant relative of Thomas Edison, whose mother’s maiden
name was E lliott. Like Thomas, Charles was also an inventor. In 1892, Elliott receive a patent (No. 487,213) for an
incandescent lamp socket, a patent (No. 476,192) for a hanger used in electric railway wires, and a swivel pull-off for
overhead wires (No. 476,193) (Anonymous 1892a:292, 1892b:31). In 1903, after purchasing the former E dison
residence, Elliott received another patent for a rubber playing ball (No. 731,026) (Pearson and Hill 1903:386).
Following his patent, E lliott founded the Purete Rubber Company, incorporated in New Brunswick on November 6,
1903, which was to manufacture “pure gum dress shields, golf balls, and India Rubber and Gutta-percha sundries”
along present-day Rt. 27 in Menlo Park just a short distance from his home (Secretary of State, 1914:583; Pearson
1903:283, 320). The rubber company was later known as the E lliott Manufacturing Company (Daily Home News
1916). The Elliotts sold their Menlo Park residence in 1905, possibly due to financial troubles and large, burdensome
mortgages, and repurchased the parcel in 1915. The family resided on the lot as owners and tenants until Charles’
death in 1915, after which time the parcel was leased to the Lowman family, which purchased the tract from Charles
E lliott’s widow, Eva, in 1922. Electrical Testing Laboratories purchased the lot and likely razed the former Edison
home in 1924.
Archaeological excavations in 2017 included the excavation of 19 shovel test pits (STPs) on a 25-foot interval grid,
one off-set two-foot square STP, and two units each measuring four-feet square. In total, two prehistoric and 2,351
historic artifacts were found at the Thomas E dison House Site (28-Mi-272). Intact brick and stone foundation remains
to the former E dison house were identified, as well as burnt deposits associated with the kitchen wing and side yard
cultural deposits.
Historic deposits date from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Artifacts found in the kitchen wing reveal that
an intense fire ravaged portions of the structure, resulting in the deposition of melted lead, burnt glass, common and
lathe nails, window glass, door knobs, sink fixtures and piping, ceramic bowl fragments, and marble mantle or wall
surround fragments. E xamination of conserved marble revealed the presence of painted wallpaper decoration adhered
to the mantle or wall surround due to the kitchen fire’s intense heat (Figure 1). A straight pin, several bone and shell
undergarment buttons, a cork, and a porcelain figurine head were also found (Figure 2). Immediately north of the
kitchen wing, recovered deposits include architectural material, a possible chandelier prism, clam and oyster shell,
flower pot fragments, a hook, a porcelain prosser button and garment eye, a jar lid liner, ceramic, a porcelain toy tea
cup fragment, glass ware, a tobacco pipe bowl, and a black glass jewelry pendant (Figure 3). It is unclear if E dison
family members deposited some of these items, though one can imagine Thomas E dison contemplating his next
world changing invention as he smoked from a clay pipe, the E dison children playing with C ontinued on page 6
PAGE 5
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
F igure 1: Reverse of
burnt, fragmented marble
mantle or fireplace
surround. Note the
probable residue of burnt
wallpaper decoration in
the area circled in yellow.
F igure 2: Artifacts found in Unit 1, Fill 3 , Level . Left:
C ontinued from page 5
a toy tea set as they imagined life as adults, and Mary
E dison wearing an elegant dress adorned with a stylized cut
glass pendant.
E xcavations in the two-foot square STP adjacent to the
east or front wall of the out kitchen in an area formerly
covered by a front porch yielded 667 historic artifacts,
most of which are glass vessel fragments. Close
examination of the material revealed a minimum of two
ceramic vessels and 54 glass vessels are represented (Figure
4). Of these, one beer bottle, manufactured between 1903
and 1906 by William Stramm and William Holzworth in
New Brunswick, New Jersey, was found, suggesting the
deposit dates to the E lliott family occupation period
(Anonymous 2011). Sixteen Rubsam and Hormann
Brewing Company bottles made in Staten Island were
found. In addition, 1 beer, 1 medicine, 1 square, and 1
brandy bottle; 1 mug or pitcher; 1 jar; 2 amethyst and 2
alcohol bottles, 4 cups; and 22 non-descript bottles are
represented. The data reveal that during the early 20th
Figure 3: Jar canning lid liner; Top Row: prosser
button, black glass pendant, clothing clasp; Bottom
Row: medicine bottle, white clay pipe bowl.
burnt marble door knob. Top Row, cork, porcelain
female figurine head, two oyster buttons; Bottom
Row, two bone buttons, two oyster buttons.
century, likely during the Elliott family tenure,
numerous alcohol bottles, along with a very low
number of broken kitchenware, were discarded below
the kitchen wing’s porch. The space below the porch
may have served as a convenient location to secretly
dispose large quantities of alcohol bottles.
Alternatively, the space below the porch may have
also served as a convenient place to discard bottle and
glass ware in general. E xcavations at the Thomas
E dison House site reveal the potential for additional
cultural features associated with the various families
who resided on the property, and historic documents
indicate the parcel has the potential to contain features
associated with E dison’s underground wiring system
associated with the 1879 and 1880 incandescent
lighting experiment. Completion of the report
detailing the results of the archaeological study is
expected in early 2018. The assistance of all
volunteers, the ASNJ, MCOCH, TAE CMP, E dison
Township, State of New Jersey, and Middlesex
County Board of Chosen Freeholders is greatly
appreciated. Members of the public who visited the
site are thanked for their curiosity and interest in the
project. Artifacts will be transferred to the MCOCH.
Contact author for references. Figs 2-4 by Allison Gall
F ig 4:
Stramm &
Holzworth
bottles,
Rubsam &
Hormann
bottles.
PAGE 6
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Pinelands Commission
Meeting date: Saturday January 20, 2018
Location: The New Jersey State Museum (Auditorium), 205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ
10:00am – 11:30am Board Meeting (Auditorium), All are welcome
11:30 – 12:00 Elections and Awards (Auditorium)
12:00 – 1:00 Break for Lunch (On your own)
Lecture Series (Auditorium)
1:00 – 1:15
Presidents Welcome
1:15 – 1:35 “Not Unmindful of the Unfortunate”: Giving Voice to the Forgotten through Archaeology at the Orange Valley
Slave Hospital, Trelawny, Jamaica. Authored by: Richard Veit, Nicky Kelly and Sean McHugh
Presented by: Richard Veit, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Monmouth University
1:35 – 1:55 “Down by the River – Archaeological Investigations in South Camden”
Presented by: Ilene Grossman-Bailey, Senior Archaeologist, Richard Grubb and Associates
1:55 – 2:15 “A Steatite Turtle Effigy Pipe from New Jersey” Presented by: Sevrie Corson, RPA
2:15 – 4:00 Artifact Identification: bring your artifacts in to discuss and be identified (Auditorium)
Free Parking behind museum and in parking area next to museum.
For more information, contact Darryl Daum ddaum3@gmail.com
C ontinued from page 4
S mith C ache
The second cache later found by Richard Smith
in an area about 50 yards from the initial Steward find
contained 26 moderately large primary quarry argillite
biface ‘blades’ and a few ancillary items among which
were ceramics. There is no mention of any finished
items however this cache remnant, the impetus of this
research contained three formalized bifaces.
O ther C ache F inds: At least three other caches were found
in the Pitman Tract. These were smaller argillite biface
cache of less than 10 specimens. Six items seem to be a
dominate pattern. Andrew Stanzeski found one with six
argillite items all of formalized Fox Creek types near
E xcavation 3, off Julia Ave.
A NJSM associate named John Shourling
found a six specimen biface cache similar to the Smith
forms. One of these was measured at 6.25 inches long, 2
7/8 inches wide and a half inch thick and Mr. Leon
VanSant uncovered another primary quarry biface
cache of six “blades” near E xcavation 6 at the Abbott
Farm. The photograph of the Steward cache supplied by
A. Stanzeski shows a very impressive assemblage of the
large blades, the celt and the hammerstone.
No. 5- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (102 grams),
11.9 cms (4.11/16”) long, 5.5 cm (2.3/16”) wide and
1.1cm (7/16”) thick. No. 6- Very light grey Lockatong
argillite (14 grams), 6.8 cm (2.11/16”) long, 2.9 cm
(1. ”) wide.
TRE ASURE R’S RE PORT 12/ 23/ 2017
PNC Bank Checking Account: $12,839.52
ING Savings Account: $44,406.78
by Mike Gall, Treasurer
Membership Report 12-22-2017: The ASNJ has 299
current members. Memberships include 35 Families,
17 Institutions, 20 Students, 139 Individuals, 15
Sustaining, 52 Life Members, 1 Corporate and 20
Organizations. L auren L embo- V. P . M embershi p
No. 7- Red argillaceous/shale (Sourlands, 8 grams), 7 cm
(2¾ ”) long, 2 cm (¾ ”) wide. No. 8- Grey Lockatong
argillite (8 grams),5.8 cm (2¼ ”) long, 1.8 cm (11/16”) wide.
PAGE 7
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY
Membership Application
Active................................. $25.00 Institutional........................$30.00 Family.................................$30.00
Student*...............................$20.00 Sustaining............................$35.00 Corporate..........................$100.00
Life...................................$1000.00
*Student Membership requires a photocopy of a valid Student ID.
Dues received after October 1st will be applied to the next calendar year
I wish to receive the ASNJ newsletter via:
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Make checks payable to: Archaeological Society of New Jersey and return to:
ASNJ c/o Michael Gall, 119 South Main Street, Medford, NJ 08055
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Telephone Number(s): (
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Archaeological Society of New Jersey
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Trenton, NJ 08625-0530
First Class Mail
PAGE 8
ASNJ Newsletter Issue No. 258 January 2018
Archaeological Society
of New Jersey
Established 1931
Newsletter No. 258
Richard Cook Collection-Fluted Points
By Jack Cresson
During the recent analysis and assessment of the
Richard Cook artifact collection from Lower Township,
Cape May, Co. several examples of Paleoindian artifacts
(fluted bifaces or points) were identified. It is presently
unknown if these specimens were logged in the earlier
efforts to record NJ Paleoindian fluted points. eg. either
the Mason, K raft or Marshall surveys, but the effort in this
report is to provide a follow up record and more detailed
analysis of the artifacts in question.
The two specimens were found mounted adjacent to
one another within the same display frame or panel
labeled No. 13. These along with the majority of the
artifact recoveries that comprise the Cook Collection (see
ASNJ Newsletter, No. 256, May, 2017) were found along
the Delaware Bay beaches of Lower Township, Cape May
County.
The western margin of the Cape May peninsula lies
adjacent to the ancient estuary of Dennis and Cedar
Swamp creek and the southeastern ‘gut’ of the Delaware
Bay: from Reeds Beach south to Cape May Point, beaches
along these tidal waterways have long been known to
reveal prehistoric artifacts washed up from submerged or
inundated ‘sites’; or washed out of sites still extant.
The two artifacts are similar in style and type and
both exhibit technological attributes that betray origins to
the Middle Paleoindian episode in prehistory, observations
reveal typical but unusual characteristics of certain lithic
materials (silicates) to exhibit surface
or transformations through long
term immersion and chemical reactions in
saltwater environs.
alterations
January 2018
alterations or transformations through long term
immersion and chemical reactions in saltwater environs.
Thus each of these specimens have been deduced to be
varieties of ‘brown or yellow’ jasper; both show the
perplexing shift in color from the original yellow brown,
to black and darker greyish brown and green colors with
telltale remnant patches and swirls of the original
colorations. It is not known for certain, whether these
jasper materials are local or non local but given the period
and technological patterns of tool production in the
Paleoindian episodes it is most likely that the materials are
indeed primary source jaspers from the Reading Prong,
Pa.
SPE CIMEN NO. 1
This biface is multiply fluted on both faces and
reflects a sub lanceolate shape that exhibits an irregular
margin, the result of retooling and use wear. The lower
basal edges show light abrasion and dulling but this
attribute is not apparent on the base. This biface appears
well used and likely was left as a discard after its last
functional use. There was no evidence of catalog
numbering on this specimen. The biface measures 41.6
mm in length, 21.3 mm in width, and 5 mm thick. The
basal indentation measures 1.5 mm long. It weighs 5
grams. The largest primary flute length and width are 34
mm and 10 mm respectively. The fluting channel scar
thickness is 3 mm. The obverse face shows three channel
flake scars; one is a primary detachment. with two
overlapping secondary flute flake removals, detached
sequentially right to left. The reverse face exhibits two
fluting flake removals; a primary flake aligned centrally
and a secondary removal aligned on the right, to widen
the basal channel area. This face exhibits the longest
fluting flake at 34mm. Marginal retouch is present on the
right side. The remnant evidence of the manufacturing
techniques show a range of both pressure and likely
indirect percussion or pressure to prepare faces, edges and
detach channel flakes. Clearly the type, style and
manufacturing techniques are of the Middle Paleoindian
Period. Ca. 8500 -8000 BC.
SPE CIMEN NO. 2
This bifaces is singly fluted on both faces and is more
robust than Specimen NO. 1. It’s shape is of sub oval
configuration that reflects severe use wear and distal
damage from projectile impact stresses.
C ontinued on page 3
PAGE 1
Newsletter No. 258
ASNJ E XE CUTIVE BOARD
E lection Ballot at January 20, 2018
Meeting
President Michael J. Gall
mjgall79@ yahoo.com
1st VP – E d./ PR/ E SAF Representative
David Mudge
arkydave@ aol.com
2nd VP – Membership Lauren Lembo
laurenlembo@ hotmail.com
3rd VP – Programs Darryl Daum
ddaum3@ gmail.com
Treasurer Sevrie Corson
Recording Secretary Carolyn Cresson
carolyncresson@ gmail.com
Newsletter E d./ Corr. Sec’ty Jesse Walker
asnjnewsletter@ gmail.com
Bulletin E ditor Richard F. Veit
rveit@ monmouth.edu
Webmaster/ Social Media Tabitha Hilliard
tchilliard@ gmail.com
Members-At-Large
Jack Cresson
Jim Lee
Kimberly Keene
Matthew Tomaso
Sean McHugh
Steve Santucci
ASNJ RE SE ARCH GRANTS (UP TO $700)
2019 DE ADLINE IS JUNE 30, 2018
Potential applicants should contact Jack Cresson,
knapperjack@ gmail.com or
40 E . 2nd Street, Moorestown, NJ 08057 for full
details including the grant guidelines &
requirements
January 2018
PRESIDENT'S LETTER
Dear fellow ASNJ members:
Happy 2018 and I hope your winter holiday season was full of
hope, cheer, faith, joy, and love. We hope that new beginnings come
with renewed support for New Jersey’s archaeological heritage and
new challenges and opportunities.
It has been an honor to serve as ASNJ president from 20122014 and 2016-2018. There have been some great volunteer dig
opportunities and other events, issuance of excellent ASNJ Bulletins,
increase in membership, the initiation of the Sean Bratton Memorial
Grant and memorial donations from the Cook and Flynn families
and others. We have met at wonderful new venues in the state such
as Tulpehaking in Hamilton Township and the Pinelands
Commission. We have a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer board.
We fund critical research in the state and would like to do even more
with more support and more participation. Of course more is
needed. We have a lot to proud of and a lot to strive to protect and
preserve. Over 6,000 sites are registered with the New Jersey State
Museum but we still have many more to register and to learn about.
So many people ask us - what archaeological resources could
possibly exist in New Jersey? What indeed? How about 12,000 years
of Native American occupation including major Paleo-Indian sites,
evidence of long range trade, manifestations of the Midwestern
centered Adena complex, vast evidence of shell fish harvesting, 17th
century Contact? How about Dutch, Swedish, and E nglish
settlement, early colonial development, decisive Revolutionary War
battles, early industry, the Morris Canal and Delaware and Raritan
Canal, the first electric lights and electric grid, the Movie industry?
How about free African American villages and towns? We need to
continue to let people know about our rich heritage with talks and
publications while we explore this heritage.
I am pleased to be able to support the candidacy of Michael Gall
for the ASNJ presidency. Mike is one of the state’s most talented,
knowledgeable, and enthusiastic archaeologists and my friend and
colleague. Mike has been the ASNJ treasurer for several years. He
organized the well-attended September 2017 volunteer dig at
E dison's Menlo Park Home with Middlesex County Cultural and
Heritage Commission. Mike brings years of experience, dedication,
and hard work to the position. Please come out to our January
meeting and vote for the excellent slate of candidates. You may also
request an absentee ballot from the membership coordinator prior to
the meeting (contact Lauren Lembo at laurenlembo@ hotmail.com).
The ASNJ was founded in 1931 to support archaeological
knowledge in the state – how well we do that depends a lot on our
membership. So please get involved – run for board positions and
volunteer, write for the newsletter, bulletin, or post on our Facebook
or twitter, come to meetings, events, and digs, read about
archaeology in the bulletin and newsletter, and speak about
archaeology in your town and to your elected officials. Stay tuned to
hear more about upcoming events and let us know what you want
the society to do!
Feel free to stay in touch with me in the future. And best wishes.
Ilene Grossman-Bailey, President
A Publication of the Archaeological Society of New Jer sey Established 1931 ISSN 095 –6337I
PAGE 2
January 2018
Newsletter No. 258
Apply for the Sean Bratton Memorial Research
Fund
The Sean Bratton Memorial Research Fund
celebrates the life and contributions of Sean Bratton,
an outstanding field archaeologist and mentor, who
enjoyed hearing about regional research and applying
insights from new research to his own work. The
fund will provide up to two (2) yearly research
grants/scholarships to students or working
professional archaeologists who are conducting
original archaeological research on New Jersey
topics. Assuming sufficient funds are available and if
there are appropriate applications, one grant will be
awarded for research based in prehistoric
archaeology and one grant will be awarded for
research based in historic archaeology. Applicants
should be ASNJ members in good standing on the
student or individual level. Each grant will consist of
$400.00 to support original research, publication of
the results of research in the ASNJ bulletin,
presentation to the ASNJ within a year of the award,
and presentation to a regional conference as
applicable. The grant will be awarded annually at the
society’s October meeting and formally presented in
January and will be announced in the newsletter and
social media. The grant committee will solicit
applications from undergraduate and graduate
students and young professionals employed in the
region. The application will include a brief cover
letter summarizing the proposed research, a CV, and
at least one letter of recommendation from a
professor,
supervisor,
or
associate.
Grant
applications
will
be
due
via
to
ilenebailey36@ gmail.com by 5/21/18 and will be
awarded by the following October. G rantees will
present their research to a meeting of the ASNJ
by the following January or when scheduled by
the program chair.
PAGE 3
ASNJ Bulletin Update
By Richard Viet, Ph D.
The 2012-2015 (Vols. 68-70) edition of the Bulletin is at the
printer and should be mailed soon. This is a special edition on the
archaeology of the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark. It
includes articles by Stewart and Obermeyer, as well as Greg
Lattanzi, Robert Grumet, and Andrew Martin. It weighs in at 225
pages and will be the largest Bulletin in recent memory. We hope
to have it to you before the January meeting
The Abbott Farm volume will be followed by a general issue,
also sizeable, with articles on topics ranging from Paleo-Indian
projectile points to 17th-century town planning. Authors include:
Marshall Becker, Matthew Boulanger, Jack Cresson, Michael Gall,
Chris Hummer, George Leader, Greg Lattanzi, Alan Mounier, and
Drew Stanzeski. Based on the amount of material, this will likely be
a double issue (2016-2017), which will get us almost caught up.
Next on the docket is a volume focused on Archaic triangle
points edited by R. Michael Stewart. It will be a major contribution.
We are also looking at publishing Dick Regensburg’s Savich Farm
monograph.
We are always looking for good copy for future Bulletins so
please consider submitting an article for consideration. Site reports,
synthetic pieces, case studies, and artifact articles are all welcome.
The review process is straightforward. Our goal is to share the
latest scholarship on New Jersey’s archaeological heritage with the
broadest possible readership. Articles for consideration should be
submitted electronically as Word documents with minimal
formatting.
Please send articles as Word documents with
accompanying image files to Richard Veit rveit@ monmouth.edu;
Dept. of History and Anthropology, Monmouth University, West
Long Branch, NJ 07764-1898; Phone: 732-263-5699
C ontinued from Page 1
Like Specimen No. 1 this biface appears well used and
left as a discard after its last functioning use, In this
instance, clearly as a projectile, ostensibly in hunting
pursuits. The lateral lower biface margins and base
reveal moderate dulling. Also and unlike Specimen
No.1 there is a remnant catalog number, 949 written in
black ink on the reverse face. It is unfortunate the
Cook Collection catalog was not found among the
bequeathed materials to the Greater Cape May County
Historical Society and Nature Center.
The biface measures 43.3 mm in length, 26.4 mm in
width and 5 mm thick. The basal indentation measures
2 mm long. It weighs 7.grams. The largest primary flute
length is 31mm, the width is 10.5 mm. The fluting
channel scar thickness is 2.8 mm. The obverse face
shows a single ‘fluting’ flake scar that extends 31mm
long. The lower portion of the channel flake at the base
exhibits lateral ‘finishing’ or channel widening thinning
flakes. The reverse face is markedly ‘impact fractured’
on the distal portion, This face also exhibits a singly
detached flute flake that extends 28 mm and at least
three laterally invasive thinning flake removals that
extend into the flute channel. Clearly this is evidence of
bifacial thinning episodes after channel flake removal.
Newsletter No. 258
Smith Collection by Jack Cresson
In April 2017 I was contacted by an heir of
Richard Smith, about a small cache of prehistoric
artifacts found by ASNJ member Richard Smith in 1962
during a construction project in Hamilton Township, NJ
on a parcel of land known then as the Pitman Tract near
the Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark. The
cache of eight items was apparently part of a larger
grouping of so-called ‘cache blades’ that were unearthed
at the time and were in the possession of the finders
heir. I was tasked to make an assessment and evaluation
of these eight prehistoric artifacts with the ultimate
purpose that they be donated to the NJ State Museum.
The specifications of the eight items are included
below; one through five are the ‘cache blades’, 6
through 8 are three formalized specimens that were
thought to have been among the context of the cache
blades. The photo background scale is ¼ ”,( four squares
to the inch).
January 2018
Apparently based on eyewitness accounts these five
specimens were once part of another of the documented
larger caches uncovered during house lot clearing and
foundation excavations in 1962.
T he Infamous A bbott F arm F inds of July 1 9 62
During this summer of ‘62’ a cache of very large
bifaces was unearthed on July 25th during the clearing of
a house lot in the so-called Pitman Tract.
This find set in motion a melee of ‘digging’ at the
location for a several days which created a maelstrom of
public attention and ultimately led to the discovery of
several more caches and the participation of the NJ State
Museum involving Dr. Dorothy Cross.
Based on newspaper accounts and informant
interviews there were at least two large caches and several
smaller cache groupings discovered during this time.
Many ASNJ members took part in the salvaging of cache
features and artifacts over these several days of frantic
digging and screening in advance of construction
deadlines. Some of these personalities include Matt
Horvath who was involved in the Steward cache
excavation, Mrs. William Struve and her young son,
E dwin Struve, Mr. Anthony Baker, Mr. Anderw
Stanzeski, and Mr. and Mrs Leon Van Sant.
S teward C ache
No. 1- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite, (144 grams)
13.5 cm (5.3/8”) long, 7 cm (2 ¾ ”) wide and 1.4 cm
(9/16”) thick. No. 2- Grey Lockatong argillite, (147
grams) 13.3 cm (5.1/4”) long, 7.3 cm (2.⅞”) wide
In summary, the quality and character of the five argillite
early stage bifaces (primary quarry bifaces) are
characteristic to the Middle Woodland Fox Creek Phase ca.
100 BC to 700 AD. The three examples of formalized
‘stemmed’ bifaces represent items that may or may not
have been part of the primary cache deposit. These
specimens, also of argillitic materials, represent tool and
weapon forms that were in vogue a thousand years earlier
in the Late Archaic/E arly Woodland period, ca 3000 to
700 BC. However, specimen number 6, a broadly side
notched ‘point’ of an unusual argillite material (light grey to
white) is indeed suspected to have been related to Middle
Woodland provenience and associated with the cache.
The first and most spectacular cache of 37 items
include 35 very large biface ‘blades’ of argillite, a large celt
and a hammerstone were unearthed by the bulldozer
operator, Mr. Sam Steward. At the time ASNJ member
Mathew Horvath was in the area looking for artifacts and
was alerted to the find by Steward. The two men worked
together to fully unearthed the cache. According to
Dorothy Cross, the ‘cache blades’ were the largest known
from NJ. The specimens averaged 9 inches long and 5
inches wide and were very robust lanceolate forms
showing strong percussion reduction techniques,
apparently executed with soft mineral hammers. The celt,
of an unknown material, measured near 12” long was also
found. Continued on page 7
No. 3- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (110 grams), 12 cm
(4.¾ ”) long, 6.8 cm (2.11/16”) wide and 1.1cm ( ”) thick.
No. 4- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (128 grams), 13.1cm
(5.3/16”)long, 6.4 cm (2.½ ”)wide and 1.2 cm (½ ”) thick.
PAGE 4
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
Marble, Bottles, and Toys, Oh My!: Artifacts from the Thomas E dison House Site in Menlo Park, NJ
Michael J. Gall
In July and September 2017, the Archaeological Society of New Jersey (ASNJ) conducted fieldwork for a public
archaeological and research study on the site of Thomas E dison’s former residence in Menlo Park, E dison Township,
Middlesex County, New Jersey. The study was completed through funding provided by the Middlesex County Board
of Chosen Freeholders with dozens of volunteers as a collaborative effort with the Middlesex County Office of
Culture and Heritage (MCOCH) and the Thomas A. E dison Center at Menlo Park (TAE CMP). The property
formerly contained a dwelling with an attached kitchen wing, a windmill, and large two-story carriage house. Focus of
the study was in the area of the former home, which stood from circa 1868 to 1924. The kitchen wing was severely
damaged or destroyed by fire between 1922 and 1923. The study sought to determine if intact cultural features and
deposits exist associated with the E dison family.
Research indicates that the former house stood on a rectangular parcel and initially served as the Menlo Park
Homestead Association model house and office from circa 1868 to late 1875. Inventor Thomas E dison purchased the
residence as his family home on December 29, 1875. The E dison family resided in the dwelling until 1882, after which
time it was used as a part-time residence. There, Thomas resided with his wife Mary, who passed away in the home in
1884 while in her late ‘20s. The E dison household also included Thomas and Mary’s children: Marion, Thomas, Jr.,
and William Leslie; extended family members; and two African American domestic servants (United States Census
Bureau 1880; Israel 1998:122). The property was incorporated into Thomas E dison’s outdoor incandescent light and
electrical generation system experiments in late 1879 and early 1880.
On January 31, 1894, Thomas sold the residence to his daughter Marion, who later conveyed it to Trustee Charles
B. Elliott (MCCO 1894, 1903). Charles may have been a distant relative of Thomas Edison, whose mother’s maiden
name was E lliott. Like Thomas, Charles was also an inventor. In 1892, Elliott receive a patent (No. 487,213) for an
incandescent lamp socket, a patent (No. 476,192) for a hanger used in electric railway wires, and a swivel pull-off for
overhead wires (No. 476,193) (Anonymous 1892a:292, 1892b:31). In 1903, after purchasing the former E dison
residence, Elliott received another patent for a rubber playing ball (No. 731,026) (Pearson and Hill 1903:386).
Following his patent, E lliott founded the Purete Rubber Company, incorporated in New Brunswick on November 6,
1903, which was to manufacture “pure gum dress shields, golf balls, and India Rubber and Gutta-percha sundries”
along present-day Rt. 27 in Menlo Park just a short distance from his home (Secretary of State, 1914:583; Pearson
1903:283, 320). The rubber company was later known as the E lliott Manufacturing Company (Daily Home News
1916). The Elliotts sold their Menlo Park residence in 1905, possibly due to financial troubles and large, burdensome
mortgages, and repurchased the parcel in 1915. The family resided on the lot as owners and tenants until Charles’
death in 1915, after which time the parcel was leased to the Lowman family, which purchased the tract from Charles
E lliott’s widow, Eva, in 1922. Electrical Testing Laboratories purchased the lot and likely razed the former Edison
home in 1924.
Archaeological excavations in 2017 included the excavation of 19 shovel test pits (STPs) on a 25-foot interval grid,
one off-set two-foot square STP, and two units each measuring four-feet square. In total, two prehistoric and 2,351
historic artifacts were found at the Thomas E dison House Site (28-Mi-272). Intact brick and stone foundation remains
to the former E dison house were identified, as well as burnt deposits associated with the kitchen wing and side yard
cultural deposits.
Historic deposits date from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Artifacts found in the kitchen wing reveal that
an intense fire ravaged portions of the structure, resulting in the deposition of melted lead, burnt glass, common and
lathe nails, window glass, door knobs, sink fixtures and piping, ceramic bowl fragments, and marble mantle or wall
surround fragments. E xamination of conserved marble revealed the presence of painted wallpaper decoration adhered
to the mantle or wall surround due to the kitchen fire’s intense heat (Figure 1). A straight pin, several bone and shell
undergarment buttons, a cork, and a porcelain figurine head were also found (Figure 2). Immediately north of the
kitchen wing, recovered deposits include architectural material, a possible chandelier prism, clam and oyster shell,
flower pot fragments, a hook, a porcelain prosser button and garment eye, a jar lid liner, ceramic, a porcelain toy tea
cup fragment, glass ware, a tobacco pipe bowl, and a black glass jewelry pendant (Figure 3). It is unclear if E dison
family members deposited some of these items, though one can imagine Thomas E dison contemplating his next
world changing invention as he smoked from a clay pipe, the E dison children playing with C ontinued on page 6
PAGE 5
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
F igure 1: Reverse of
burnt, fragmented marble
mantle or fireplace
surround. Note the
probable residue of burnt
wallpaper decoration in
the area circled in yellow.
F igure 2: Artifacts found in Unit 1, Fill 3 , Level . Left:
C ontinued from page 5
a toy tea set as they imagined life as adults, and Mary
E dison wearing an elegant dress adorned with a stylized cut
glass pendant.
E xcavations in the two-foot square STP adjacent to the
east or front wall of the out kitchen in an area formerly
covered by a front porch yielded 667 historic artifacts,
most of which are glass vessel fragments. Close
examination of the material revealed a minimum of two
ceramic vessels and 54 glass vessels are represented (Figure
4). Of these, one beer bottle, manufactured between 1903
and 1906 by William Stramm and William Holzworth in
New Brunswick, New Jersey, was found, suggesting the
deposit dates to the E lliott family occupation period
(Anonymous 2011). Sixteen Rubsam and Hormann
Brewing Company bottles made in Staten Island were
found. In addition, 1 beer, 1 medicine, 1 square, and 1
brandy bottle; 1 mug or pitcher; 1 jar; 2 amethyst and 2
alcohol bottles, 4 cups; and 22 non-descript bottles are
represented. The data reveal that during the early 20th
Figure 3: Jar canning lid liner; Top Row: prosser
button, black glass pendant, clothing clasp; Bottom
Row: medicine bottle, white clay pipe bowl.
burnt marble door knob. Top Row, cork, porcelain
female figurine head, two oyster buttons; Bottom
Row, two bone buttons, two oyster buttons.
century, likely during the Elliott family tenure,
numerous alcohol bottles, along with a very low
number of broken kitchenware, were discarded below
the kitchen wing’s porch. The space below the porch
may have served as a convenient location to secretly
dispose large quantities of alcohol bottles.
Alternatively, the space below the porch may have
also served as a convenient place to discard bottle and
glass ware in general. E xcavations at the Thomas
E dison House site reveal the potential for additional
cultural features associated with the various families
who resided on the property, and historic documents
indicate the parcel has the potential to contain features
associated with E dison’s underground wiring system
associated with the 1879 and 1880 incandescent
lighting experiment. Completion of the report
detailing the results of the archaeological study is
expected in early 2018. The assistance of all
volunteers, the ASNJ, MCOCH, TAE CMP, E dison
Township, State of New Jersey, and Middlesex
County Board of Chosen Freeholders is greatly
appreciated. Members of the public who visited the
site are thanked for their curiosity and interest in the
project. Artifacts will be transferred to the MCOCH.
Contact author for references. Figs 2-4 by Allison Gall
F ig 4:
Stramm &
Holzworth
bottles,
Rubsam &
Hormann
bottles.
PAGE 6
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
Archaeological Society of New Jersey and the Pinelands Commission
Meeting date: Saturday January 20, 2018
Location: The New Jersey State Museum (Auditorium), 205 West State Street, Trenton, NJ
10:00am – 11:30am Board Meeting (Auditorium), All are welcome
11:30 – 12:00 Elections and Awards (Auditorium)
12:00 – 1:00 Break for Lunch (On your own)
Lecture Series (Auditorium)
1:00 – 1:15
Presidents Welcome
1:15 – 1:35 “Not Unmindful of the Unfortunate”: Giving Voice to the Forgotten through Archaeology at the Orange Valley
Slave Hospital, Trelawny, Jamaica. Authored by: Richard Veit, Nicky Kelly and Sean McHugh
Presented by: Richard Veit, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology, Monmouth University
1:35 – 1:55 “Down by the River – Archaeological Investigations in South Camden”
Presented by: Ilene Grossman-Bailey, Senior Archaeologist, Richard Grubb and Associates
1:55 – 2:15 “A Steatite Turtle Effigy Pipe from New Jersey” Presented by: Sevrie Corson, RPA
2:15 – 4:00 Artifact Identification: bring your artifacts in to discuss and be identified (Auditorium)
Free Parking behind museum and in parking area next to museum.
For more information, contact Darryl Daum ddaum3@gmail.com
C ontinued from page 4
S mith C ache
The second cache later found by Richard Smith
in an area about 50 yards from the initial Steward find
contained 26 moderately large primary quarry argillite
biface ‘blades’ and a few ancillary items among which
were ceramics. There is no mention of any finished
items however this cache remnant, the impetus of this
research contained three formalized bifaces.
O ther C ache F inds: At least three other caches were found
in the Pitman Tract. These were smaller argillite biface
cache of less than 10 specimens. Six items seem to be a
dominate pattern. Andrew Stanzeski found one with six
argillite items all of formalized Fox Creek types near
E xcavation 3, off Julia Ave.
A NJSM associate named John Shourling
found a six specimen biface cache similar to the Smith
forms. One of these was measured at 6.25 inches long, 2
7/8 inches wide and a half inch thick and Mr. Leon
VanSant uncovered another primary quarry biface
cache of six “blades” near E xcavation 6 at the Abbott
Farm. The photograph of the Steward cache supplied by
A. Stanzeski shows a very impressive assemblage of the
large blades, the celt and the hammerstone.
No. 5- Mottled grey Lockatong argillite (102 grams),
11.9 cms (4.11/16”) long, 5.5 cm (2.3/16”) wide and
1.1cm (7/16”) thick. No. 6- Very light grey Lockatong
argillite (14 grams), 6.8 cm (2.11/16”) long, 2.9 cm
(1. ”) wide.
TRE ASURE R’S RE PORT 12/ 23/ 2017
PNC Bank Checking Account: $12,839.52
ING Savings Account: $44,406.78
by Mike Gall, Treasurer
Membership Report 12-22-2017: The ASNJ has 299
current members. Memberships include 35 Families,
17 Institutions, 20 Students, 139 Individuals, 15
Sustaining, 52 Life Members, 1 Corporate and 20
Organizations. L auren L embo- V. P . M embershi p
No. 7- Red argillaceous/shale (Sourlands, 8 grams), 7 cm
(2¾ ”) long, 2 cm (¾ ”) wide. No. 8- Grey Lockatong
argillite (8 grams),5.8 cm (2¼ ”) long, 1.8 cm (11/16”) wide.
PAGE 7
Newsletter No. 258
January 2018
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF NEW JERSEY
Membership Application
Active................................. $25.00 Institutional........................$30.00 Family.................................$30.00
Student*...............................$20.00 Sustaining............................$35.00 Corporate..........................$100.00
Life...................................$1000.00
*Student Membership requires a photocopy of a valid Student ID.
Dues received after October 1st will be applied to the next calendar year
I wish to receive the ASNJ newsletter via:
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Make checks payable to: Archaeological Society of New Jersey and return to:
ASNJ c/o Michael Gall, 119 South Main Street, Medford, NJ 08055
Name:___________________________________________________________
Address:_______________________________________________________ _
City:____________________________State:________________Zip:_________
E-Mail address: ___________________________________________________
Telephone Number(s): (
)_ -_____________________________________
Archaeological Society of New Jersey
New Jersey State Museum
Bureau of Archaeology & Ethnography
205 West State Street
PO Box 530
Trenton, NJ 08625-0530
First Class Mail
PAGE 8
ASNJ Newsletter Issue No. 258 January 2018