THE BULLETIN Number 113 1997 Contents A Tribute to William A. Ritchie Robert E. Funk 1 An Introduction to the History of Prehistoric Archaeology in New York State 4 Robert E. Funk The Origins and Development of Historical Archaeology in New York State Paul R. Huey 60 The New York State Archaeological Association Officers President ............................................... .Karen S. Hartgen Vice President ....................................... David Fuerst Secretary ................................................ Annette Nohe Treasurer................................................ Carolyn O. Weatherwax Publications Researches and Transactions The Bulletin Occasional Papers Publications Chairman William E. Engelbrecht Dept. of Anthropology, Buffalo State College 1300 Elmwood Avenue Buffalo, New York 14222 The Bulletin Editor ......................................................Charles F. Hayes III Assistant Editors .....................................Martha L. Sempowski, Brian L. Nagel Layout.....................................................Patricia L. Miller/PM Design The views expressed in this volume are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the publisher. Published by the New York State Archaeological Association. Subscription by membership in NYSAA. For membership information write: Annette Nohe, 7267 High View Terrace, Victor, NY 14564-9716 Back numbers may be obtained from: Publication Sales, Rochester Museum & Science Center, 657 East Avenue, Box 1480, Rochester New York 14603-1480 Entire articles or excerpts may be reprinted upon notification to the Editor. All manuscripts submitted are subject to editorial correction or excision where such correction or excision does not alter substance or intent. ISSN-1046-2368 Printed by Monroe Graphics, Rochester, New York. Copyright © 1997 by the New York State Archaeological Association A Tribute to William A. Ritchie Robert E. Funk don't have time to go into some of this often hen I was in graduate school in the early entertaining material. Bill and I shared a common 1950s, I took a course in North American interest in many subjects, including our concern for W archaeology. When the lectures and reading the environment and human overpopulation. The assignments turned to the Northeast, the locus was workday was occasionally enlivened by digressions almost entirely on one researcher, William A. into these and other non-archaeological topics- and Ritchie, and on prehistoric cultures both discovered there were also quite a few moments of high humor and named by him, including Lamoka, Frontenac, (and some not-so-high humor!). From the beginning Brewerton, Point Peninsula, and Owasco. Some of his of our collaboration, Bill let me know how already numerous publications were required reading. disappointed he was that I was incapable of enjoying In early 1960, toward the close of my second the fine sport of fishing. season with a Tulane University dig in Yucatan, In the years after his retirement, Bill kept in Mexico, I sent out letters to several museums across touch with developments in American archaeology the United States, inquiring about job openings in despite his involvement with animal welfare and archaeology. I was pleasantly surprised that the most conservation. On numerous occasions I shared the promising response was a letter from none other than results of my research with Bill, and this seemed to Dr. Ritchie, explaining that a new position had just perk him up a bit even during his difficult final days. been approved for his office at the New York State He died quietly in the hospit al on December 14, Museum in Albany. We arranged to meet for an 1995, after a fall in his home. He was 92 years old. interview at the Society for American Archaeology He is survived by his wife, Beatrice; their son, Dr. meeting at Yale University in May. I arrived with a Galen B. Ritchie; two brothers, Donald L. Ritchie of pessimistic attitude, expecting lots of competition Brevard. North Carolina and Orrin B. Ritchie of and a strenuous interrogation. As I walked away from Clarkesville, Georgia; and two sisters, Olga C. the registration desk the stern looking gentleman in Ritchie of Rochester, and Laura Ritchie Balch of front of me turned around, looked at my nametag, and Naples, Florida. said, "So you’re my new helper!" Bill Ritchie was the greatest archaeologist I After I recovered from the shock, and spent a have ever known, and he will be sorely missed by all few minutes talking with my rather intimidating new of the men and women who had the privilege of boss, it was evident that I was about to embark on a working with him. very challenging period in my life. When I joined the The following paragraphs are largely staff of the New York State Museum a month later, borrowed from a tribute to Bill Ritchie and Louis A. Bill Ritchie and I began, I feel, a very fruitful and Brennan written by Herb Kraft for the special issue of productive collaboration that didn't really end with the New York State Archaeological Association his official retirement in 1971. The years of our Bulletin commemorating the Association's 75th professional association comprised the most anniversary (1992). important learning experience of my career. It wasn't With respect to Native American Studies, easy at first, but it soon became evident that we New York State has had a significant number of shared pretty much the same research philosophy. I luminaries. However, from the select group of well remember Bill's repeated admonition to think prehistorians, the name of William A. Ritchie looms critically, to rely on the evidence, and to avoid what large. William Augustus Ritchie, born on November he left was the excessive theorizing that seemed to 20, 1903 at Rochester, New York, began his accompany the rise of the so-called "New archaeological career as a high school volunteer at Archaeology." the Municipal Museum, later to become the Rochester Bill was not only the most prominent Museum of Arts and Sciences and presently the archaeologist in the Northeast, a hard -driving Rochester Museum & Science Center. In 1924, that researcher, and a demanding taskmaster, but also a institution provided him with a full-time salaried real friend who was always willing to offer advice appointment as Museum Librarian and Assistant in and support to someone with a genuine interest in Archaeology. While so engaged, Bill earned the archaeology. Bachelor of Science degree from the University of There are many stories about the "Old Rochester, with the distinction of Phi Beta Kappa. Master," as he was affectionately known to his Two years later he former students and field assistants. Unfortunately we 1 The Bulletin • Number 113 was awarded a Master of Science degree by the same of stratigraphy as a means of isolating and defining institution and was inducted into Sigma Xi, the scientific cultural assemblages in a chronological sequence, and he honor society. He received the Ph.D. in anthropology from employed the techniques of stratigraphic excavation at a Columbia University in 1944 with the publication of his time when other archaeologists in the region were still doctoral dissertation, The Pre-Iroquoian Occupations of digging in arbitrary levels. In addition to being an exacting New York Stat, which also garnered the A. Cressy field technician, he was a trained physical anthropologist Morrison Prize of the New York Academy of Sciences. and paleopathologist. During this time of study Bill advanced from Because he was convinced that information Assistant Archaeologist to Archaeologist to Curator of gained through archaeological excavations and research Anthropology at the Rochester Museum where he should be disseminated as quickly as possible, he espoused conducted osteometric and paleopathological studies in a rigorous publication regime. His first scholarly paper addition to excavating and reporting such prehistoric sites appeared in 1927. By the time he received his doctorate as Lamoka Lake, Castle Creek, and Brewerton, among from Columbia University, he already had forty other now familiar places in Northeast prehistory. publications to his credit, some of major significance. Eventually he would excavate nearly 100 major prehistoric Eventually, the list would grow to more than 165 books, sites and contact -period sites in many parts of northeastern articles, and monographs dealing with archaeological sites North America, thereby becoming the undisputed authority in New York, Ontario, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, on the archaeology of this region. eastern Long Island, Staten Island, New Jersey, and Dr. Ritchie worked for the Rochester Museum of Pennsylvania. For a complete bibliography of Dr. Ritchie's Arts and Sciences until 1949 at which time he accepted the work, see Current Perspectives in Northeastern title and position of State Archaeologist at the New York Anthropology: Essays in Honor of William A. Ritchie State Museum in Albany. He continued in this capacity (Researches and Transactions of the New York State until his retirement in 1971. He had carried out numerous Archaeological Association, volume 17, number 1, edited surveys and excavated over 100 sites in the northeastern by R. E. Funk and C. F. Hayes III, 1977). United States and Canada. Dr. Ritchie's writings are clear and distinct, and Dr. Ritchie was the recipient of numerous honors relatively free of esoteric jargon. Moreover, he was not and citations, among them a D.Sc. from Waynesburg above writing for the average