point acquisition

The Conservancy Acquires Early 17th-Century Iroquois Village

European glass trade beads recovered from the site provide important clues to the area’s chronology. acquisition

When the Europeans arrived in eastern North America they brought trade materials such as glass beads and metal objects that became highly prized by native peoples. The Europeans mainly traded glass beads for furs. These beads were manufactured in Venice, France, Holland, and elsewhere. Because glass bead styles were produced over known and limited time periods, beads recovered from 16th- and 17th-century sites are very useful for providing chronological ordering of sites such as those located in the Niagara Frontier region of western New York State, south and east of present-day Buffalo.

Thousands of glass trade beads recovered from early historic Iroquois village sites in the Niagara Frontier region are giving archaeologists a clearer picture of the chronology of such sites as well as the nature of trade relationships.

Last spring, the Conservancy acquired an early 17th-century Iroquois village rich in glass trade beads from developers of the subdivision that surrounds the site in a bargainsale-to-charity transaction. First discovered in 1979 during a pipeline survey conducted by the State University of New York at Buffalo, the seven-acre Smokes Creek site is located in a rapidly developing area of Orchard Park, New York.

The Smokes Creek site, located less than three miles from another contemporaneous Iroquois village, has been dated between 1610 and 1630 based on its bead assemblage. An excavation in 1992 revealed a wide variety of glass beads numbering nearly 1,000, including eight types previously unknown to researchers. Archaeologists also found brass beads and pendants, marine shell objects, an iron ax, and a large quantity of stone material and tools, including numerous scrapers probably used to work hide.

“In the 16th and early 17th centuries, two contemporaneous Iroquoian villages are believed to have been located just south of present-

In addition to a wealth of beads, Smokes Creek has yielded other types of artifacts, such as stone tools, an iron ax, and this pipe stem.

This bead, shown from the front and side, was recovered during initial testing at the site in 1980.

day Buffalo,” explained William Engelbrecht, a retired professor of archaeology from Buffalo State College, who is familiar with the site. “Every 10 to 20 years these communities moved, resulting in a series of village sites scattered across the landscape. Geographical proximity suggests that Smokes Creek is one such village site.”

The Iroquois’s frequent movements are attributed to soil and wood depletion, or the result of increasing warfare with the Seneca to the east. —Tamara Stewart