From 2013 until 2020 crews from the Public Archaeology Facility at Binghamton University conducted cultural resource investigations along NY Route 8 in the Town of Columbus, Chenango County, New York. The project, sponsored by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), called for replacing the NY 8 bridge (BIN 1004560) over Beaver Creek and an on-site detour. Precontact sites around the Beaver Creek VI site range in age from the Late Archaic to the Woodland periods. A single diagnostic projectile point (Meadowood) from the Beaver Creek VI site places site use within the Early Woodland Period, from approximately 700 BC to AD 0. Within the entire complex of nearby Beaver Creek sites (Beaver Creel I-VII), one Perkiomen point (or possibly Snook Kill variant) from Beaver Creek I dates the earliest occupation in the immediate area from the Late Archaic (4000-1800 BC) to the Early Transitional (1800-200 BC), while a pottery pipe stem fragment from Beaver Creek VII extends the occupation forward an indeterminate amount of time into the Woodland Period (700 BC+). The Beaver Creek VI site produced evidence for butchering, hide processing, and wood or bone working, and as such appears to be a short-term resource procurement and processing location. It is possible that the Beaver Creek I-VII sites represent different locations chosen for resource procurement/processing over time.
The Public Archaeology Facility (PAF) invites you to browse the project website and learn about the invaluable archaeological history of the Beaver Creek VI site.
