LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 17 What If the Oldest Human Story in the Adirondacks Lies Beneath Our Canoes? Late spring. You're paddling the Raquette River near Piercefield Dam. The water lies still and mirror-like. Pines whisper overhead. A great blue heron lifts from a hidden bend. Then, just beneath your paddle, the riverbed seems to shimmer. There, deep in that bronze silt, archaeologists once uncovered a fluted spear point: ancient, elegant, and older than the Egyptian pyramids. More than 12,000 years old, it links us to the first known peoples to in- habit these waterways, Paleoindians whose lives were inscribed not in writing, but in stone, soil, and current. This wasn't just a tool; it was a message. A trace of human mastery at the edge of the Ice Age. The Piercefield Point: Not Just a Tool, A Testament In 2007, during dam repairs that lowered the water level, archaeologists conducted a dig and unearthed a remarkable artifact. Carved from local reddish chert and fluted at its base for hafting, the point is both practical and refined, evidence of a people who thrived in a landscape only recently unburdened by glaciers. A fluted point is a type of stone projectile charac- terized by a distinctive channel, or "flute," carefully removed from both faces. This groove helped the point attach securely to a spear shaft, making it an efficient hunting weapon. These tools are hallmarks of Paleoindian technology, among the oldest known in North America, and showcase early humans' advanced craftsmanship and adaptive intelligence. After analysis, archaeologists placed it in the Pa- leoindian period, a time of retreating ice sheets, ex- panding forests, and volatile climate shifts. It marked not just survival, but innovation. As Dr. Jonathan Lothrop of the New York State Mu- seum puts it, "These early peoples lived in the harsh- est conditions for centuries, not as wanderers scraping by, but as highly skilled experts intimately attuned to their environment." A Hidden Treasure, an Untold Story Despite its significance, the Piercefield Point re- mains "relatively obscure" in the broader archaeolog- ical record. It has never been published in a peer-re- viewed journal or widely exhibited to the public. "This artifact likely dates between 12,800 and 11,600 years ago," Dr. Lothrop explains. "It's an extraordinary marker of early human presence in the region, possibly connected with the hunting of megafauna like cari- bou." No protein residues have confirmed those associ- ations, but the environmental context strongly sug- gests a people living through the waning Ice Age — re- silient, adaptable, and extraordinarily knowledgeable about their land. These were not merely survivors. They were master- ful practitioners of ecological intelligence in one of North America's most rugged emerging ecosystems. Who Were the First Adirondackers? These early inhabitants belonged to the broader category of Paleoindians, small bands of hunter-gath- erers who spread across the continent near the end of the last Ice Age. The Clovis culture is the most widely recognized for its fluted points, but the Piercefield artifact may suggest a local adaptation or even a dis- tinct cultural variant uniquely suited to the Adirondack terrain. "The average person isn't even aware they were here," Lothrop notes. "But by living here, they became intimate masters of this challenging landscape." They likely hunted migratory caribou — and perhaps even mastodons — while foraging, fishing, and fash- ioning tools from local materials. The Piercefield Point — chipped from chert possibly sourced in the Ottawa Valley — embodies this deep, tactile intelligence. Echoes from the Ice Age: The Ancient Spear Point of Piercefield Dam By George Cassidy Payne "Sometimes history isn't in books or ruins. Sometimes it's in the mud at a dam site." —Curt Stager

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