Richard T. Foley Site
Grants from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the R.K. Mellon Foundation enabled Herbstritt to lead another excavation in 1984, which examined the village found two years before. The excavation showed that the village had been planned in an oval but consisted of two concentric circles composed of circular houses, at least sixty in number. At the middle of the village appeared evidence of an earlier Monongahela village underlying the larger site. Although most Monongahela villages were stockaded, the village at the Foley Site clearly had no stockade. However, the site was accompanied by a large midden; along with European trade goods found elsewhere at the site, the midden has demonstrated that the site was occupied during the first third of the seventeenth century.
A large number of artifacts found in the midden at the Foley Site are animal-related, including bones of birds and a wide range of animals, as well as shells of box turtles. Also present are metal and clay objects such as beads and combs, but perhaps the most significant discovery at the site was that of European-produced objects made of brass and glass. The presence of these objects enabled archaeologists to determine that the village site was occupied during the Historic Monongahela period. Like the Foley Site, many Monongahela villages are located in river bottoms.
In 1984, the Foley Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places because of its information-yielding potential.
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Herbstritt, James T. (November 5, 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Richard T. Foley Site (36GR52)" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved December 21, 2009.
- ^ Goldstein, Lynne, ed. "Current Research. American Antiquity 50 (1985): 881-915.
- ^ George, Richard L. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Deffenbaugh Site (36FA57). National Park Service, 1981-07-31, 3.
Further reading
- Hennen, James and Dorothy Hennen. The Foley Site 36Gr52 Greene County, Pennsylvania.
- Herbstritt, James T. Field Work at the R.T. Foley Site 1982.
- Jones, Frank. "The Archaeological Fields of Southwestern Pennsylvania". Horn Papers 2: 743-754. Scottdale: Herald, 1945.