Native American Archaeology
Native Americans have been present in New York for 13,000 years. Since the mid-19th century, the New York State Museum has conducted archaeological investigations that have helped to write the histories of Native Americans in the state. The Museum continues that tradition today through field- and collections-based research. Current research is aimed at increasing our understandings of the earliest Native American occupants of New York, between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago; the histories of various agricultural crops and the evolution of agricultural systems some 3,000 to 500 years ago; the ways in which Native American groups settled the landscape and how settlements changed through time 3,000 to 500 years ago; and the ways in which different Native American groups interacted with one another through trade, exchange, and symbolism.
Dr. Penelope B. Drooker
Curator of Anthropology Emerita pdrooker@hotmail.com
My archaeological research centers on two areas: the Contact Period in eastern North America (ca. 1500-1750), and perishable material culture, particularly archaeological textiles.
Dr. John P. Hart
Curator Emeritus john.hart@nysed.gov
My research has focused primarily on the histories of maize, bean, and squash in New York and the greater Northeast and the interactions of human populations with these crops.
Dr. Jonathan Lothrop
Curator of Archaeology jonathan.lothrop@nysed.gov
My research is focused on how and when Native Americans colonized and then settled the New York region from near the end of the Pleistocene or Ice Age into the early Holocene, between about 11,000 and 8000 B.C.
Dr. Christina Rieth
State Archaeologist and Co-Director, Cultural Resource Survey Program christina.rieth@nysed.gov
My research focuses on the ways that prehistoric groups interacted with their local environment and the role that such interaction had on the settlement and subsistence strategies of New York’s Late Prehistoric (A.D. 700-1450) occupants.
Single Staff Extended Info
Dr. Jennifer Lemak
Chief Curator of Historyjennifer.lemak@nysed.gov
Prior to my current position as the chief curator of history, I served as the senior historian/curator of social history for a decade. My major exhibition and publication projects include Votes for Women: Celebrating New York’s Suffrage Centennial (2017) and An Irrepressible Conflict: The Empire State in the Civil War (2012). I am also the author of Southern Life, Northern City: The History of Albany’s Rapp Road (SUNY Press, 2008), which focused on a community that migrated to Albany from Shubuta, Mississippi, and the greater migration experience in Albany.
Join the NYSM as we celebrate and honor the cultural heritage, diverse histories, and continuing contributions of Native People.
News Articles
Archaeological Discovery at Lake George
Published December 3, 2013 | Native American Archaeology
New York State Museum archaeologists have identified archaeological remains associated with a small Early Archaic camp dating to approximately 8,000 B.C. along the shore of Lake George in Warren County, New York. The site produced bifurcate and Ge...
NYSM Receives Donation of James Vieth Artifact Collection
Published October 25, 2018 | Native American Archaeology
From the 1930s through the early 1960s, avid avocational archaeologist Dr. James Vieth collected and conducted test excavations on Native American archaeological sites, most often in Rockland County, southeastern New York. His son, James Vieth Jr....
NYSM Archaeologists Return for Fourth Field Season at OPS Paleoindian Site
Published October 25, 2018 | Native American Archaeology
In September, NYSM archaeologists completed the 2018 excavations at the OPS Paleoindian site in Madison County, New York. The OPS site has yielded fluted points of the Crowfield "style," indicating an early Native American encampment dating to the...
Owlville Pine South (OPS) Archaeological Site Owners Donate Paleoindian Artifacts to NYSM
Published December 19, 2019 | Native American Archaeology
In June 2015, avocational archaeologists Mike Beardsley and Mark Clymer were surveying for Native American archaeological sites on farm property owned by Tom and Joyce Bush in central New York. Walking across their fields, Mike spied a large scrap...
NYSM Archaeologists Return for Fifth Field Season at OPS Paleoindian Site
Published April 6, 2020 | Native American Archaeology
In July and September 2019, NYSM archaeologists and volunteers conducted their fifth season of excavations at the OPS Paleoindian site in Madison County. Discovered in 2015, the OPS site has yielded stone fluted points of the Crowfield "style," in...
The McVaugh Donation: Insights on Hudson Valley Indigenous History
Published November 2, 2020 | Native American Archaeology
Over the years, the NYSM has received donations of some very large archaeological collections numbering hundreds of thousands of specimens, but small collections can also be important accessions. Born in 1909, Roger McVaugh grew up on his parents’...
The McVaugh Donation: Insights on Hudson Valley Indigenous History
Published November 2, 2020 | Native American Archaeology
Over the years, the NYSM has received donations of some very large archaeological collections numbering hundreds of thousands of specimens, but small collections can also be important accessions. Born in 1909, Roger McVaugh grew up on his parents’...
Science Tuesday: Clues for dating Paleoindian sites in New York State
Published September 21, 2021 | Native American Archaeology
How old are the oldest archaeological sites in New York? Put another way, when did Native Americans first people the region that we now call New York? These questions are difficult to answer because there are no radiocarbon-dated sites of these ea...
Science Tuesday: Late Ice Age Stone Point
Published July 25, 2022 | Native American Archaeology
Located in the middle reach of the Hudson River, Magdalene Island (Dutchess County, NY) has long been known to archaeologists as a location visited by ancient indigenous peoples. Until now, stone tools and other artifacts curated at the NYSM sugge...
The McVaugh Donation: Important Collections Come in Small Packages
Published November 28, 2022 | Native American Archaeology
Over the years, the NYSM has received donations of very large archaeological collections numbering hundreds of thousands of specimens—but small collections can also be important. One such donation, modest in size but rich in content, was...
Coupling Indigenous Artwork and Ancient Artifacts
Published January 22, 2024 | Native American Archaeology
The New York State Museum maintains its extensive material collections for the benefit of individuals and communities across the New York region and beyond. Increasingly, indigenous scholars, artists, and community members are accessing the NYSM's...