...Botany

These clay pipes were excavated in Lancaster County in 1985 at the Shenks Ferry site (36LA2).  They are tobacco pipes made by the Susquehannocks, and the upper one is unusual in that it is in the shape of an animal. The Susquehannocks  were farmers who  raised corn,  beans, and squash, though they still relied
on hunting and gathering.  They lived in villages of bark covered longhouses often surrounded by stockades.  All of our information about this Native culture comes from the archaeological  record and descriptions by early European settlers, like the one by Capt. John Smith of the   Jamestown Settlement in Virginia about his encounter with the Susquehannocks  in 1608.

...Zoology

Antler bone combs have been excavated from at least five Susquehanna archaeological sites in central Pennsylvania in Lancaster, York, Cumberland, and Dauphin Counties.  These sites were occupied between A.D. 1575 and 1680. The carved images and figures may represent myths,  legends, or possibly clan affiliations.  The images include animal, and geometric shapes, although the most common image is the human figure.

...History

Excavating a historic archaeological site, like the Reed Site in Indiana County, finds this IUP student in the bottom of a circular “feature”.  Because fragments of chain were found here, the feature seems to have been used as part of a smokehouse used by the tenant farmers for smoking pork and other meats.

...Science

This student, at the Ellis School in Pittsburgh, is looking through a mock “flotation” sample from a “trash pit” or “feature” similar to those found at archaeological sites throughout the Commonwealth.  Features contain small pieces of artifacts like ceramics and stone tools, seeds, nuts, and other botanicals and small animal bones.  Archaeologists use these to reconstruct daily life in the past.

...Geography

Sheep Rock Shelter in Huntingdon County is one of the oldest

archaeological sites in Pennsylvania.  First occupied more than 10,000 years ago, it was home to Native groups during the Archaic and Woodland periods.  The site contained well preserved bark baskets and sleeping mats.  Today, it is covered by the waters of Raystown Lake, but its knowledge is preserved through the excavations by Penn State and Juniata College.