Waterport area yielded many Indian points, artifacts of much earlier era

This collection of Indian points ranges in age from 400 to 5,000 years, and was found near Waterport. Illustration from the book: Orleans County History: Past to Present, Bicentennial Year, 1976.

By Catherine Cooper, Orleans County Historian

“Illuminating Orleans” – Volume 4, Number 37

WATERPORT – As Orleans County prepares to celebrate its 200th year in 2025, we are moved to reflect on time, history and prehistory and our place in the continuum.

Geologists date the formation of the North American continent to 2.5 to 1.3 billion years ago. The glaciers that formed during the most recent Ice Age, some 120,000 years ago, formed the topography of New York State as they retreated north. The melting glaciers carved out the Niagara Escarpment and created Niagara Falls. Ridge Road was once the shoreline of Lake Ontario, formerly Lake Iroquois.

We are aware of these facts of our geological history but somehow the span of time covered in that short synopsis is unfathomable to us. We can more easily relate to more recent archeological history. Ample evidence of earlier human habitation has been documented throughout the county.

No mention of archaeology in Orleans County can fail to reference Stanley Vanderlaan of Albion, who literally stumbled upon what became his life’s passion when he found his first artifacts – flint chips and arrow points – while woodchuck hunting near Otter Creek in Barre in 1956. He was recognized as a Research Fellow of the Rochester Museum and the NYS Archeological Association for his contributions to the field.

In an essay on the Archaeological History of Orleans County which he wrote for inclusion in the book “Orleans County History: Past to Present, Bicentennial Year, 1976”, Vanderlaan wrote that Orleans County was primarily a hunting, fishing and food gathering area for the Indians. Over 10,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians hunted mastodons in this area. They used a spear with a sharp flint point known as a Clovis point. One was discovered in the mucklands, about one mile west of Barre Center and is believed to be 8,000 to 9,000 years old.

Following the extinction of the large animals, humans apparently left the area for some 3,000 years and returned some 5,000 years ago. Known as the Archaic Hunters, they used a distinctive javelin point for hunting, referred to as a Lamoka point. Many have been found along Oak Orchard Creek.

Illustration from the book: Orleans County History: Past to Present, Bicentennial Year, 1976 Artifacts from the Bamber Mound, near Waterport.

The Waterport area in general has yielded many treasures. A site referred to as the Bamber Mound on the Oak Orchard Creek “a mile downstream from the Waterport Dam” yielded stone and flint artifacts from the Hopewell or Adena Indians who lived there: net-sinkers, gorgets (ornaments hung around the neck), celts (stone ax blades), 4-sided projectile points, cache blades, human and animal bones. A site nearby yielded the earliest pottery found in the county, some highly decorated, with an estimated age of  2,000 to 2,500 years.

Two later sites, about 800 to 1200 years old, home to the Owasco Indians, were also located near Waterport. Fire-making flints, triangular points and pottery decorated with a herringbone design were found there. The Owasco Indians gave way to the Early Iroquois Indians who had significant habitations in the Oakfield area.

This whirlwind summary of human habitation in Orleans County begs the question: what will remain of our culture 5,000 years hence and how will it be interpreted?

(The Shelby Neuter Fort,  which dates to 1500 A.D. was the only known large permanent village in the  county. It will be discussed in a forthcoming column.)