Archaeological Expeditions at CSHL

[Guy Cozza]

My experiences with Indian archaeology at the Lab began in the Deforest garden. Space was allocated to Lab employees, who wanted to have a small space to plant. This was in front of the present-day Daycare facility that was then the Deforest stables and garages. When digging my garden, I soon began to find some Indian arrowheads and projectile points. On investigation, I learned that the soil for the garden had been moved from the site of the tennis courts that had been the main Indian occupation area. Based on the projectile types and some of the pottery shards that I found, the time of occupation was from about 2500 B.C. to 600 A.D. by the Algonquin Indians. Over the years, I have discovered many points lying on or just beneath the surface of the ground.

When the field behind the Library, which had been Barbara McClintock’s cornfield, was cleared to make the parking lot, I found quite a few points but they were not indigenous to that area. I asked Barbara McClintock about the field and she told me that the soil came from another location.

The Williams House, dating from about the early 1800s, was found to be structurally unsafe and had to be demolished. I then had the opportunity to explore the interior where I found evidence of the previous occupants. In the wall spaces I found hand-made shoes along with the cobblers hammer and the wooden last used to make them. Under the floorboards of the 1930’s bathroom, I found a chamber pot probably left there by the workmen as a symbolic act when they were building the bathroom. From the markings on the pot, it dates from the 1870s. I also found a ledger by John Nichols, dated 1847 listing goods purchased by him. From the large quantities shown, they could have been purchases made to provision the whaling ships.

The Davenport House was being renovated and here was another opportunity to explore. The Davenport daughters used the tiny cupola on top as a playhouse and I found a primer by Amelia Davenport with lessons in arithmetic and spelling as well as some children’s toys.

In 1990, I assembled an exhibit for display in Grace at the Lab Centennial that contained Indian artifacts as well as examples of Colonial and later finds. I subsequently donated these items to the CSH Whaling Museum to be used as a cross section of life at Cold Spring Harbor in earlier days.