Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 1085.46.101, NY Route 146 over the Normanskill, Town of Guilderland, Albany County, New York - J. S. Cardinal (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

The Rose Road Localities, Town of Pitcairn, St. Lawrence County, New York: Part 3–Minerals of the Wollastonite Skarn - Chamberlain, Steven C.; Walter, Michael R.; Robinson, George W.; Bailey, David G.; Emproto, Christopher R.; M. V. Lupulescu; Chiarenzelli, Jeffrey R. (Rocks & Minerals, 2021)
The Wollastonite Skarn northeast of Pitcairn has been a productive locality for mineral collectors for nearly 140 years. It is still an active fee locality and one worth visiting. We have detailed the history (Chamberlain et al. 2018) and geology (Chiarenzelli et al. 2019) in the first two parts of this series of articles. Here we examine the mineralogy of the Wollastonite Skarn in detail.

The Rose Road Localities, Town of Pitcairn, St. Lawrence County New York: Part 4—Minerals of the Purple Diopside Mound - S. C. Chamberlain; Walter, M. R.; Bailey, D. G.; J. R. Chiarenzelli; Emproto, C. R.; Robinson, G. W.; M. V. Lupulescu (Rocks & Minerals, 2021)
The Purple Diopside Mound is almost newly discovered (2012) compared to the adjacent Wollastonite Skarn, which has been a productive locality for mineral collectors for nearly 140 years. Both have common ownership and remain active fee localities well worth visiting. We have detailed the history (Chamberlain et al. 2018) and geology (Chiarenzelli et al. 2019) in the first two parts of this series of articles. Here we examine the mineralogy of the Purple Diopside Mound in detail.

Archaeological Data Recovery Report, PIN 2134.41.321, NY Routes 5, 8, & 12, North-South Arterial Reconstruction, The N.A. White and Sons Pottery Site, City of Utica, Oneida County, New York - B. R. Dale (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, Addendum, PIN 3314.34.101 NY Route 34 over Barge Canal, Towns of Brutus and Cato, Cayuga County, New York - B. R. Dale; Dubuque, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resources Site Examination, PIN 2023.34.101, NY Route 69 over the Sauquoit Creek, Original Sauquoit Creek Aqueduct Site (06542.000027), Village of Whitesboro, Town of Whitestown, Oneida County, New York - B. R. Dale; H. Clark; Sobik, C. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 6010.19.121, Bridge Replacement (BIN 1026940) NY State Route 54 over Willow Grove Creek, Town of Milo, Yates County, New York - R. Dean (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Schaghticoke, New York: A Nineteenth Century Mill Town; Domestic, Commercial, and Industrial Site Archaeology along the Hoosic River - R. Dean; M.J. Lenardi; M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resources Survey Program Series 9, 2021)

Dietary ecology of the scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium serum - DeSantis, L.R.G.; R. S. Feranec; Antón, M.; Lundelius, E. L. (Current Biology, 2021)
The scimitar-toothed cat Homotherium was one of the most cosmopolitan cats of the Pleistocene, present throughout Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas until at least ~28 thousand years ago. Friesenhahn Cave (Bexar County, Texas) contains some of the best-preserved specimens of Homotherium serum alongside an abundance of juvenile mammoths, leading some to argue that H. serum preferentially hunted juvenile mammoths.Dietary data of Homotherium are rare, with their ecology inferred from morphological, taphonomic, and genetic data. Here, we use a multi-proxy approach to clarify the dietary ecology of H. serum as compared to extinct and extant cats and their relatives. Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) reveals that H. serum consumed soft and tough foods, similar to the extant cheetah, which actively avoids bone, but in stark contrast to extant lions and hyenas, which are observed to engage in durophagy (i.e., bone processing). DMTA data are consistent with taphonomic evidence of bone defleshing and the absence of bone-crunching behavior in H. serum. Stable carbon isotope values of H. serum indicate a clear preference for C4 grazers including juvenile mammoths, in agreement with taphonomic evidence suggestive of a Homotherium den and morphological data indicative of a relatively cursorial lifestyle. Notably, the inferred diet of H. serum contrasts with the extinct dirk-tooth sabertooth cat Smilodon fatalis, which preferred forest/woodland prey and engaged in bone processing. Homotherium serum exhibited a novel combination of morphological adaptations for acquiring open-country prey, consuming their soft and tough flesh—including the tough flesh of juvenile mammoths.
Keywords: carnivore; dental microwear; dietary ecology; felid; mammoth; Mammuthus; Pleistocene; Predator; sabertooth; Stable isotopes

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 6048.28.121, NY Route 248 over Sugar Creek (BIN 1043240), Town of Canisteo, Steuben County, New York - Dobbin, S.; J. F. Pasquini (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Sources and Significance of Pipestone Artifacts from Fort Ancient Sites - P. B. Drooker (Midcontinenetal Journal of Archaeology, 2021)
Red-stone artifacts, primarily pipes, have come from at least 18 Fort Ancient sites, plus many less-well-provenienced locations within Fort Ancient territory. Most appear to have been made of easily carved “pipestones.” Thanks to portable infrared mineral analyzer (PIMA) analysis by Thomas Emerson and colleagues at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey (ISAS), we now know the material source areas for over 80 museum-curated red pipestone artifacts from 16 Fort Ancient sites and related localities, as well as for a selection of nonred pipestone artifacts from the region. Only two material sources were identified: catlinite from southwestern Minnesota and Feurt Hill kaolinite flint clay from southern Ohio. Forms and disposition of the relatively few catlinite artifacts indicate interaction was taking place between Fort Ancient and Oneota peoples from at least the fourteenth to mid-fifteenth centuries onward. Red and speckled nonred Feurt Hill pipestone artifacts provide evidence of intraregional interaction.

Archaeological Data Recovery Report, PIN 2134.41.321, NY Routes 5, 8, & 12, North-South Arterial Reconstruction, 1019 Sunset Avenue Site (06540.001687; NYSM #12185), City of Utica, Oneida County, New York - Dubuque, J.; H. Clark; A. Lynch (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 9TCR.22.121, Culvert Block Replacement, Town of Colesville, Broome County, New York - Dubuque, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

14C Dates and Stable Isotope Ecology of Marine Vertebrates in the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene Champlain Sea - R. S. Feranec; Cournoyer, M. E.; A. L. Kozlowski (Radiocarbon, 2021)
The late Pleistocene to early Holocene Champlain Sea provides a unique opportunity to study the development of marine ecosystems in a context of global climatic change. This study presents radiocarbon ( ¹⁴ C) dates and stable isotope analyses on 15 vertebrate specimens from Champlain Sea sediments, including the Charlotte Whale, which is Vermont’s State marine fossil. Data are used in an attempt to investigate the timing of colonization and ecological dynamics in this newly formed sea. Using the average marine correction, ¹⁴ C dates on four specimens likely calibrate prior to or possibly synchronous with the accepted origination date for the Champlain Sea, implying larger marine reservoir effects than the average marine correction in the vertebrate tissues. Without knowing the specific marine reservoir offsets, it is not possible to calculate the timing of colonization or its relation to concurrent climatic change. Observed lower δ ¹³ C and δ ¹⁵ N values in walruses, a fin whale, and a right whale support consumption of prey from lower trophic levels such as bivalve mollusks, krill, and copepods. Higher isotopic values in beluga whales and a bird, the thick-billed murre, support consuming fish, such as cod and capelin. These isotopic data show comparable values and relationships as observed in modern arctic marine ecosystems.

“Man and the Mastodon”: Revisiting the Northborough Mastodon - R. S. Feranec; Martin Christiansen; David Driver; Stuart J. Fiedel (Eastern Paleontologist, 2021)

A new look at Eccaparadoxides (Cambrian, Trilobita) and its biostratigraphic significance - Geyer, Gerd; E. Landing; Żylińska, Anna (PalZ, 2021)
Eccaparadoxides is a geographically widely distributed trilobite genus that occurs in the middle part of the Cambrian System. However, the systematically important morphologic characteristics that can be used to differentiate taxa are often problematical in their application. A review of the large number (over 30) of significant species or forms assigned to Eccaparadoxides clearly indicates that only the pygidia offer fairly reliable morphologic criteria that can be used taxonomically and phylogenetically. The pygidia allow for recognition of four different morphological groups (pusillus, lamellatus, pradoanus and asturianus) of which the asturianus group can only be questionably assigned to the genus. Species known only from cranidia cannot be assigned to Eccaparadoxides with certainty. This study refines the biostratigraphy for the interval from the upper Wuliuan to the middle Drumian and shows that this interval brackets the range of most Eccaparadoxides species. The genera or subgenera Baltoparadoxides, Rejkocephalus and Macrocerca are evaluated. Eccaparadoxides zelus, E. epimetheus and Eccaparadoxides? hestia are newly proposed species.

The Souss lagerstätte of the Anti-Atlas, Morocco: discovery of the first Cambrian fossil lagerstätte from Africa - Geyer, Gerd; E. Landing (Scientific Reports, 2021)
Episodic low oxygenated conditions on the sea-floor are likely responsible for exceptional preservation of animal remains in the upper Amouslek Formation (lower Cambrian, Stage 3) on the northern slope of the western Anti-Atlas, Morocco. This stratigraphic interval has yielded trilobite, brachiopod, and hyolith fossils with preserved soft parts, including some of the oldest known trilobite guts. The “Souss fossil lagerstätte” (newly proposed designation) represents the first Cambrian fossil lagerstätte in Cambrian strata known from Africa and is one of the oldest trilobite-bearing fossil lagerstätten on Earth. Inter-regional correlation of the Souss fossil lagerstätte in West Gondwana suggests its development during an interval of high eustatic levels recorded by dark shales that occur in informal upper Cambrian Series 2 in Siberia, South China, and East Gondwana.

Chlorine-Rich Amphiboles from the Grenville-Age Hudson Highlands of New York State - Gilland, Alexandra J.; Hebert, Laurel I.; Javier-Jimenez, Diego R.; Masi, Janey M.; Meyler, Shannon R.; Schwartz, Spencer G.; Verhaeg, Emily A.; Hughes, John M.; Lincoln, Emily S.; O'Brien, Griffin P.; Powers, Sarah K.; Schireman, Raymond G.; et al. (The Canadian Mineralogist, 2021)
Some Grenville-age rocks exposed in the uplifted region of the Hudson Highlands of southern New York are amphiboledominant igneous rocks. The amphibole-rich rocks, which are locally pegmatitic in nature, are associated with magnetite ore and coarse-grained syenite; the ore was discovered and mined from the middle of the 18th century to the end of the 19th century. The amphiboles have attracted the attention of many researchers for nearly two centuries. Chemical analyses demonstrate that they are pargasite or hastingsite in composition and are particularly rich in Cl and K. High-precision crystal structure analyses of 11 Cl-rich amphiboles from the Hudson Highlands (0.0134 , R1 , 0.0169), including separation of M(1)Fe and M(1)Mg, allow corroboration of, and greatly extends the range of, previous models of Cl incorporation in amphiboles that were derived from a small number of samples. In addition to crystal structures and major-element analyses, trace-element data and Raman spectra are provided.
Keywords: amphibole chemistry; Cl-bearing amphibole; crystal structure; Grenville age; Hudson Highlands

Cultural Resource Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 7040.25.101, US Route 9 Bridge over Ausable River, Towns of Ausable and Peru, Clinton County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, Addendum, PIN 5308.37.121, US Route 62 at NY Route 429, Town of Wheatfield, Niagara County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Early Maize in Northeastern North America: A Comment on Emerson and Colleagues - J. P. Hart; Lovis, W. A.; Katzenberg, M. A. (American Antiquity, 2021)
Emerson and colleagues (2020) provide new isotopic evidence on directly dated human bone from the Greater Cahokia region. They conclude that maize was not adopted in the region prior to AD 900. Placing this result within the larger context of maize histories in northeastern North America, they suggest that evidence from the lower Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River valley for earlier maize is “enigmatic” and “perplexing.” Here, we review that evidence, accumulated over the course of several decades, and question why Emerson and colleagues felt the need to offer opinions on that evidence without providing any new contradictory empirical evidence for the region.
Keywords: early maize; microbotanicals; northeastern North America; Stable isotopes

The effects of charring on common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) seed morphology and strength - J. P. Hart (Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2021)
Bean (Phaseolus L. spp.) is one of three crops along with maize (Zea mays L. ssp. mays) and squash (Cucurbita L. spp.) that dominated Native American agricultural systems throughout the Western Hemisphere. Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was the species present in northeastern North America and was the last of the three crops to be adopted there. Common bean macrobotanical remains become archaeologically visible as charred whole seeds and more typically cotyledons around cal. CE 1250. After that time, common bean is scare in the archaeological record, especially when compared to charred maize kernels. This has led paleoethnobotanists to suggest charred common bean seeds do not preserve well because of physical changes during charring. The results of charring experiments presented here indicate that cotyledons of charred dried common bean seeds heated at temperatures between 220 ◦C and 260 ◦C maintain strength, identifying characteristics, are little changed in size, and so are likely to survive and be identified. Common bean seeds carbonized at higher temperatures lose substantial mass, exhibit surficial fissures, and consequently lose strength, suggesting they are unlikely to survive intact if at all in the archaeological record. Rehydrated seeds lose considerable strength at all temperatures and are less likely than carbonize dried beans to survive in the archaeological record.
Keywords: Charring; common bean; Experimental archaeology; Seed identification

Molecular Phylogenetics of the Chub Suckers (Teleostei: Catostomidae: Erimyzon) Inferred from Nuclear and Mitochondrial Loci - Hunt, Elizabeth P.; Conway, Kevin W.; Hamilton, Kathryn; Hilton, Eric J.; Piller, Kyle R.; J. J Wright; Portnoy, David S. (Ichthyology & Herpetology, 2021)
Phylogenetic relationships among the four currently recognized species in the genus Erimyzon were reconstructed using sequence data obtained from the mitochondrially encoded COI and the nuclear-encoded IRBP2 genes. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian analyses yielded five groups of Erimyzon. Three of the clades corresponded to the species E. oblongus, E. tenuis, and E. claviformis. Individuals identified as E. sucetta were split into two separate clades, with one clade more closely related to E. oblongus than to the other E. sucetta clade in three of four analyses. Two instances of putative hybridization between sympatrically distributed species were also detected, one involving E. oblongus and E. sucetta and the other involving E. claviformis and E. tenuis. The results suggest that the currently recognized E. sucetta comprises two species, with potentially non-overlapping distributions. Further morphological investigation is warranted to provide additional support for recognizing this putative fifth species of Erimyzon.

Phylogeny based on ultra-conserved elements clarifies the evolution of rails and allies (Ralloidea) and is the basis for a revised classification - J. J. Kirchman; Rotzel-McInerney, N.; Giarla, Thomas C.; Olson, Storrs L.; Slikas, Elizabeth; Fleischer, Robert C. (Ornithology, 2021)

Surficial Geology of the Montezuma 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Cayuga, Seneca and Wayne Counties, New York. - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J.; Bird, B. C. (New York State Museum Map and Chart Series, 2021)

American Trip: Set, Setting, and the Psychedelic Experience in the Twentieth Century by Ido Hartogsohn - Lander, D. R. (New York History, 2021)

Lophotrochozoa in the Cambrian evolutionary radiation and the Pelagiella problem - E. Landing; Geyer, Gerd; Jirkov, Igor A.; Schiaparelli, Stefano (Papers in Palaeontology, 2021)
Tiny snail-like conchs of Pelagiella Matthew are important in discussions of lophotrochozoan and mollusc origins in the Cambrian evolutionary radiation (CER). The limited morphological features of Pelagiella conchs have led to the ‘Pelagiella problem’: (1) poorly distinguished Pelagiella species; (2) an exceptional genus range across all Cambrian palaeocontinents and climate belts; (3) an unparalleled genus-lifespan (c. 31 myr) in the early Palaeozoic; and (4) the assumption that all Pelagiella spp. are gastropods, which compromises lophotrochozoan and mollusc phylogenies. The type species P. atlantoides is a gastropod, but we show that so-called Pelagiella species with sub-to-triangular apertures and turbiniform conchs are not referable to the genus. Re-evaluation of spectacular specimens of Pelagiella exigua Resser & Howell show it to be a polychaete with two apertural paleal chaetae fan arrays. Given that some modern sedentary polychaetes have paleal fan arrays, P. exigua is regarded as a likely member of the Sabellida Levinsen and is assigned to Pseudopelagiella gen. nov. Other Pelagiella spp. and forms with similar conchs are probably polychaetes not relevant to syntheses of early mollusc diversification. Pelagiellidae fam. nov. should be restricted to the late early Cambrian (c. 508 Ma) P. atlantoides. Pseudopelagiella exigua was unattached, probably benthic and lived with the apical conch surface on the sea floor, a mode of life similar to that of another family of the Sabellida, the sessile spirorbids that are cemented to substrate. Among numerous crown groups, the late early Cambrian eve of the CER included the polychaete Pseudopelagiella exigua and gastropod P. atlantoides.

(Re)proposal of three Cambrian Subsystems and their Geochronology - E. Landing; Geyer, Gerd; Schmitz, Mark D.; Wotte, Thomas; Kouchinsky, Artem (Episodes, 2021)
The use of “lower,” “middle,” and “upper” has persisted for a generation as a convenient and needed way to divide the Cambrian despite agreement that the system is to be divided globally into four series and ten stages. The traditional tripartite division of the system into regional series (Lower, Middle, Upper) reflected local geological and biotic developments not interprovincially correlatable with any precision. However, published use of “lower,” “middle,” and “upper” is unsatisfactory as these informal adjectives have no standard definition, confusingly evoke the earlier use of regional Cambrian series, and are regularly misused. Unacknowledged in the geologic literature is an almost 50 year-long use of three Cambrian subsystems that group as many as five regional Cambrian series. The proposal beginning in 1997 to divide the Avalonian and global Cambrian into four series and three subsystems is detailed herein, with the system divided into three unambiguously defined subsystems: a very long (ca. 32.6 Ma) Lower Cambrian Subsystem (=Terreneuvian and Series 2/proposed Laolingian Series), a short (ca. 9.8) Middle Cambrian Subsystem (=Miaolingian Series), and an Upper Cambrian Subsystem (=Furongian Series) with a corrected age at its top (ca. 486.8 Ma) and a very imprecisely determined ca. 10 Ma duration. The designations “Lower Cambrian Subsystem” or “global Lower Cambrian” serve to distinguish the proposed new chronostratigraphic units from traditional units as the “Lower Cambrian Series” and substitute for the needed, convenient, but undefined adjectives “lower,” “middle,” and “upper.”

Trace fossils, depositional context, and paleogeography of the upper Tal Group (upper lower Cambrian), Lesser Himalaya, India: a Gondwanan succession with no affinities to the Avalonia microcontinent – discussion of paper by Singh et al. (2019) - E. Landing; Geyer, Gerd (Ichnos, 2021)
Terminal Ediacaran–late early Cambrian deposition, faunas and passive margin evolution of the north Indian margin are recorded in the Nigali Dhar syncline succession. Restudy of the upper Tal Group (upper lower Cambrian Koti Dhaman Formation, KDF) ichnofauna from the Khud-Drabil section reduces it to 18 confidently named forms. The lower KDF (Lower Quartzite Member) Cruziana-Rusophycus assemblage is in subtidal (not intertidal) sandsheet facies. The overlying black Shale Member (SM) records trans-East Gondwanan deepening, not intertidal facies, in the Palaeolenus Zone. The SM, with low diversity Planolites-Palaeophycus assemblage, is overlain by subtidal (not intertidal) sandsheet facies of the middle KDF (Arkosic Sandstone Member, ASM) with shallow burrowers and furrowers (Gordia marina assemblage, new; Cruziana ichnofacies). KDF faunas with Cruziana and Rusophycus are similar to coeval, shallow marine associations elsewhere in Gondwana and NW Laurentia. Interpretation of a second KDF section 20 km from Khud-Drabil has confused an understanding of Lesser Himalaya geologic evolution as it claims Ordovician Cruziana species in the ASM and an angular SM–ASM unconformity caused by the Cambrian–Ordovician boundary Kurgiakh orogeny. However, upper lower Cambrian microfaunas occur in and above the ASM, while the angular SM–ASM unconformity is consistent with submarine sliding. KDF-type ichnofaunas do not show a tropical location of Avalonia, which has the distinctive lithofacies and biotas of a high-latitude continent unrelated to Gondwana.
Keywords: Avalonia; Cambrian; depositional environments; East Gondwana; India; Israel; Lesser Himalaya; paleogeography; sequence stratigraphy; Tal Group; trace fossils; upper Lower Cambrian

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 1089.73.101, US Route 4 over the Hudson River, Town of Northumberland, Saratoga County and Town of Greenwich, Washington County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 3028.14.121, NY Route 281 at NY Route 41 Intersection Improvement Project, Village of Homer, Cortland County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 3043.64.101, NY Route 11 at NY Route 49 Safety Improvement Project, Village of Central Square, Oswego County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 5814.50.121, NY Route 60 from US Route 20 to NY Route 83, Town of Pomfret, Chautauqua County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 9013.43.121, NY Route 42, Town of Fallsburg, Sullivan County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Pre-Reconnaissance Architectural Survey, PIN 4015.47.421, NY State Route 15 Corridor Operation Enhancement Project Phase I, Towns of Brighton and Henrietta, Monroe County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Data Recovery Architectural Investigation, PIN 2134.41.321, NY Routes 5, 8, & 12, North-South Arterial Reconstruction, City of Utica, Oneida County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation, PIN 2004.12.121, NY Route 51 over Steele Creek, Village of Ilion, Herkimer County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation, PIN 2029.53.121, Route 5S Bridge over Terwilleger Creek, Town of Florida, Montgomery County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

A Mid-Seventeenth-Century Drinking House in New Netherland - Michael T. Lucas; Traudt, K.S. (The Archaeology of New Netherland: A World Built on Trade, 2021)

Radiocarbon and Artifactual Evidence for Early 17th Century A.D. Dutch Activity at the Site of Fort Orange, Albany, New York, USA - Manning, S. W.; P. R. Huey; Michael T. Lucas; J. P. Hart (Journal of Field Archaeology, 2021)
Dutch exploitation of the upper Hudson River Valley initiated with Henry Hudson’s voyage in 1609 A.D. This began a period of resource exploitation by the Dutch that lasted until 1664 when the English took what had become known as New Netherland from the Dutch. The Dutch formed trade relations with Native Americans in the upper Hudson Valley and beyond that focused primarily on beaver and other animal pelts. No Dutch archaeological sites dating to before 1624 with the construction of Fort Orange at present-day Albany, New York, have been documented. However, archaeological evidence from strata pre-dating the Fort’s construction and Bayesian analysis of a series of radiocarbon dates from these strata establish a probable location of Dutch activities. These results suggest that the Fort was sited at a place of established Dutch-Native American interactions, a location utilized by Native Americans for centuries prior to the arrival of the Dutch.
Keywords: Bayesian analysis; Hudson River Valley archaeology; New Netherland; radiocarbon dating

Resolving Indigenous village occupations and social history across the long century of European permanent settlement in Northeastern North America: The Mohawk River Valley ~1450-1635 CE - Manning, Sturt W.; Lorentzen, Brita; J. P. Hart (PLOS ONE, 2021)
The timeframe of Indigenous settlements in Northeast North America in the 15th-17th centuries CE has until very recently been largely described in terms of European material culture and history. An independent chronology was usually absent. Radiocarbon dating has recently begun to change this conventional model radically. The challenge, if an alternative, independent timeframe and history is to be created, is to articulate a high-resolution chronology appropriate and comparable with the lived histories of the Indigenous village settlements of the period. Improving substantially on previous initial work, we report here high-resolution defined chronologies for the three most extensively excavated and iconic ancestral Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) village sites in New York (Smith-Pagerie, Klock and Garoga), and a fourth early historic Indigenous site, Brigg’s Run, and re-assess the wider chronology of the Mohawk River Valley in the mid-15th to earlier 17th centuries. This new chronology confirms initial suggestions from radiocarbon that a wholesale reappraisal of past assumptions is necessary, since our dates conflict completely with past dates and the previously presumed temporal order of these three iconic sites. In turn, a wider reassessment of northeastern North American early history and re-interpretation of Atlantic connectivities in the later 15th through early 17th centuries is required. Our new closely defined date ranges are achieved employing detailed archival analysis of excavation records to establish the contextual history for radiocarbon-dated samples from each site, tree-ring defined short time series from wood charcoal samples fitted against the radiocarbon calibration curve (‘wiggle-matching’), and Bayesian chronological modelling for each of the individual sites integrating all available prior knowledge and radiocarbon dating probabilities. We define (our preferred model) most likely (68.3% highest posterior density) village occupation ranges for Smith-Pagerie of ~1478–1498, Klock of ~1499–1521, Garoga of ~1550–1582, and Brigg’s Run of ~1619–1632.

Archaeological Data Recovery Report, PIN 2134.41.321, NY Routes 5, 8, & 12, North-South Arterial Reconstruction, 705 Roberts Street Archaeological Site (06540.001676; NYSM #12174), City of Utica, Oneida County, New York - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Phase IA Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 4015.47.421, NY State Route 15 Corridor Operation Enhancement Project Phase I, Towns of Brighton and Henrietta, Monroe County, New York - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resources Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 0810.01.101, Safety Improvement Project, Towns of Riverhead, East Hampton, and Southold, Suffolk County, New York - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 9307.10.121, NY Route 7 Re-Paving in the Village of Otego, Otsego County, New York - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 9TCR.21.121, Culvert Block Replacement in the Town of Norwich, Chenango County, New York - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Archaeological Work Plan, PIN 5134.48.402, NY Route 5 (Buffalo Skyway) Improvements Project, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York - D. E. Merwin (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Site Examination, PIN 2806.04.321, NY Route 5 Sidewalk Extension, Frederick R. Spencer/Pre-1817 Tavern Site, Village of Wampsville, Town of Lenox, Madison County, New York - D. E. Merwin; A. Lynch; V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Archaeological Data Recovery Report, PIN 2134.41.321, NY 5, 8, & 12 North-South Arterial Reconstruction, 705-707 Bristol Street Archaeological Site (06540.001682), City of Utica (MCD 06540), Oneida County, New York - Moragne, S.; B. R. Dale; R. Dean; D. E. Mazeau; Sobik, C. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 6001.25.121, BIN 1011060, New York 14A over Rock Stream, Town of Reading, Schuyler County, New York - Moragne, S.; T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Seeking Truth in the Attica Collection - Noble, A. (New York History, 2021)

Surficial Geology of the Cleveland 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego Counties, New York - Pair, D. L.; Bird, B. C.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2021)

Surficial Geology of the Manlius 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Madison and Onondaga Counties, New York - Pair, D. L.; Manchester, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2021)

Comparative phylogeographic analysis suggests a shared history among eastern North American boreal forest birds - Ralston, J.; FitzGerald, A. M.; Burg, T. M.; Starkloff, N. C.; Warkentin, I. G.; J. J. Kirchman (Ornithology, 2021)
Phylogeographic structure within high-latitude North American birds is likely shaped by a history of isolation in refugia during Pleistocene glaciations. Previous studies of individual species have come to diverse conclusions regarding the number and location of likely refugia, but no studies have explicitly tested for biogeographic concordance in a comparative phylogeographic framework. Here we use a hierarchical approximate Bayesian computation analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences from 653 individuals of 6 bird species that are currently co-distributed in the boreal forest of North America to test for biogeographic congruence. We find support for congruent phylogeographic patterns across species, with shallow divergence dating to the Holocene within each species. Combining genetic results with paleodistribution modeling, we propose that these species shared a single Pleistocene refugium south of the ice sheets in eastern North America. Additionally, we assess modern geographic genetic structure within species, focusing on Newfoundland and disjunct high-elevation populations at the southern periphery of ranges. We find evidence for a “periphery effect” in some species with significant genetic structure among peripheral populations and between peripheral and central populations. Our results suggest that reduced gene flow among peripheral populations, rather than discordant biogeographic histories, can explain the small differences in genetic structure and levels of genetic diversity among co-distributed boreal forest birds.

Archaeological Monitoring Report, PIN 2134.50.323, New York Route 5, 8, & 12 North-South Arterial Reconstruction including portions of Burrstone Road and Champlin Avenue, 2012 Soil Boring, City of Utica, Oneida County, New York - J. Ross; A. Lynch; Williams, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Description of larvae of Eleotris perniger (Teleostei: Eleotridae) in transition from saltwater to freshwater from Montserrat, West Indies - Schmidt, Robert E.; McMullin, Erin; J. J Wright; B. R. Weatherwax (Novitates Caribaea, 2021)
Larvae  of  the  Smallscaled  Spinycheek  Sleeper  (Eleotris  perniger)  in  transition  from  saltwater to freshwater were identified using COI and 16S gene sequences and the morphology and color pattern were then described. Available freshwater habitat for this species on Montserrat is minimal and continued existence is threatened by potential water withdrawals.
Keywords: amphidromy; Caribbean Island; Smallscale Spinycheek Sleeper

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 3043.68.221, US Route 11 ADA Project, Caughdenoy Road to Factory Street, Town of Cicero, Onondaga County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 3287.22.101, NY Route 370 Reconstruction, Village of Liverpool, Onondaga County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Structure Documentation, PIN 2806.12.301, Lock Road Bridge over the Barge Canal, Town of Verona, Oneida County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Structure Documentation, PIN 2CUL.TR.101, County Route 65 Bridges over Mohawk River, Town of Mindenville, Montgomery County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 1089.73.101, US Route 4 Over the Hudson River Bridge Replacement Project, Town of Northumberland, Saratoga County, New York - Sobik, C.; R. Dean (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Archaeological Data Recovery Report, PIN 2134.41.321, NY 5, 8, & 12 North-South Arterial Reconstruction, 1026-1028 Lincoln Avenue Historic Archaeological Site (06540.001693), City of Utica (MCD 06540), Oneida County, New York - D. Staley (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Disentangling the effects of host relatedness and elevation on haemosporidian parasite turnover in a clade of songbirds - Starkloff, N. C.; Turner, W. C.; FitzGerald, A. M.; Oftedal, M. C.; Martinsen, E. S.; J. J. Kirchman (Ecosphere, 2021)
The persistence of a parasite species in an ecological community is determined both by its environmental tolerance and host breadth. The relative contribution of these niche characteristics to parasite community structure is challenging to parse because host persistence is also a consequence of extrinsic environmental factors. We investigated haemosporidian parasites (genera Plasmodium, Leucocytozoon, and Haemoproteus) in a clade of avian hosts in eastern North America. Species in this clade of Catharus thrushes occupy specific elevational bands in a non‐phylogenetically determined manner. This allowed us to tease apart the effects of host relatedness and elevation on parasite community structure, diversity, and infection prevalence. We screened blood and tissue samples from 414 adult birds from four mountain ranges in the Appalachian Highlands for blood parasites using a cytochrome‐b‐nested PCR protocol and identified parasite lineages by sequencing. We found an overall infection prevalence of 88.4% and identified a total of 38 parasite lineages including six novel lineages. Parasite community patterns varied by genus. Host relatedness rather than elevational zone predicted the beta turnover and phylobeta turnover of Leucocytozoon parasites, indicating that closely related rather than geographically proximate host species had more similar parasites. This pattern was not seen in Plasmodium parasites because the diversity of this parasite genus varied considerably in the high elevational zones among mountain ranges, that is, a sky‐island effect. Haemoproteus parasites were rare in this study system. Our study suggests that the mechanisms that underlie community structuring vary between haemosporidian genera d​u​
Keywords: avian malaria; beta diversity; Catharus; community turnover; elevational turnover; Haemospororida; host relatedness; Leucocytozoon; Plasmodium

The classic mid-Devonian Eospermatopteris localities, Gilboa NY, USA - Stein, William E.; Berry, Christopher M.; L. VanAller Hernick; Mannolini, F. (Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 2021)
For over 150 years, the mid-Devonian Eospermatopteris stump cast localities comprising the “oldest known petrified forest” of Goldring (1927) at Gilboa, New York have rarely been accessible for study. In 2010–2013, we had the opportunity to appraise all three major sites. Presented here are observations focusing on botanical data that may prove useful for interpreting future sites. Eospermatopteris at Riverside Quarry consists of stem base casts/molds, and corresponding root mounds on a paleosol surface. Sizes, spatial distributions, and unusual occurrences of the root mounds are assessed. Trunks above the base are also observed as compressions showing features of outer cortex and probable vascular tissues, as interpreted from previous examples. An arboreal isoetalean is noted on the paleosol along with an enigmatic mound possibly representing a Stigmaria-like root system similar to that described at Cairo NY. Details of aneurophytalean stems on the paleosol surface are presented including evidence of attached lateral branch systems, or possible rooting structures of small size. The paleosol at Gilboa Dam is remarkably similar to that at Riverside Quarry, but with carbonaceous remains much better preserved. Eospermatopteris base casts and root mounds are present along with probable aneurophytalean stems showing abundant evidence of attached lateral branches that are themselves profusely branched. The Manorkill locality exhibits weathered Eospermatopteris casts that outcrop along a ledge offering profile views. The Gilboa localities are significant in providing probably the best botanical data on rooted and close to in place floral elements from a mid-Devonian paleosol to date.
Keywords: Aneurophytales; Eospermatopteris; Gilboa; Lycopsida; Pseudosporochnales

Cultural Resources Architectural Survey, PIN 0810.01.101, Safety Improvement Project, Towns of Riverhead, East Hampton, and Southold, Suffolk County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2021)

Radiocarbon-Based Chronology-Building in Northern New York - Abel, T. J.; J. P. Hart; Vavrasek, J. L. (The SAA Archaeological Record, 2020)

Surficial Geology of the Albany 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Albany and Rensselaer Counties, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski; R. J. Dineen; Leone, J. (Map & Chart, 2020)

Surficial Geology of the Albany County Portion of the Niskayuna 7.5-Minute Quadrangle - Backhaus, K. J.; R. J. Dineen; A. L. Kozlowski (Map & Chart, 2020)

Surficial Geology of the Albany County Portion of the Schenectady 7.5-Minute Quadrangle - Backhaus, K. J.; R. J. Dineen; A. L. Kozlowski (Map & Chart, 2020)

Surficial Geology of the Albany County Portion of the Troy North 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski; Leone, J. (Map & Chart, 2020)

Surficial Geology of the Albany County Portion of the Troy South 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; Leone, J.; A. L. Kozlowski; R. J. Dineen (Map & Chart, 2020)

Elucidating the impact of anthropogenic supplementation, isolation and ecological heterogeneity on Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) genetic structure - Bruce, Spencer A.; George, Scott D.; Baldigo, Barry P.; J. J Wright (Landscape Ecology, 2020)
Context Preservation of genetic diversity is a commonly cited, yet under-evaluated aspect of species conservation plans. Understanding the influence of human-mediated translocations and habitat constraints on landscape patterns of genetic structure in threatened fish species is essential to maintaining biodiversity and adaptive potential. Objectives We evaluated the degree of influence from supplemental stocking, assessed the spatial population genetic structure, and examined the potential relationship between hybridization and ecology for Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in the Black River watershed in New York State, USA. Methods We used 13 microsatellite loci from over 450 fish at 18 sampling locations to map genetic structure and diversity, estimate the level of influence from stocked conspecifics, and model the relationship between hybridization and ecological characteristics. Results We found widespread genetic introgression attributable to state-based stocking activities and a pattern of hierarchical genetic diversity across the landscape, which has additionally been influenced by geography. Site-specific fish assemblage variables appear to be unrelated to introgressive hybridization from stocked conspecifics, and only one hydrochemical variable, SO42−, exhibited strong explanatory power in predicting hybridization between wild and supplemented fish. A single locality exhibited genetic structure consistent with no history of introgression potentially associated with differences in elevation, and thus contributed disproportionately to the level of genetic diversity observed across the landscape. Conclusions When examining genetic structure in fluvial riverine networks, it is important to consider the combined and interacting effects of both hybridization and habitat, which may result in augmented genetic structure not predictable from any single factor.

Identifying Genetic Diversity and Population Structure in Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) Populations of the Upper Hudson River and its Tributaries - Bruce, S. A.; J. J Wright (Final Reports of the Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship Program, 2017, 2020)
As anthropogenic impacts accelerate changes to landscapes across the globe, understanding how genetic population structure is influenced by habitat features and dispersal is key to preserving evolutionary potential at the species level. Furthermore, knowledge of these interactions is essential to identifying potential constraints on local adaptation and for the development of effective management strategies. These issues were addressed for Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations residing in the Upper Hudson River watershed of New York State by investigating the spatial genetic structure of over 300 fish collected from 14 different sampling locations encompassing three river systems (the Upper Hudson, the Boreas, and the Schroon). The results of this work suggest that fish in the area (i) exhibit varying degrees of introgression from State-directed stocking activities (ii) exhibit genetic population structure at the level of individual tributaries as well as the larger river systems where they are found, dictated by migration and influenced by habitat connectivity, and (iii) demonstrate comparatively similar measures of genetic diversity but varied measures of effective population size based on sampling location. These findings represent a significant contribution to the current literature surrounding Brook Trout migration and dispersal, especially as it relates to larger interconnected systems. Finally, this study is concluded with a discussion about how the methods used here may aid in the development of other species-focused conservation plans that incorporate an evolutionary perspective.

The Archaeology of Native Americans in Pennsylvania - Carr, K. W.; Bergman, C. A.; C. B. Rieth; Means, B. K.; Moeller, R. W. (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 2023.34.101, NY Route 69 Bridge over Sauquoit Creek, Village of Whitesboro, Oneida County, New York - B. R. Dale (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Data Recovery and Monitoring, PIN 8463.15.101, Rosendale Culvert (CIN C870067) Replacement, Route 213 Southern Embankment Repair, The Snyder Canal Slip, Delaware & Hudson Canal, and D & H and Lawrenceville Cement Works Site, Town of Rose - R. Dean (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 1807.09.101, NY Route 4 at Wright’s Loop, Bemis Heights, Town of Stillwater, Saratoga County, New York - R. Dean (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey Report, PIN 2023.34.101, New York State Route 69 over Saquoit Creek, Village of Whitesboro, Village of Yorkville and Town of Whitestown, Oneida County, New York - R. Dean; Sobik, C. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey Report, PIN 2806.00.121, Culvert Replacement (C260050), NYS Route 8, Town of Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York – Archaeology - R. Dean (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Reply to Van Valkenburgh et al. - DeSantis, L. R. G.; R. S. Feranec; Fox-Dobbs, Kena; Harris, John M.; Cerling, Thure E.; Crites, Jonathan M.; Farrell, Aisling B.; Takeuchi, Gary T. (Current Biology, 2020)

Cultural Resources Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey Report for PIN 4078.16.121 (19PR06240) New York State Route 78 Slope Failure Hamlet of Styrkersville, Town of Java, Wyoming County, New York - Dobbin, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 4078.16.121 (19PR06240), NY Route 78 Slope Failure, Hamlet of Strykersville, Town of Java, Wyoming County, New York, Cultural Resource Survey Program - Dobbin, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8103.52.121, Warehouse Lane Access Improvements, Village of Elmsford, Westchester County, New York - Dubuque, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Statement and Commitments from SAA Editors to Change the Underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous, and Other Scholars from Diverse Backgrounds in Our Publications - Gamble, L.; Martin, D.; Hendon, J.; Santoro, C.; Herr, S.; C. B. Rieth; van der Linde, S.; Rodning, C.; Hegmon, M.; Birch, J. (American Antiquity, 2020)

Cambrian deposition in northwestern Africa: Relationship of Tamlelt massif (Moroccan‒Algerian border region) succession to the Moroccan Meseta - Geyer, Gerd; E. Landing (Journal of African Earth Sciences, 2020)
The Tamlelt massif is physiographically grouped as a continuation of the easternmost High Atlas. However, re-examination of the Tamlelt's Cambrian litho- and biostratigraphy shows a depositional history that differs from that of the Souss Basin to the southwest (i.e., west-central High Atlas and eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco). Our re-examination leads to recommendations on the local stratigraphic succession and nomenclature. Trilobites from the Al Hamrat Formation in the Tamlelt massif indicate late early Cambrian (upper Epoch 2) siliciclastics overlying shallow marine, carbonate-rich deposits (Jbel Menhouhou Formation) similar to and coeval with those of the distant western Anti-Atlas region but older than and lithologically distinct from fluviatile siliciclastics (Epoch 3) in the nearby eastern Anti-Atlas. The Jbel Menhouhou carbonates unconformably overlie probable terminal Proterozoic volcanics and clastics of the Bou Kaïs Formation (new) and are overlain by shales and arenites of the upper Kheneg El Kahal Group, which features a Cambrian Stage 4 regressive half-cycle. Regional differences in lithofacies disappear in the early Miaolingian with relatively monotonous, mudstone-rich facies in the Tamlelt massif area (Batene El Jdari Formation) comparable to those of the Jbel Wawrmast Formation of the west-central High Atlas and central‒eastern Anti-Atlas. Probable early late Cambrian brachiopods from siliciclastic rocks of the Tamlelt area indicate a later Cambrian depositional history similar to that of the Anti-Atlas and perhaps Moroccan Meseta. The distinctiveness of the upper lower Cambrian deposits of the Souss Basin from those of the Tamlelt massif apparently reflects a depositional framework independent from other regions of the Atlas ranges, and suggests the Tamlelt region was confluent with the Meseta basin to the northwest. Known trilobites permit precise age assignments through the Tamlelt succession and include species (or forms) which contribute to a refined correlation within West Gondwana and improve West Gondwana‒Baltica correlation. The new trilobite species Saukianda? (Saukianda?) dresnayi is proposed.
Keywords: Baltica Avalonia; Biostratigraphy; Cambrian; Depositional history; lithostratigraphy; Trilobita; West Gondwana

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.68.101, Hartsdale Road Bridge over Sprain Brook Parkway (BIN 5501710), Village of Elmsford, Town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.68.101, Route 100 Bridge over Sprain Brook Parkway (BIN 1036069), City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.68.101, Route 100B Bridge over Sprain Brook Parkway (BIN 1091480), Town of Greenburg, Westchester County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 2806.00.121, Culvert 19 Project, Towns of Florence and Marshall, Oneida County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey Report for PIN 2806.00.121, Culvert 19 Project, Towns of Florence and Marshall, Oneida County, New York - A. Gore (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

As Arizona coronavirus cases surge from early reopening, Indigenous nations suffer not only more Covid-19 but also the blame - Hardy, L.; Gwendolyn W Saul; Smith, S.M. (The Conversation, 2020)

Tribes mount organized responses to COVID-19, in contrast to state and federal governments - Hardy, L.; Gwendolyn W Saul; Thompson, K. F. (The Conversation, 2020)

Reassessing an inferred Iroquoian village removal sequence in the Mohawk River Basin, New York, USA - J. P. Hart (Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020)
All archaeologists use suppositions in their narratives to bridge gaps in empirical knowledge. If these suppositions are reasonable, they often become parts of regional archaeological traditions. However, such suppositions must be testable as new methods and techniques create new empirical evidence. In ancestral Mohawk Iroquoian archaeology, three village sites in the Caroga Creek drainage, thought to date to the sixteenth-century AD, have been accepted as a chronological sequence of villages occupied by the same community over the course of several generations. As reported here, however, social network analysis based on pottery collar design motifs demonstrates it is unlikely the sites represent such a sequence.
Keywords: Iroquoian archaeology; Mohawk River valley; Social network analysis; Village removal sequences

Review of Origins of the Iroquois League: Narratives, Symbols, and Archaeology by Anthony Wonderely and Martha L. Sempowski - J. P. Hart (American Antiquity, 2020)

Using Maize δ15N values to assess soil fertility in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century AD Iroquoian agricultural fields - J. P. Hart; R. S. Feranec (PLOS ONE, 2020)
Native Americans developed agronomic practices throughout the Western Hemisphere adapted to regional climate, edaphic conditions, and the extent of dependence on agriculture for subsistence. These included the mounding or “corn hill” system in northeastern North America. Iroquoian language speakers of present-day New York, USA, and Ontario and Québec, Canada were among those who used this system. While well-known, there has been little archaeological documentation of the system. As a result, there is scant archaeological evidence on how Iroquoian farmers maintained soil fertility in their often-extensive agricultural fields. Using δ15N values obtained on fifteenth- and sixteenth-century AD maize kernels from archaeological sites in New York and Ontario, adjusted to take into account changes that result from charring as determined through experiments, we demonstrate that Iroquoian farmers were successful at maintaining nitrogen in their agricultural fields. These results add to our archaeological knowledge of Iroquoian agronomic practices. Our results also indicate the potential value of obtaining δ15N values on archaeological maize in the investigation of Native American agronomic practices.

Paleo-redox context of the Mid-Devonian Appalachian Basin and its relevance to biocrises - He, Ruliang; Lu, Wanyi; Junium, Christopher K.; C. A. Ver Straeten; Lu, Zunli (Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2020)
The Devonian Period witnessed the expansion of vascular land plants and an atmospheric oxygenation event associated with enhanced organic mass burial. The deposition of organic-rich shales (e.g. black shales of the Marcellus subgroup) and several biotic crises in the marine realm have been linked to Devonian ocean anoxia. However, it is not clear how redox conditions evolved in different parts of the water column in such a context of dynamic changes in the atmosphere-ocean system. To address this problem, we use the bulk carbonate I/Ca proxy on core samples from Yates County, NY, in order to reconstruct the water column redox history through the Onondaga Limestone into the lower Marcellus shale. On the secular scale, the range of I/Ca values support the notion of a Devonian rise in atmospheric oxygen, relative to time intervals earlier in the Paleozoic. In terms of Eifelian Stage stratigraphic trends, I/Ca ratios are generally stable and high in the Onondaga Formation but show large fluctuations in lower Marcellus strata. Low I/Ca ratios are found near the onset of organic-rich shale deposition indicating relatively reducing subsurface waters. The pattern of redox changes resembles that of contemporaneous sea-level changes. Finally, the reconstructed oxygenation changes are correlated to three biotic transitions in Devonian marine systems.

Crafting Dissent: Handicraft as Protest from the American Revolution to the Pussyhats ed by Hinda Mandell (review) - A Hopkins-Benton (New York History, 2020)

Bicknell's Thrush Discovered in the Catskills - J. J. Kirchman (Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, 2020)

Historical decline of genetic diversity in a range-periphery population of Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis) inhabiting the Adirondack Mountains - J. J. Kirchman; Ross, Angelena M.; Johnson, Glenn (Conservation Genetics, 2020)
Isolation can affect genetic structure of populations near the edge of a species’ geographic range by reducing gene flow and allelic diversity, resulting in greater among-population differentiation. Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis), which are restricted to the boreal forest biome of North America, persist in small, disjunct lowland conifer patches at the southeastern extent of their range in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. This isolated peripheral population has declined since the early twentieth century and is considered highly vulnerable to extirpation. We examined haplotype diversity of mitochondrial control region sequences, comparing modern Spruce Grouse populations sampled from 2004 to 2013 in the Adirondacks and Algonquin Provincial Park, ca. 250 km to the northwest. Genetic diversity in the modern Adirondack population sample was very low compared to our smaller sample from Algonquin Park (three haplotypes vs seven). The modern Adirondack population shared no haplotypes with birds sampled from Algonquin, and these two populations are highly differentiated today (Fst = 0.632). We obtained shorter control region sequences from 18 museum specimens collected in the Adirondack from 1881 to 1986, in which we found six haplotypes, including five no longer found in the Adirondack Region. Some haplotypes that were once found in both regions have been lost from the Adirondacks as that population has declined demographically and shrunk geographically, indicating that the current differentiation is partly the result of these losses; when all 18 historical samples of Adirondack Spruce Grouse are included in the analysis, Fst between Adirondacks and Algonquin drops to 0.359. Haplotype diversity in Adirondack specimens collected prior to demographic decline (1881–1905, n = 10) was h = 0.778 compared to h = 0.245 in the modern Adirondack population, an over a three-fold decrease over period of ca. 130 years. These findings suggest that conservation measures that include supplementation of individuals from more diverse populations may restore genetic diversity in the Adirondack population to levels that existed a century ago.

Glacial Stratigraphic Framework of the Cayuga Inlet Valley and Ithaca Delta Plain: Ithaca West Quadrangle,Town of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J.; Leone, J. (New York State Museum Map & Chart, 2020)

Communes in America, 1975-2000 by Timothy Miller - Lander, D. R. (New York History, 2020)

Communes in America, 1975–2000 by Timothy Miller (review) - Lander, D. R. (New York History, 2020)

Precise early Cambrian U–Pb zircon dates bracket the oldest trilobites and archaeocyaths in Moroccan West Gondwana - E. Landing; Schmitz, Mark D.; Geyer, Gerd; Trayler, Robin B.; Bowring, Samuel A. (Geological Magazine, 2020)
New U–Pb radioisotopic ages on early Cambrian volcanic zircons condition a high-resolution Bayesian age model that constrains the first occurrences and zonations of West Gondwanan archaeocyaths and trilobites in southern Morocco. The oldest archaeocyaths in the Tiout Member of the Igoudine Formation (519.71 + 0.26/− 0.35 Ma) are c. 6 Ma younger than the oldest Siberian archaeocyaths. The oldest Moroccan trilobite fragments, from the lower member of the Igoudine, are constrained to 519.95 + 0.43/− 0.40 Ma. The succeeding Issendalenian Stage (i.e. Hupetina antique – Eofallotaspis tioutensis – Fallotaspis plana – Choubertella – Daguinaspis trilobite zones) spans c. 1.5 Ma (519.78 + 0.26/− 0.37 Ma to 518.43 + 0.25/− 0.69 Ma). Identifiable Moroccan fallotaspidids and bigotinids, among Earth’s oldest trilobites, occur above a positive δ13C excursion dated with our age model at 520.27 + 0.59/− 0.57 Ma, and correlated with the IV excursion peak within the lower range of Siberian Atdabanian Stage trilobites (Repinaella Zone). This excursion is the best standard for a Cambrian Series 2 base. The oldest West Gondwana trilobite fragments are c. 1 Ma younger than those in Siberia and c. 0.5 Ma older than the oldest Avalonian trilobites (Callavia Zone). This diachrony means a trilobite first appearance datum is an inappropriate chronostratigraphic base for Cambrian Series 2. Taxonomic differences in the oldest trilobites between Cambrian palaeocontinents are in accordance with trace fossil evidence for the group’s appearance possibly as late as c. 530 Ma in the Cambrian Evolutionary Radiation. Coeval 519–517 Ma dates from Avalonia (cool-water siliciclastic shelf) and West Gondwana (tropical carbonate platform) sections with distinct macrofaunas emphasize these successions were latitudinally separate by the late Ediacaran Period.

Uppermost Cambrian carbon chemostratigraphy: the HERB and undocumented TOCE events are not synonymous - E. Landing; Ripperdan, Robert L.; Geyer, Gerd (Geological Magazine, 2020)
Chemostratigraphic units require consistent definitions and unambiguous names. So-called TOCE (Top of Cambrian Excursion) is used as an uppermost Cambrian δ13Ccarb negative excursion although it was proposed without documentation, is ambiguously defined, and variably correlated into four Laurentian trilobite zones. TOCE, a nihilartikel, is regularly substituted to the exclusion of the earlier named, precisely documented and geochronologically older HERB (Hellnmaria-Red Tops Boundary) Event. HERB allows late Cambrian global correlation; its onset is close to the lowest occurrence of the conodont Eoconodontus notchpeakensis at the base of a proposed replacement (Lawsonian Stage) of Cambrian Stage 10. TOCE must be retired from use and abandoned as a synonym of the HERB Event.

Surficial Geology of the Westerlo 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Albany County, New York - Leone, J.; A. L. Kozlowski (Map & Chart, 2020)

Surfician Geology of the Gallupville 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Albany, Schenectady, and Schoharie Counties, New Yrk - Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski (Map & Chart, 2020)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation, PIN 2016.79.121, Mill Creek Culvert - NY Route 12 over Mill Creek, Village of Boonville, Oneida County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation, PIN 8101.46.101, East Lincoln Avenue Bridge over Hutchinson River Parkway, City of Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation, PIN 8473.14.101, US 1 Bridge over Mamaroneck River, Village of Mamaroneck, Westchester County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation, PIN X735.82.000, Long Island Railroad Bridge over Van Wyck Expressway (I-678), Jamaica, Queens County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Use, Purpose, and Function—Letting the Artifacts Speak - Loughmiller-Cardinal, Jennifer A.; J. S. Cardinal (Heritage, 2020)
Archaeologists have likely collected, as a conservative estimate, billions of artifacts over the course of the history of fieldwork. We have classified chronologies and typologies of these, based on various formal and physical characteristics or ethno-historically known analogues, to give structure to our interpretations of the people that used them. The simple truth, nonetheless, is that we do not actually know how they were used or their intended purpose. We only make inferences—i.e., educated guesses based on the available evidence as we understand it—regarding their functions in the past and the historical behaviors they reflect. Since those inferences are so fundamental to the interpretations of archaeological materials, and the archaeological project as a whole, the way we understand materiality can significantly bias the stories we construct of the past. Recent work demonstrated seemingly contradictory evidence between attributed purpose or function versus confirmed use, however, which suggested that a basic premise of those inferences did not empirically hold to be true. In each case, the apparent contradiction was resolved by reassessing what use, purpose, and function truly mean and whether certain long-established functional categories of artifacts were in fact classifying by function. The resulting triangulation, presented here, narrows the scope on such implicit biases by addressing both empirical and conceptual aspects of artifacts. In anchoring each aspect of evaluation to an empirical body of data, we back ourselves away from our assumptions and interpretations so as to let the artifacts speak for themselves.

Warwickite from St. Lawrence County, New York: Mineral association, chemical composition, cation ordering, and splitting of the warwickite M1 site - M. V. Lupulescu; Ehlers, Alix M.; Hughes, John M.; Bailey, David G. (The Canadian Mineralogist, 2020)
Warwickite has been discovered in the Edwards and Balmat #3 mines in the Balmat-Edwards mining district, St. Lawrence County, New York, located in the Adirondack Lowlands. The samples from the two mines are similar in chemistry and atomic arrangement but differ chemically from previously described samples; they are among the most Fe-poor samples described to date. The warwickite in the Edwards Mine sample occurs as 1–2 mm-diameter green crystals associated with pink spinel, forsterite, phlogopite, and pyrite in an impure dolomitic marble, whereas warwickite in the specimens from the Balmat #3 mine, approximately 10 km distant, occurs as brown to amber colored, slender, elongate, millimeter-size crystals in a calcitic marble in association with pink spinel, phlogopite, anhydrite, pyrite, and galena. Chemical analyses of the two specimens by electron microprobe show similar empirical formulas of (Mg1.43Ti0.36Al0.18Cr3+0.02Zr0.01)Σ2.00B0.98O4 (Edwards Mine) and (Mg1.39Ti0.40Al0.18Cr3+0.01Zr0.01Fe2+0.01)Σ2.00B0.94O4 (Balmat mine). The atomic arrangement of a specimen from each mine was determined, and the high-precision refinements provide new insight into the warwickite structure. The M1 site in warwickite is split into two sites to accommodate two occupants with differing bonding requirements; the M1 site contains Mg and the M1′ site hosts Ti, with the two sites being separated by approximately 0.2 Å. The optimized structural formula for both warwickite samples is similar to [M1(Mg0.84Al0.14Ti0.024+)2.74M1′(Ti0.914+Mn0.082+Mg0.01)1.30]Σ4.04M2(Mg0.86Al0.10Ti0.044+)4.00B4O16], demonstrating ordering of Mg at M1 and M2 and Ti at M1′. The site-splitting demonstrates how divalent Mg and tetravalent Ti can exist at a site in solid solution by ordering the two cations at split sites.
Keywords: crystal structure; New York; site-splitting; St. Lawrence County; USA; warwickite

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 5058.50.101, NY Route 60, Towns of Charlotte, Stockton and Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York - A. Lynch (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resources Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 0808.74.101, Drainage Improvements in the Towns of Riverhead and East Hampton, Suffolk County, New York - D. E. Mazeau (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

High variability within pet foods prevents the identification of native species in pet cats’ diets using isotopic evaluation - McDonald, Brandon W.; Perkins, Troi; Dunn, Robert R.; McDonald, Jennifer; Cole, Holly; R. S. Feranec; Kays, Roland (PeerJ, 2020)
Domestic cats preying on wildlife is a frequent conservation concern but typical approaches for assessing impacts rely on owner reports of prey returned home, which can be biased by inaccurate reporting or by cats consuming prey instead of bringing it home. Isotopes offer an alternative way to quantify broad differences in animal diets. By obtaining samples of pet food from cat owners we predicted that we would have high power to identify cats feeding on wild birds or mammals, given that pet food is thought to have higher C isotope values, due to the pervasive use of corn and/or corn by-products as food ingredients, than native prey. We worked with citizen scientists to quantify the isotopes of 202 cat hair samples and 239 pet food samples from the US and UK. We also characterized the isotopes of 11 likely native prey species from the southeastern US and used mixing models to assess the diet of 47 cats from the same region. Variation in C and N isotope values for cat food was very high, even within the same brand/flavor, suggesting that pet food manufacturers use a wide range of ingredients, and that these may change over time. Cat food and cat hair from the UK had lower C values than the US, presumably reflecting differences in the amount of corn used in the food chains of the two countries. This high variation in pet food reduced our ability to classify cats as hunters of native prey, such that only 43% of the animals could be confidently assigned. If feral or free ranging cats were considered, this uncertainty would be even higher as pet food types would be unknown. Our results question the general assumption that anthropogenic foods always have high C isotope values, because of the high variability we documented within one product type (cat food) and between countries (US vs. UK), and emphasize the need to test a variety of standards before making conclusions from isotope ecology studies.

Cultural Resource Archaeological Pre-Reconnaissance Survey Literature Search and Sensitivity Assessment, PIN 5134.48.402, NY Route 5 (Buffalo Skyway) Improvements Project, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York - D. E. Merwin (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 5134.48.402, NY Route 5 (Buffalo Skyway) Improvements Project, City of Buffalo, Erie County, New York - D. E. Merwin (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Draft Monitoring Plan, PIN 1007.16.101, BIN 1038070, NY Route 144 over Hannacrois Creek, Coeymans-Bronck House Multicomponent Site (00103.000344; NYSM 12685), Town of Coeymans, Albany County, New York - D. E. Merwin; Moragne, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Monitoring Plan, PIN 3806.47.121, New York 49 ADA Sidewalk Replacement, Town of Constantia, Oswego County, New York - D. E. Merwin (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Site Examination, PIN 1007.16.101, BIN 1038070, New York 144 over Hannacrois Creek, Coeymans-Bronck House Multicomponent Site (00103.000344; NYSM 12685), Town of Coeymans (MCD 00103), Albany County, New York - Moragne, S. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

2020 Brina C. Kessel Award to Corey Tarwater, Ryan Germain, and Peter Arcese - Murphy, Michael T; Gill, Sharon A; Fraser, Kevin C; J. J. Kirchman; MacDougall-Shackleton, Elizabeth A; Oyler-McCance, Sara; Streby, Henry M (The Auk, 2020)
Every 2 years, the American Ornithological Society bestows the Brina C. Kessel Award for a paper published during the preceding 2 yr in The Auk: Ornithological Advances that has made an exceptional contribution to ornithology. The Kessel Award for 2020 is presented to Corey Tarwater, Ryan Germain, and Peter Arcese for their paper, “Examination of context-dependent effects of natal traits on lifetime reproductive success using a long-term study of a temperate songbird,” published in 2018.

Drainage History, Evolution, and Conservation of Tonguetied Minnow (Exoglossum laurae), a Rare and Imperiled Teays River Endemic - Oswald, Kenneth J.; Spinks, Emily; Duktig, Garrett S.; Baker, Justin S.; Kibbey, Marc R.; Zimmerman, Brian; Tucker, Holly; Boucher, Charles E.; Cincotta, Daniel A.; Starnes, Wayne C.; Kiss, Andor J.; J. J Wright; et al. (Copeia, 2020)
Legacies of ancient riverine systems are often manifest in patterns of genetic diversity within aquatic species. The ancient Teays River, a principal drainage of the eastern United States, engaged in several ephemeral connections with neighboring palaeodrainages prior to and during the Pleistocene, when cyclical glacial advance and retreat reconfigured the region's fluvial systems. This study assayed DNA-sequence diversity at one mitochondrial (mtDNA) and three single-copy nuclear DNA (scnDNA) loci from the Tonguetied Minnow (Exoglossum laurae), a species distributed as four disjunct populations, one each within the Upper Great Miami, Upper Allegheny, Upper Genesee, and New rivers. Mitochondrial DNA variation revealed that the New River harbors the highest diversity (h = 0.73) and that the Tonguetied Minnow is composed of two ancient lineages, a Teays River lineage and a Pittsburgh River lineage. Analyses of the scnDNA loci revealed sharing of alleles among populations of E. laurae and between the Tonguetied Minnow and its only congener, the Cutlip Minnow (E. maxillingua), sampled from the Roanoke and Potomac rivers. The probability of interspecific hybridization in the New and Upper Genesee rivers was estimated as 0.16 and 0.34, respectively, but it is likely that some degree of incomplete lineage sorting contributed to these estimates. Probabilities of interspecific hybridization for Cutlip Minnow were 0.62 and 0.65, for the Roanoke and Potomac rivers, respectively, and might reflect ancient hybridization resulting from stream capture events involving these drainages by the Teays River. Management strategies should focus on maintaining the security of the Pittsburgh River lineage in the Upper Great Miami and Upper Allegheny River drainages. Finally, insights into the Tonguetied Minnow's rather convoluted taxonomic history are few, but genetic variation is inconsistent with subspecies status for Tonguetied Minnow in the Upper Great Miami River drainage.

Social Complexity and Settlement in Eastern New York - C. B. Rieth (Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology, 2020)
Previous studies have looked at reconstructing social and political systems in the New York. Included among these were studies in the adjacent Mohawk and Susquehanna valleys which show important differences in lifeways. Unfortunately, few studies focused on the Schoharie Valley of New York. By looking at the development over time, I reconstruct past lifeways in the Schoharie Valley of New York. I look at how such materials influenced the settlement and social complexity in the region by looking at settlement systems, subsistence (floral and faunal remains), and interaction over time.

Editorial for Special Issue “Minerals of the Southern Grenville Province” - Robinson, G. W.; J. R. Chiarenzelli; M. V. Lupulescu (Minerals, 2020)
Notable geological associations include mineral occurrences hosted in a compositionally wide variety of igneous rocks including granitic and syenitic pegmatites, anorthosite and related anorogenic plutonic rocks, carbonatites, and iron-oxide–apatite (IOA) deposits. Numerous localities are also hosted in, or influenced by, metasedimentary rocks. Of particular significance are the extensive marble and calc-silicate gneisses of the Grenville Supergroup, including associated skarns and enigmatic calcite vein-dikes. In addition, minerals related to granulite-facies metamorphism, hydrothermal alteration, supergene mineralization, and weathering occur in many diverse Grenville lithologies and/or crosscut them.

Making Native Art Known During Pandemic Times - Gwendolyn W Saul (Practicing Anthropology, 2020)

Description of an Early Juvenile Littlescale Threadfin (Polydactylus oligodon) from Montserrat, Lesser Antilles, West Indies - Schmidt, Robert E.; J. J Wright (Caribbean Journal of Science, 2020)
Larvae and small juveniles of Caribbean Polydactylus species (Teleostei: Polynemidae) are rarely seen. Here we describe a juvenile individual of Polydactylus oligodon, the Littlescale threadfin, collected on Montserrat, Lesser Antilles, West Indies.

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.74.101, Evaluation of Saw Mill River Parkway Bridge over Fortfield Avenue (BIN 5500552), City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.74.101, Evaluation of Saw Mill River Parkway Bridge over Palmer Road (BIN 5500541), City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.74.101, Evaluation of Saw Mill River Parkway Bridge over Palmer Road (BIN 5500542), City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Architectural Pre-Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 8813.74.101, Evaluation of Saw Mill River Parkway Bridge over Fortfield Avenue (BIN 5500551), City of Yonkers, Westchester County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, Addendum, PIN 3043.65.121 Replacement of BIN 4008540, US Route 11 over Oneida River, Towns of Cicero and Hastings, Onondaga and Oswego Counties, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 2806.04.122, NY Route 5, Genesee Street, Preventative Maintenance Paving and Safety Project - Sidewalk Extension, Village of Wampsville, Town of Lenox, Madison County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 2CUL.TR.101, St. Anthony's Church Retaining Wall Removal, Route 28, Town of Inlet, Hamilton County, New York - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey of PIN 3043.65.121 Addendum, Replacement of BIN 4008540, US Route 11 over Oneida River, Towns of Cicero and Hastings, Onondaga and Oswego Counties, New York - Architectural Survey - V. A. Schmitt (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Matrix-Bracketing Blanks & Peak Overlap Correction for Ti-V-Cr in Diverse Tourmalines - Singer, J. W.; M. V. Lupulescu (Microscopy and Microanalysis, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 2029.67.121, New York 5S Widening and Climbing Lane, Town of Florida, Montgomery County, New York - Sobik, C. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey, PIN 2806.04.122, NY Route 5, Genesee Street, Preventative Maintenance Paving and Safety Project - Sidewalk Extension, Village of Wampsville, Town of Lenox, Madison County, New York - Sobik, C. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Drivers of community turnover differ between avian hemoparasite genera along a North American latitudinal gradient - Starkloff, Naima C.; J. J. Kirchman; Jones, Andrew W.; Winger, Benjamin M.; Huang, Yen‐Hua; Pulgarín‐R, Paulo C.; Turner, Wendy C. (Ecology and Evolution, 2020)
The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is an established macroecological pattern, but is poorly studied in microbial organisms, particularly parasites. In this study, we tested whether latitude, elevation, and host species predicted patterns of prevalence, alpha diversity, and community turnover of hemosporidian parasites. We expected parasite diversity to decrease with latitude, alongside the diversity of their hosts and vectors. Similarly, we expected infection prevalence to decrease with latitude as vector abundances decrease. Lastly, we expected parasite community turnover to increase with latitudinal distance and to be higher between rather than within host species. We tested these hypotheses by screening blood and tissue samples of three closely related avian species in a clade of North American songbirds (Turdidae: Catharus , n  = 466) across 17.5° of latitude. We used a nested PCR approach to identify parasites in hemosporidian genera that are transmitted by different dipteran vectors. Then, we implemented linear‐mixed effects and generalized dissimilarity models to evaluate the effects of latitude, elevation, and host species on parasite metrics. We found high diversity of hemosporidian parasites in Catharus thrushes (n  = 44 lineages) but no evidence of latitudinal gradients in alpha diversity or prevalence. Parasites in the genus Leucocytozoon were most prevalent and lineage rich in this study system; however, there was limited turnover with latitude and host species. Contrastingly, Plasmodium parasites were less prevalent and diverse than Leucocytozoon parasites, yet communities turned over at a higher rate with latitude and host species. Leucocytozoon communities were skewed by the dominance of one or two highly prevalent lineages with broad latitudinal distributions. The few studies that evaluate the hemosporidian LDG do not find consistent patterns of prevalence and diversity, which makes it challenging to predict how they will respond to global climate change.

Mid-Devonian Archaeopteris Roots Signal Revolutionary Change in Earliest Fossil Forests - Stein, William E.; Berry, Christopher M.; Morris, Jennifer L.; Hernick, Linda VanAller; Mannolini, F.; C. A. Ver Straeten; E. Landing; Marshall, John E.A.; Wellman, Charles H.; Beerling, David J.; Leake, Jonathan R. (Current Biology, 2020)
The origin of trees and forests in the Mid Devonian (393–383 Ma) was a turning point in Earth history, marking permanent changes to terrestrial ecology, geochemical cycles, atmospheric CO2 levels, and climate. However, how all these factors interrelate remains largely unknown. From a fossil soil (palaeosol) in the Catskill region near Cairo NY, USA, we report evidence of the oldest forest (mid Givetian) yet identified worldwide. Similar to the famous site at Gilboa, NY, we find treefern-like Eospermatopteris (Cladoxylopsida). However, the environment at Cairo appears to have been periodically drier. Along with a single enigmatic root system potentially belonging to a very early rhizomorphic lycopsid, we see spectacularly extensive root systems here assigned to the lignophyte group containing the genus Archaeopteris. This group appears pivotal to the subsequent evolutionary history of forests due to possession of multiple advanced features and likely relationship to subsequently dominant seed plants. Here we show that Archaeopteris had a highly advanced root system essentially comparable to modern seed plants. This suggests a unique ecological role for the group involving greatly expanded energy and resource utilization, with consequent influence on global processes much greater than expected from tree size or rooting depth alone.

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 2806.00.121, Culvert Project 19, Replacement of NYS Route 8 Culvert C260050 and Guiderail, Town of Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey, PIN 4078.16.101, NY Route 78 Slope Failure, Strykersville, Town of Java, Wyoming County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Architectural Survey Report, PIN 5058.50.101, NY Route 60 Passing Lanes, Towns of Charlotte, Stockton and Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey Architectural Report, PIN 2806.00.121, Culvert Project 19, Replacement of NYS Route 8 Culvert C260050 and Guiderail, Town of Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey Architectural Report, PIN 4078.16.101, NY Route 78 Slope Failure, Strykersville, Town of Java, Wyoming County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey Architectural Report, PIN 5058.50.101, NY Route 60 Passing Lanes, Towns of Charlotte, Stockton and Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York - T. Thomas (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2020)

Early specialized maritime and maize economies on the north coast of Peru - Tung, T. A.; Dillehay, T. D.; R. S. Feranec; DeSantis, L. R. G. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020)

Enterprising Waters: The History and Art of New York's Erie Canal - Utter, B. L.; A Hopkins-Benton; Quinn, K. E.; Grasso, T. X. (SUNY Press, 2020)

A Final Report on Human Burials Associated with the General Hospital at Fort George and the Quebec Campaign of 1775-1776: Cortland Street, Lake George - Vandrei, C. E.; L. M. Anderson; Weatherwax, J. (The Bulletin: Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association, 2020)

Arc-to-craton: Devonian air-fall tephras in the eastern United States - C. A. Ver Straeten; Over, D. J.; Baird, G. C. (The Appalachian Geology of John M. Dennison: Rocks, People, and a Few Good Restaurants along the Way, 2020)
More than 100 air-fall volcanic tephra beds are currently documented from Devonian strata in the eastern United States. These beds act as key sources of various geological data. These include within-basin to basin-to-basin correlation, globally useful geochronologic age dates, and a relatively detailed, if incomplete, record of Acadian–Neoacadian silicic volcanism. The tephras occur irregularly through the vertical Devonian succession, in clusters of several beds, or scattered as a few to single beds. In this contribution, their vertical and lateral distribution and recent radiometric dates are reviewed. Current unresolved issues include correlation of the classic Eifelian-age (lower Middle Devonian) Tioga tephras and dates related to the age of the Onondaga-Marcellus contact in the Appalachian Basin. Here, we used two approaches to examine the paleovolcanic record of Acadian–Neoacadian silicic magmatism and volcanism. Reexamination of volcanic phenocryst distribution maps from the Tioga tephras indicates not one but four or more volcanic sources along the orogen, between southeastern Pennsylvania and northern North Carolina. Finally, radiometric and relative ages of the sedimentary basin tephras are compared and contrasted with current radiometric ages of igneous rocks from New England. Despite data gaps and biases in both records, their comparisons provide insights into Devonian silicic igneous activity in the eastern United States, and into various issues of recognition, deposition, and preservation of tephras in the sedimentary rock record.

Bald eagles and the Thunderbird myth: Birds in pre-contact ceremonialism on Martha's Vineyard, USA - Watson, J. E. (Quaternary International, 2020)
Ceremonialism is an integral part of human life but difficult to recover from archaeological remains. Among Native groups in Eastern North America, skins and feathers of birds were commonly used as part of ritual feast ceremonies, including those of the Thunderbird, a mythological creature associated with thunder, lightning, and the upper world. Physical evidence for the Thunderbird has been limited to ceramic, lithic, copper, and petroglyphic artifacts, but the recent discovery of a series of Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) wing bones from the Frisby Butler site may present the first faunal evidence for the myth in Native North America. Patterns of skeletal part representation within the assemblage and across the site suggest that the deposit is the remains of a ritual feast and the presence of multiple wings indicates intentional curation of eagles. If so, this is the earliest known Thunderbird association on the island of Martha's Vineyard, showing the spread of extant Algonquin cosmology to this area by at least 2,000 BP.

An Updated History of Pre-Contact New England: New AMS Dates for the Hornblower II and Frisby-Butler Archaeological Sites - Watson, J. E. (Radiocarbon, 2020)
Faunal assemblages from the pre-Contact period sites Frisby-Butler and Hornblower II on Marthaʼs Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA, remain unstudied since excavation during the 1980s. This project establishes radiocarbon (14C) dates from faunal remains and evaluates occupation and abandonment at each site. 14C measurements were collected from 17 specimens and 13 dates from previous analyses were re-examined. Dates were identified from the archaeological time periods Transitional Archaic (2700–3700 BP), Early Woodland (2000–2700 BP), and Late Woodland (450–1200 BP) at Frisby-Butler. Occupation likely represented seasonal visitations during autumn and winter to hunt based on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) demographic profiles. A combined dataset of new and re-calibrated 14C measurements from Hornblower II date to the Late Archaic (3700–6000 BP), Early Woodland, Middle Woodland (1200–2000 BP), and Late Woodland periods. Settlement was focused on gathering warm-weather foods like demersal fish and lakebirds. Together, the sites demonstrate periodic seasonal use of the southwest coast of the island throughout the Late Holocene and fit within an established regional pattern in southern New England.

Teach NY: Exploring Haudenosaunee Influence on America's Suffrage Movement with Students - Weller, K. (New York History, 2020)

Non-Destructive Archaeological Surveys at the Douw 1 Site - S. Winchell-Sweeney; O'Connell, K.; Michael T. Lucas (The Bulletin: Journal of the New York State Archaeological Association, 2020)

Radiocarbon Dating the Iroquoian Occupation of Northern New York - Abel, T. J.; Vavrasek, J. L.; J. P. Hart (American Antiquity, 2019)
The results of Bayesian analysis using 43 new high-precision AMS radiocarbon dates on maize, faunal remains, and ceramic residues from 18 precontact Iroquoian village sites in Northern New York are presented. Once thought to span AD 1350–1500, the period of occupation suggested by the modeling is approximately AD 1450–1510. This late placement now makes clear that Iroquoians arrived in the region approximately 100 years later than previously thought. This result halves the time in which population growth and significant changes in settlement occurred. The new chronology allows us to better match these events within a broader Northeast temporal framework.
Keywords: Iroquoian archaeology; Late Woodland archaeology; Northeastern North American archaeology; radiocarbon dating

Rediscovery and Analysis of Copper Beads from Three Iroquoian Sites in Jefferson County, New York - Abel, T. J.; Bradley, J.W.; Vavrasek, J. L.; L. M. Anderson (The Bulletin and Journal of the New York State Archaeological Society, 2019)
In his Antiquities of Onondaga, Vol. 9, William Beauchamp documented four rolled copper beads from Iroquoian contexts in Jefferson County, New York. He described most of these beads as either "European" or "likely European." To date, there has been no verifiable association of European-derived artifacts from any Iroquoian component in Jefferson or St. Lawrence Counties. If these beads could be analyzed and verified, the documentation of European-derived artifacts from these two late precontact Iroquoian village sites would be a significant contribution to our study of chronology for northern New York. However, the recent rediscovery of these and other probable Iroquoian-provenienced beads in the New York State Museum collections, and their subsequent analysis, shows conclusively that they are fashioned of native copper. The analysis documents the first precontact copper artifacts from Iroquoian contexts in the region, evincing their participation in the "New Copper" trade network throughout the Great Lakes. It remains the case that there are no good associations of European artifacts with Iroquoian occupations of northern New York.

Drift Thickness of Cayuga County, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski; B. Bird (Map and Chart, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Dryden 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Cortland, Tioga and Tompkins Counties, New York - Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski; Leone, J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

A Review of Boron-Bearing Minerals (Excluding Tourmaline) in the Adirondack Region of New York State - Bailey, D. G.; M. V. Lupulescu; Darling, R. S.; Singer, J. W.; S. C. Chamberlain (Minerals, 2019)
Boron is a biologically important element, but its distribution in the natural environment and its behavior during many geological processes is not fully understood. In most metamorphic and igneous environments, boron is incorporated into minerals of the tourmaline supergroup. In high-grade metamorphic terranes like that of the Adirondack region of northern New York State, uncommon rock compositions combined with unusual and variable geologic conditions resulted in the formation of many additional boron-bearing minerals. This paper reviews the occurrences and geological settings of twelve relatively uncommon boron-bearing minerals in the southern Grenville Province of upstate New York and provides new chemical and Raman spectral data for seven of these minerals. The boron minerals range from relatively simple metal borates (e.g., vonsenite), to chemically complex borosilicates (e.g., prismatine), to a relatively rare borosilicate-carbonate (e.g., harkerite). Some are of primary igneous origin, while others are formed by a variety of prograde and retrograde metamorphic processes or by metasomatic/hydrothermal processes. Most of the boron minerals are formed within, or adjacent to, metasedimentary lithologies that surround the anorthositic massifs of the central Adirondacks. The metasedimentary rocks are thought to be the source of most of the boron, although additional boron isotope studies are needed to confirm this and to constrain the mechanisms of the formation of these unusual minerals.
Keywords: Adirondack Mountains; boron minerals; danburite; datolite; dumortierite; grandidierite; Grenville Province; harkerite; kornerupine; prismatine; serendibite; sinhalite; stillwellite-(Ce); vonsenite; warwickite

New insights into the evolution of lateral compound eyes in Palaeozoic horseshoe crabs - Bicknell, Russell D C; L. Amati; Ortega-Hernández, Javier (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2019)
Vision allows animals to interact with their environment. Aquatic chelicerates dominate the early record of lateral compound eyes among non-biomineralizing crown-group euarthropods. Although the conservative morphology of lateral eyes in Xiphosura is potentially plesiomorphic for Euarthropoda, synziphosurine eye organization has received little attention despite their early diverging phylogenetic position. Here, we re-evaluate the fossil evidence for lateral compound eyes in the synziphosurines Bunodes sp., Cyamocephalus loganensis, Legrandella lombardii, Limuloides limuloides, Pseudoniscus clarkei, Pseudoniscus falcatus and Pseudoniscus roosevelti. We compare these data with lateral eyes in the euchelicerates Houia yueya, Kasibelinurus amicorum and Lunataspis aurora. We find no convincing evidence for lateral eyes in most studied taxa, and Pseudoniscus roosevelti and Legrandella lombardii are the only synziphosurines with this feature. Our findings support two scenarios for euchelicerate lateral eye evolution. The elongate-crescentic lateral eyes of Legrandella lombardii might represent the ancestral organization, as suggested by the phylogenetic position of this taxon in stem-group Euchelicerata. Alternatively, the widespread occurrence of kidney-shaped lateral eyes in stem-group Xiphosura and stem-group Arachnida could represent the plesiomorphic condition; Legrandella lombardii eyes would therefore be derived. Both evolutionary scenarios support the interpretation that kidney-shaped lateral eyes are ancestral for crown-group Euchelicerata and morphologically conserved in extant Limulus polyphemus.
Keywords: euchelicerates; Limulus; synziphosurines; vision; Xiphosura

NORTH AMERICAN COMMISSION ON STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE Report 13 -- Revision of Articles 25-27 of the North American Stratigraphic Code to Allow Formal Submembers - Brett, Carlton E.; Pratt, Brian R.; E. Landing (Stratigraphy, 2019)
At the 74th Annual Meeting of the North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature, 23 September, 2019, in Phoenix, Arizona, the Commission voted unanimously to accept the revision of Articles 25-27 of the North American Stratigraphic Code (North American Commission on Stratigraphic Nomenclature, 2005), and concomitant changes to Table 2 and remarks in Articles 22, 23, and 30 printed below; specific revisions of the Code are indicated in red color. These replace all older versions of the specified Articles. An application for this revision (Brett et al. 2018) was published in Stratigraphy more than one year prior to the meeting; thus, the vote on this application for revision follows Article 21 of the Code.

A methodological approach to the genetic identification of native Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations for conservation purposes - Bruce, Spencer A.; Daniel, Peter C.; Krause, Maureen K.; Henson, Fred G.; Pershyn, Carrianne E.; J. J Wright (Global Ecology and Conservation, 2019)
As biodiversity is transformed on a global scale, identifying and protecting populations unaffected by habitat disturbances is essential to ensuring natural genetic diversity is not irretrievably lost. Furthermore, knowledge of the interactions between endemic populations and human-introduced conspecifics is imperative to the creation of management strategies that conserve and enhance population viability. In this study, these issues were examined for Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations from the Northeastern United States through the characterization of the spatial genetic structure of over 2000 wild fish, collected from 83 different sampling locations, and encompassing 18 individual watersheds. Population genetic analyses of microsatellite data at 13 loci demonstrate that, despite centuries-long stocking practices, roughly half of the populations examined exhibit genetic structure consistent with native origins. In addition, when examining the populations that revealed influence from stocked con-specifics, only a limited proportion of ancestry was attributed to stocked fish in the majority of cases. The methodological approach presented in this study for identifying native populations demonstrated strong population subdivision within and among populations, watersheds, and drainage basins. These findings are consistent with past inferences regarding native population structure of cold-water fish species and represent a detailed accounting of the remaining Brook Trout populations still intact in their native waters. Furthermore, the extent of such populations greatly exceeds what had been previously identified and prioritized as ‘heritage’ based on stocking history. The methods and data presented here may serve as an important tool to inform diversity maintenance, species recovery planning, and biodiversity conservation in this and other genetically unique and historically important native species.
Keywords: Biogeography; conservation; Conservation genetics; Introgression; Landscape heterogeneity; Native species; Salvelinus fontinalis

Sets, Graphs, and Things We Can See: A Formal Combinatorial Ontology for Empirical Intra-Site Analysis - J. S. Cardinal (Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology, 2019)
A critical aspect of analysing an archaeological site is identifying the network of relationships between the things we find and the locations where we find them. These associations are typically determined by a combination of quantitative analyses and the professional knowledge and intuition of the archaeologist, but where exactly is the boundary between what is truly empirical field data and what is inferred through our prior knowledge and field methods? How can we best support those inferences? This paper is a critical evaluation of that boundary to firmly ground, as much as possible, a quantitative analysis on only that which we can directly observe – the thing and its location – and derive associations from that basis alone. To do so, the approach described here relies on a combination of set and graph theories rather than statistical or spatial methods. This revised ontology allows a formalization, in combinatorial terms, for describing an underlying structure to contexts and assemblages that suggests a clear association between archaeological site analysis and a well-studied class of set and graph covering problems. This, in turn, points towards potential algorithmic solutions for a more holistic parsing of the total relationships between sites, contexts, assemblages, proveniences, and artefacts.
Keywords: archaeological theory; graph theory; ontology; quantitative analysis; set theory

Mineralogy of Chub Lake-Type Hematite Deposits in St. Lawrence County, NY - Chamberlain, Steven C.; M. V. Lupulescu; Bailey, D. G. (Minerals, 2019)
Numerous localities of specular hematite have been found in the Grenville Province in St. Lawrence County, New York. Here, we focus on six of them: the Dodge mine, the Chub Lake prospect, the Toothaker Creek prospect, the Bowman prospect, the Whitton prospect, and the Toothaker Pond prospect. We used literature research, interviews, and personal observations to establish the history of each site as a source of mineral specimens. We examined extensive holdings of specimens from each site in the New York State Museum. We used sight identification, chemical tests, x-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy as necessary to identify all the mineral species present. We had determinations made of the stable oxygen isotope content of quartz, hematite, and calcite from the Chub Lake prospect, reported as 18O relative to Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water (VSMOW). We conclude that these occurrences formed from groundwaters at a temperature of about 170 °C in areas of low topography on the surface of the Precambrian basement rocks. Two hypotheses for this process are presented and evaluated. Well-crystallized specimens of bladed specular hematite and Cumberland-habit quartz are the most common minerals found. Noteworthy accessory crystallized minerals include barite, calcite, and goethite. All six deposits are relatively free of sulfides, so that secondary goethite formed from weathering of iron-rich carbonates at some sites. It is likely that more such deposits will be discovered in this region in the future.
Keywords: oxygen stable isotopes; specular hematite; St. Lawrence Co. NY

Age and Origin of Silicocarbonate Pegmatites of the Adirondack Region - Chiarenzelli, Jeffrey; M. V. Lupulescu; Robinson, George; Bailey, David; Singer, Jared (Minerals, 2019)
Silicocarbonate pegmatites from the southern Grenville Province have provided exceptionally large crystal specimens for more than a century. Their mineral parageneses include euhedral calc–silicate minerals such as amphibole, clinopyroxene, and scapolite within a calcite matrix. Crystals can reach a meter or more in long dimension. Minor and locally abundant phases reflect local bedrock compositions and include albite, apatite, perthitic microcline, phlogopite, zircon, tourmaline, titanite, danburite, uraninite, sulfides, and many other minerals. Across the Adirondack Region, individual exposures are of limited aerial extent (<10,000 m2), crosscut metasedimentary rocks, especially calc–silicate gneisses and marbles, are undeformed and are spatially and temporally associated with granitic pegmatites. Zircon U–Pb results include both Shawinigan (circa 1165 Ma) and Ottawan (circa 1050 Ma) intrusion ages, separated by the Carthage-Colton shear zone. Those of Shawinigan age (Lowlands) correspond with the timing of voluminous A-type granitic magmatism, whereas Ottawan ages (Highlands) are temporally related to orogenic collapse, voluminous leucogranite and granitic pegmatite intrusion, iron and garnet ore development, and pervasive localized hydrothermal alteration. Inherited zircon, where present, reflects the broad range of igneous and detrital ages of surrounding rocks. Carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios from calcite plot within a restricted field away from igneous carbonatite values to those of typical sedimentary carbonates and local marbles. Collectively, these exposures represent a continuum between vein-dyke and skarn occurrences involving the anatexis of metasedimentary country rocks. Those of Ottawan age can be tied to movement and fluid flow along structures accommodating orogenic collapse, particularly the Carthage-Colton shear zone.
Keywords: Adirondack Mountains; calc–silicate minerals; Carthage-Colton shear zone; exhumation; Grenville Province; Ottawan Orogeny; silicocarbonate; skarns; U–Pb zircon geochronology; vein-dykes

Rose Road Localities: Town of Pitcairn, St. Lawrence County, New York Part 2—Geology - J. R. Chiarenzelli; M. V. Lupulescu; Robinson, G. W.; Bailey, D. G.; Walter, M. R.; S. C. Chamberlain (Rocks & Minerals, 2019)
IN PART I OF THIS SERIES we gave a brief introduction to the two localities at Rose Road in the Town of Pitcairn, St. Lawrence County, New York (fig. 2), and presented their detailed history (Chamberlain et al. 2018 Chamberlain, S. C., G. W. Robinson, S. Robinson, M. R. Walter, D. G. Bailey, J. R. Chiarenzelli, and M. Lupulescu. 2018. The Rose Road localities, Town of Pitcairn, St. Lawrence County, New York: Part 1–History. Rocks & Minerals 93: 442–30.<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/servlet/linkout?suffix=CIT0004&dbid=20&doi=10.1080%2F00357529.2019.1641024&key=10.1080%2F00357529.2018.1477011&tollfreelink=125372_91122_b3fc588c30547c09bf103caba0ebff2ec824a4df39355bce396bb70e0b828b38">[Taylor & Francis Online] , <a class="google-scholar" href="http://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?hl=en&publication_year=2018&pages=442-30&author=S.+C.+Chamberlain&author=G.+W.+Robinson&author=S.+Robinson&author=M.+R.+Walter&author=D.+G.+Bailey&author=J.+R.+Chiarenzelli&author=M.+Lupulescu&title=The+Rose+Road+localities%2C+Town+of+Pitcairn%2C+St.+Lawrence+County%2C+New+York%3A+Part+1%E2%80%93History." target="_blank">[Google Scholar]). In Part 2 we provide information about the geology and probable geological origin of both the Wollastonite Skarn and the Purple Diopside Mound

Surficial Geology of the Witherbee 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Essex County, New York - Clift, A.; Graham, B. (Map and Chart Series, 2019)

Cultural Resources Site Examination Report of the I. G. Graham Site, PIN 8216.84.121, Town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York - B. R. Dale (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2019)

The Atomic Arrangement of Cr-rich Tourmaline from the #1 Mine, Balmat, St. Lawrence County, New York, USA - Dannenberg, Steven G.; Di Paolo, Devany; Ehlers, Alix M.; McCarthy, Kyle P.; Mancini, Mark T.; Reuter, Matthew B.; Seth, Dennis M.; Song, Zihui; Valladares, Maria I.; Zhu, Xuanfu; Hughes, John M.; M. V. Lupulescu (Minerals, 2019)
Chromium-bearing tourmalines are rare. Chromium-rich tourmaline from the northwestern part of the Adirondack Mountains in the Adirondack Lowlands is among the most chromium-rich tourmalines found to date. The mineral, with >21.0 wt. % Cr2O3, is from the marble-hosted talc–tremolite–cummingtonite schist in the #1 mine in Balmat, St. Lawrence County, New York. The atomic arrangement of the sample (a = 16.0242(3) Å, c = 7.3002(2) Å) was refined to R1 = 0.0139. The composition, from chemical analyses and optimization of the formula, is X(Ca0.22Na0.69K0.01) Y(Cr3+1.68Mg0.80Ti0.13V0.06Mn0.02Fe0.02Li0.29) Z(Al3.11Cr3+1.18Mg1.70Fe0.01) T(Si5.93Al0.07) B3O27 OH3.99 F0.01. There has been extensive debate over the ordering of Cr3+ between the tourmaline Y and Z octahedral sites. Recent work has suggested that, at low concentrations (<~1.03 apfu), the substituent Cr3+ is ordered into the Y-site, whereas, at greater concentrations, the substituent is disordered over both octahedral sites. An analysis of nine recently published, high-precision structures of chromium-bearing tourmaline, in combination with the Adirondack tourmaline, suggests that structural changes to the Y-site at low concentrations of Cr3+ induce changes in the Z-site that make it more amenable to incorporation of the Cr3+ substituents by increasing <Z–O>. The bond lengths change to lower the bond-valence sum of Cr3+ in the Z-site of the chromium-dravite, making that site more amenable to the substituent. Calculations suggest that the Z-site begins to accept substituent Cr3+ when the bond valence sum of that ion in Z reduces to a value of ~3.36 valence units.
Keywords: Balmat mine; chromium-dravite; New York; St. Lawrence County; tourmaline

Causes and Consequences of Pleistocene Megafaunal Extinctions as Revealed from Rancho La Brea Mammals - DeSantis, Larisa R.G.; Crites, Jonathan M.; R. S. Feranec; Fox-Dobbs, Kena; Farrell, Aisling B.; Harris, John M.; Takeuchi, Gary T.; Cerling, Thure E. (Current Biology, 2019)
The fossils preserved in the Rancho La Brea “tar” seeps in southern California span the past ∼50,000 years and provide a rare opportunity to assess the ecology of predators (e.g., the American lion, sabertooth cats, cougars, dire wolves, gray wolves, and coyotes), including clarifying the causes and consequences of the terminal Pleistocene extinction event. Here, a multi-proxy approach elucidates dietary responses of carnivorans to changing climates and megafaunal extinctions. Using sample sizes that are unavailable anywhere else in the world, including hundreds of carnivoran and herbivore specimens, we clarify the paleobiology of the extinct sabertooth cats and dire wolves—overturning the idea that they heavily competed for similar prey. Canids (especially the dire wolf) consumed prey from more open environments than felids, demonstrating minimal competition for prey throughout the latest Pleistocene and largely irrespective of changing climates, including just prior to their extinction. Coyotes experienced a dramatic shift in dietary behavior toward increased carcass utilization and the consumption of forest resources (prey and/or plant resources) after the terminal Pleistocene megafaunal extinction. Extant predators’ ability to effectively hunt smaller prey and/or utilize carcasses may have been a key to their survival, especially after a significant reduction in megafaunal prey resources. Collectively, these data suggest that dietary niches of carnivorans are not always static and can instead be substantially affected by the removal of top predators and abundant prey resources.
Keywords: Canis; Carnivora; dental microwear; Diet; mammals; paleoecology; Pleistocene; Rancho La Brea; Smilodon; Stable isotopes

Cultural Resource Reconnaissance Survey Report of PIN 2004.12.121, NYS Route 51 (Otsego Street) over Steele Creek Bridge, English Street to West Avenue and Weber Avenue, Village of Ilion, Town of German Flats, Herkimer County, New York - Dubuque, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2019)

Early Fluted-biface Variation in Glaciated Northeastern North America - Ellis, Christopher J.; J. C. Lothrop (PaleoAmerica, 2019)
Most researchers argue that archaeological evidence for the Clovis technological complex, although documented across most of unglaciated North America, is absent in the glaciated Northeast, suggesting that early Paleoindian populations in the latter region were  descendent from early Native American peoples associated with Clovis technology. If so, what are the earliest fluted biface forms in glaciated northeastern North America? To refine developmental and relative chronological relationships of early Paleoindian fluted bifaces in the region, we (1) examine fluted-biface-reduction sequences at the Rogers (Ontario) and West Athens Hill (WAH) (New York) sites, and (2) compare fluted-point samples from early Paleoindian sites in the Northeast and vicinity. For Rogers and WAH, our results document variable frequencies of overshot and overface flaking during fluted-point manufacture – features linked elsewhere to Clovis biface reduction. In addition, analyses identify several early Paleoindian fluted-point samples in the Northeast that bear similarities to Clovis points but differ from, and therefore likely predate Gainey and Gainey-related early Paleoindian point forms in the glaciated Northeast.

Fish and maize: Bayesian mixing models of fourteenth- through seventeenth-century AD ancestral Wendat diets, Ontario, Canada - R. S. Feranec; J. P. Hart (Scientific Reports, 2019)
Freshwater and marine fish have been important components of human diets for millennia. The Great Lakes of North America, their tributaries and smaller regional freshwater bodies are important Native American fisheries. The ethnohistorical record, zooarchaeological remains, and isotopic values on human bone and tooth collagen indicate the importance of fish in fourteenth- through seventeenth-century ancestral Wendat diets in southern Ontario, which is bordered by three of the Great Lakes. Maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) was the primary grain of Native American agricultural systems in the centuries prior to and following sustained European presence. Here we report new Bayesian dietary mixing models using previously published δ13C and δ15N values on ancestral Wendat bone and tooth collagen and tooth enamel. The results confirm previous estimates from δ13C values that ancestral Wendat diets included high proportions of maize but indicate much higher proportions of fish than has previously been recognized. The results also suggest that terrestrial animals contributed less to ancestral Wendat diets than is typically interpreted based on zooarchaeological records.

A New AMS Radiocarbon Date for the Ivory Pond Mastodon - Fiedel, S.; R. S. Feranec; Marino, T.; Driver, D. B. (Eastern Paleontologist, 2019)
The Ivory Pond Mastodon (Mammut americanum) was found in South Egremont, Massachusetts, in 1982. A recent AMS radiocarbon assay on bone collagen yielded an age of 11,885 ± 30 rcbp (UCIAMS 193953), which currently calibrates to 13,580–13,770 cal BP. This date is statistically similar to a much more imprecise date (GX9024-G; 11,440 ± 655 rcbp; 11,500–15,290 cal BP) previously obtained from the specimen. This age is similar to those of other American Mastodon specimens; collectively, these dates imply prior expansion of boreal forest (mastodon habitat) into the region ca. 14,600 cal BP. The location of this specimen east of the Hudson River implies that Late Glacial proglacial lakes that occupied the Hudson River Valley in the past were not a hindrance to megafaunal colonization of New England. The chronology and depositional contexts of this and other mastodon specimens in the region necessitate that human predation be considered as a possible cause of the extinction of this and other megafaunal species in the northeast US.

Genetic structure and biogeographic history of the Bicknell’s Thrush/ Gray-cheeked Thrush species complex - Fitzgerald, Alyssa M; Weir, Jason; Ralston, Joel; Warkentin, Ian G; Whitaker, Darroch M; J. J. Kirchman (The Auk, 2019)
We examined species limits, admixture, and genetic structure among populations in the Bicknell’s Thrush (Catharus bicknelli)–Gray-cheeked Thrush (C. minimus) species complex to establish the geographic and temporal context of speciation in this group, which is a model system in ecology and a high conservation priority. We obtained mitochondrial ND2 sequences from 186 Bicknell’s Thrushes, 77 Gray-cheeked Thrushes, and 55 individuals of their closest relative, the Veery (C. fuscescens), and genotyped a subset of individuals (n = 72) at 5,633 anonymous single nucleotide polymorphic (SNP) loci. Between-species sequence divergence was an order of magnitude greater than divergence within each species, divergence was dated to the late Pleistocene (420 kbp) based on Bayesian coalescence estimation, and a coalescent model (IMa) revealed almost no gene flow between species based on ND2. SNP data were consistent with mitochondrial results and revealed low levels of admixture among species (3 of 37 Bicknell’s Thrushes, no Gray-cheeked Thrushes, and no Veeries were >2% admixed). Species distribution models projected to the Last Glacial Maximum suggest that Bicknell’s Thrush and Gray-cheeked Thrush resided in primarily allopatric refugia in the late Pleistocene, consistent with the genetic data that support reproductive isolation over an extended period of time. Our genetic data suggest that both species underwent demographic expansions, possibly as they expanded out of Pleistocene refugia into their current ranges. We conclude that Bicknell’s Thrush and Gray-cheeked Thrush are 2 distinct species-level lineages despite low levels of Gray-cheeked Thrush introgression in Bicknell’s Thrushes, and divergence has been maintained by a long history of allopatry in subtly different habitats. Their unique phylogeography among boreal forest birds indicates that either cryptic species breaks in eastern North America are still undiscovered, or another factor, such as divergent natural selection, high migratory connectivity, or interspecific competition, played a role in their divergence.
Keywords: Bicknell’s Thrush; Biogeography; boreal forest; Catharus; genetic structure; Gray-cheeked Thrush; phylogeography; Pleistocene; Speciation; species limits

Comment on: Álvaro, J. J., Esteve, J. & Zamora, S. 2019. Morphological assessment of the earliest paradoxidid trilobites (Cambrian Series 3) from Morocco and Spain - G. Geyer; Nowicki, Jakub; Żylińska, Anna; E. Landing (Geological Magazine, 2019)
Álvaro et al. (2018) argued that at least six species of Acadoparadoxides described from the lower–middle Cambrian boundary interval successions in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco all belong to Acadoparadoxides mureroensis (Sdzuy, 1958), which was first described from the Iberian Chains, Spain. Their study is based entirely on a morphometric analysis, which ignores the stratigraphic occurrences of particular morphotypes, deformation-related compaction of individual sclerites and their original relief, and thus underestimates some of the earlier described differences between these species. Their synonymization of a number of named Acadoparadoxides species is based on the morphometric approach that they rely on to distinguish between a number of congeneric species. A morphometric approach as applied by Álvaro et al. will lead to an apparent synonymy based on sclerites of similar taxa. Thus, morphometric study must be complemented by an analysis of which morphologically distinctive sclerites (i.e. cranidia and pygidia) are stratigraphically associated, and evaluation of which measurements are more critical to distinguishing sclerites that may represent distinct taxa, and the recognition of related character sets. Apart from demonstrating problems in the conclusion of Álvaro et al., our more inclusive approach of morphologic and stratigraphic analysis works to reassert the diagnostic characters and differences between six earlier named species of Acadoparadoxides. Our conclusions also emphasize the taxonomic problems associated with the identification and morphological variation of A. mureroensis owing to tectonic deformation of its topotype material and to questionable taxonomic assignment of Acadoparadoxides specimens from the Iberian sections.
Keywords: Anti- Atla; Biostratigraphy; Iberian Chains; morphometrics; trilobite systematics; West Gondwana

Revised Cambrian stratigraphy in the Franconian Forest (Frankenwald), Germany, reveals typical West Gondwanan succession in the Saxothuringian belt - G. Geyer; E. Landing; Höhn, S.; Linnemann, U.; Meier, S.; Servais, T.; Wotte, T.; Herbig, H. -G. (Newsletters on Stratigraphy, 2019)
New investigations of the Cambrian in the Franconian Forest region lead to a revision of the lithostratigraphic succession into seven units: Rauschbach Unit, Tiefenbach Formation, Tannenknock Formation (with Galgenberg and Wildenstein members), Triebenreuth Formation, Lippertsgrün Formation and Bergleshof Formation, with partly revised stratigraphical ranges and lithological characteristics. The succession indicates a fairly complete succession from Cambrian Series 2 (late early Cambrian) through the end of the Miaolingian, with gaps being a result of incomplete exposure and structural complexity rather than distinct hiatuses. New finds expand the known fossil record and provide additional data for reconstructing biogeographical relationships and depositional environments. These features indicate shallow marine conditions throughout the Cambrian with characteristics typical for West Gondwanan shelf areas. In particular, strong similarities to the Moroccan Atlas regions are indicated. Additional information on volcanic activity from middle Cambrian through Tremadocian times provides clues for crustal extension that affected the depositional setting in this region. Stratigraphy, depositional environments and facies distribution all suggest reinterpretation of earlier geotectonical models used to interpret the history of the Franconian Forest area in the Saxothuringian Belt.
Keywords: Cambrian; chronostratigraphy; depositional environments; lithostratigraphy; volcanism; West Gondwana

Archaeological Overview and Assessment of the Crown Point Reservation, Town of Crown Point, Essex County, New York - A. Gore; H. Clark (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2019)

An analysis of network brokerage and geographic location in fifteenth-century AD Northern Iroquoia - J. P. Hart; S. Winchell-Sweeney; Birch, Jennifer (PLOS ONE, 2019)
Iroquoian villagers living in present-day Jefferson County, New York, at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River and the east shore of Lake Ontario, played important roles in regional interactions during the fifteenth century AD, as brokers linking populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario with populations in eastern New York. This study employs a social network analysis and least cost path analysis to assess the degree to which geographical location may have facilitated the brokerage positions of site clusters within pan-Iroquoian social networks. The results indicate that location was a significant factor in determining brokerage. In the sixteenth century AD, when Jefferson County was abandoned, measurable increases in social distance between other Iroquoian populations obtained. These results add to our understandings of the dynamic social landscape of fifteenth and sixteenth century AD northern Iroquoia, complementing recent analyses elsewhere of the roles played in regional interaction networks by populations located along geopolitical frontiers.

The Dog That Wasn’t: An Historical Pig Burial on the Sixteenth-Century AD Klock Site, Fulton County, New York - J. P. Hart; R. S. Feranec (Archaeology of Eastern North America, 2019)
An articulated animal skeleton was found in a pit feature at the cal. sixteenth-century AD Klock site in Fulton County, New York, during New York State Museum excavations in 1970. The skeleton was reported as a dog burial associated with the Native American occupation in Funk and Kuhn’s 2003 report on the site. Recent analysis indicates that the animal was a six-month-old domesticated pig. A radiocarbon date on the skeleton indicates the animal was most likely buried in the cal. nineteenth century AD, well after the Native American occupation of the site.

Freshwater reservoir offsets on radiocarbon-dated dog bone from the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, USA - J. P. Hart; R. S. Feranec; Abel, T. J.; Vavrasek, J. L. (PeerJ, 2019)
Isotopic analysis of dog (Canis lupus familiaris) bone recovered from archaeological sites as proxies for human bone is becoming common in North America. Chronological placement of the dogs is often determined through radiocarbon dating of dog bone. The Great Lakes, their tributaries, and nearby lakes and streams were important fisheries for Native Americans prior to and after sustained European presence in the region. Carbon entering the food web in freshwater systems is often not in full isotopic equilibrium with the atmosphere, giving rise to spuriously old radiocarbon ages in fish, other aquatic organisms, and their consumers. These freshwater reservoir offsets (FROs) have been noted on human and dog bone in several areas of the world. Here we report the results of multi-tracer Bayesian dietary modeling using δ15N and δ13C values on dog bone collagen from mid-fifteenth to mid-sixteenth-century Iroquoian village sites at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, New York, USA. Results indicate that fish was an important component of dog diets. A comparison of radiocarbon dates on dog bone with dates on deer bone or maize from the same sites indicate FROs ranging from 97 ± 24 to 220 ± 39 14Cyr with a weighted mean of 132 ± 8 14Cyr. These results suggest that dog bone should not be used for radiocarbon dating in the absence of modeling to determine fish consumption and that previously reported radiocarbon dates on human bone from the larger region are likely to have FROs given the known importance of fish in regional human diets.
Keywords: Bayesian dietary modeling; Dogs; Freshwater reservoir offsets; radiocarbon dating; St. Lawrence River

Review of Jennifer Birch and Victor D Thompson (eds) The Archaeology of Villages in Eastern North America - J. P. Hart (North American Archaeologist, 2019)

Addendum Phase 1B Survey and Phase 2 Site Examination of the Yale Lock Factory Site, PIN 2805.95.121, New York State Route 28 Culvert Extension and Repair, Village of Newport, Herkimer County, New York - S. Higgins; Herzing, L.; A. Lynch; D. E. Merwin; Morse, S.; Van Nest, J. (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2019)

Bedrock Elevation and Drift Thickness of the Genoa, Scipio Center, Sheldrake and Union Springs 7.5 Minute Quadrangles - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J. (Map & Chart, 2019)

Geologic Mapping -- The Utility of County Scale and 3D Mapping - A. L. Kozlowski (Material Matters, 2019)

Subsurface Geology of the Great Gully Buried Valley System, Cayuga County, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; B. Bird; Mahan, S.; Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J.; Graham, B. (Map and Chart Series, 2019)

Surficial Geology of Cayuga County, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; B. Bird; Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map and Chart Series, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Clarksville 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Albany County, New York - A. L. Kozlowski; Backhaus, K. J.; R. J. Dineen; Leone, J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

Proper Care and Preservation - Lander, D. R. (New York Archives Magazine, 2019)

Something’s Happening Here: A Sixties Odyssey from Brooklyn to Woodstock - Lander, D. R. (New York History, 2019)

Early Paleozoic rifting and reactivation of a passive-margin rift: Insights from detrital zircon provenance signatures of the Potsdam Group, Ottawa graben: Comment - E. Landing; Hersi, Osman Salad; L. Amati; Westrop, Stephen R.; Franzi, David A. (GSA Bulletin, 2019)
This comment outlines fundamental problems in Lowe et al.’s synthesis (2018) of the early Paleozoic stratigraphic architecture of the eastern Ottawa-Bonnechere aulacogen that preclude an accurate analysis of the region’s geological and depositional history and even an adequate stratigraphic provenance of the detrital zircons that they analyze. These problems include: inaccurate lithostratigraphic and contradictory biostratigraphic correlations that have also led to extension of the Potsdam “Group” into the Lower Ordovician; a proposed allostratigraphy that contradicts itself when tested with existing litho- and biostratigraphic data; redefinitions of earlier defined lithostratigraphic units that lead to confusion on close reading; and errors in interpreted depositional environments and lithostratigraphic contacts.

RE: Overused “greenhouse climate” paradigm: consequence for ancient climate synthesis - E. Landing; G. Geyer (Science Advances, 2019)
Hearing et al. (1) determine a precise sea-surface temperature from late in the diversification of metazoans. However, we contend their global climate synthesis reflects an unquestioning application of the “greenhouse paradigm,” a problematical paleogeographic reconstruction, and an extremely high pCO2 incompatible with marine carbonate deposition of that time.

Can metric data be an effective tool for galliform skull identification in archaeological contexts? - Ledogar, S. H.; Watson, J. E. (Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2019)
Galliforms, or game birds, are commonly found in zooarchaeological assemblages but several taxa within the order (e.g. chicken, pheasant and grouse) are difficult to distinguish from one another morphologically. Osteometrics is a tool for understanding skeletal variation in animal populations that has been shown to be useful in distinguishing between closely related genera in galliform post-cranial elements. In this paper, we test whether metrics are also effective in identifying galliform skulls (crania and mandibles) to the genus level. Using osteometric data collected from nine North American gallinaceous genera, we found that size was the greatest source of variation within the order. Several dimensions (greatest height, smallest breadth between orbits and length of incisivum) on the cranium were successful in distinguishing Domestic chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus) from Ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), while measurements on the mandible were not very effective in separating closely related taxa. The application of osteometrics to fragmentary bird skulls from an historic era site assemblage in New York was not effective in identifying birds beyond general size-classes even with the aid of morphology and comparative collections. This suggests that previous work identifying fragmentary skull remains to the species level is not accurate, and that more advanced methods need to be developed to identify morphological and metric variation between taxa in these fragmentary elements.

New AMS Dates for Verteba Cave and Stable Isotope Evidence of Human Diet in the Holocene Forest-Steppe, Ukraine - Ledogar, S. H.; Karsten, J. K.; Madden, G. D.; Schmidt, R.; Sokohatskyi, M. P.; R. S. Feranec (Radiocarbon, 2019)
Excavations at several locations in Verteba Cave have uncovered a large amount of human skeletal remains in association with faunal bones and Tripolye material culture. We aim to establish radiocarbon (14C) dates for eight sites and to evaluate whether these deposits are singular events, or slow accumulations over time. 14C measurements, along with stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from human and faunal remains, were collected from 18 specimens. Stable isotope values were used to evaluate human and animal diet, and whether freshwater reservoir effects offset measured dates. We found diets of the sampled species had limited to no influence from freshwater resources. Human diet appears to be dominated by terrestrial plants and herbivores. Four new sites were identified as Eneolithic. Comparisons of dates from top and bottom strata for two sites (7 and 20) reveal coeval dates, and we suggest that these deposits represent discrete events rather than slow continuous use. Lastly, we identified dates from the Mesolithic (8490±45 BP, 8765±30 BP), Iron Age (2505±20 BP), Slavic state era (1315±25 BP), and Medieval Period (585±15 BP), demonstrating periodic use of the cave by humans prior to and after the Eneolithic.

Surficial Geology of the Groton 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Cayuga, Cortland and Tompkins Counties, New York - Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Lake Como 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Delaware County, New York - Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Pond Eddy 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Orange and Sullivan Counties, New York - Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Port Jervis North 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Orange and Sullivan Counties, New York - Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Shohola 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Sullivan County, New York - Leone, J. (Map and Chart, 2019)

Surficial Geology of the Speedsville 7.5-Minute Quadrangle, Tioga and Tompkins Counties, New York - Leone, J.; Backhaus, K. J.; A. L. Kozlowski (Map and Chart, 2019)

Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) Documentation of the State Route 17 Bridge over the Neversink River, Town of Thompson, Sullivan County, New York - M.S. LoRusso (Cultural Resource Survey Program, 2019)