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Jesse,
As you know, sturgeon scutes are commonly found, but rarely studied in depth, at prehistoric and historical sites throughout the Northeast U.S. However, an 18th century sturgeon fishery (shad and other fish were also harvested) was excavated and reported on in detail in Trenton, New Jersey, along the Delaware River.
At least 54 sturgeon remains were identified at the Lamberton Fishery Boiling House site.
There are 569 identified sturgeon remains, mostly scutes or scute fragments, from the basement at the Lambert-Douglas Plantation site. These were not identified to species. Sturgeon was found in contexts dating to both the earlier and later 18th century, and is second only to domestic pig in terms of identified specimens at Lambert-Douglas. Smaller numbers of sturgeon scutes were found in other structures within the project area.
While I believe the data recovery reports are still in the draft/review stage, an excellent series of booklets for the public were produced by Hunter Research. These can be found online here: http://www.state.nj.us/counties/mercer/commissions/cultural/rte29.html
The most relevant are Fish and Ships: Lamberton, the Port of Trenton, which has a summary of the sturgeon fisheries at the site, and A Tale of Two Houses: The Lambert/Douglas House and the Rosey Hill Mansion, 1700-1850.
Technical reports:
Madrigal, T. Cregg
2000 Vertebrate Faunal Remains from the Lambert‑Douglas Plantation Site, Trenton, New Jersey. In Archaeological Data Recovery Excavations and Monitoring, New Jersey Route 29, City of Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey. Prepared by Hunter Research, Inc., for the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
2001 Faunal Remains from Route 29 Monitoring. In Archaeological Data Recovery Excavations and Monitoring, New Jersey Route 29, City of Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, Volume V. Prepared by Hunter Research, Inc., for the New Jersey Department of Transportation.
Sturgeon was also found within the prehistoric Abbott Farm National Historic Landmark, also in Trenton, but in relatively low numbers. Dave Parris has argued this is likely a taphonomic bias. Based on both the faunal remains and other artifacts at Abbott Farm, Cavallo argued that intensive procurement and processing of sturgeon (and other anadromous fish) took place there during the Middle Woodland. There has been a lot of work in and around Abbott Farm since then – I don’t recall how much attention sturgeon received in the reports.
Williams, L.E., D.C. Parris, and S.S. Albright
1981 Interdisciplinary approaches to WPA archaeological collections in the Northeast. In The research potential of anthropological museum collections, edited by Anne-Marie E. Cantwell, James B. Griffin, and Nan A. Rothschild, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 376:141-159.
Cavallo, John A.
1983-1984 Fish, Fires, and Foresight: Middle Woodland economic adaptations in the Abbott Farm National Landmark. North American Archaeologist 5(2):111-138.
Good luck,
Cregg
From: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jesse Webb
Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2013 10:28 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ZOOARCH] Sturgeon Zooarchaeology - Eastern North America
Dear colleagues,
I am in the process of compiling a review of prehistoric and historic uses of sturgeon along the Eastern Seaboard of the USA as well as the Atlantic Provinces and the Saint Lawrence River drainage in Canada on behalf of the Ocean Tracking Network (http://oceantrackingnetwork.org/). Toward this end, I have been compiling available archaeological data and historical accounts for sturgeon fishing across this broad region. While I have found a fair amount of relevant sources, I am aware that faunal analysis has a tendency to be buried in the "grey literature". Thus, there is likely a lot that I am missing, especially for the US states.
Does anyone know of zooarchaeological and/or ethnohistorical references to sturgeon from this area (I already have a pretty good handle on the material from Maine and the Canadian Maritime Provinces)? Although there is likely a lot of data from the interior portions of eastern North America (especially the Great Lakes), the focus is primarily on sturgeon from coastal areas or rivers which flow into the Atlantic, given the scope of the OTN (essentially, the ranges of Acipenser o. oxyrinchus and Acipenser brevirostrum). Although any amount of sturgeon is worth including, I am especially interested in cases where is evidence for a focal fishery or ceremonial linkages between humans and sturgeon.
Thank you all for your time and consideration,
Jesse Webb
W. Jesse Webb
Graduate Student (MA), Archaeology
Department of Anthropology
University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, NB, Canada