Chuctanunda Terrace Site

Chuctanunda Terrace Site. Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor. , Native Americans have been visiting the site for nearly 5,000 years, drawn to this location by the rich resources of the Mohawk River and the Chuctanunda Creek North, and the animals and plants that flourished on their banks., The site was visited most frequently between 3,500 and 3,000 years ago, by people who made what archaeologists call Snook Kill and Orient Fishtail-type projectile points. These people did not have the ceramic pots of later cultures, but the stone tools they left behind tell us that daily activities at the site probably consisted of fishing in the river, collecting plants and nuts, and hunting game and processing the hides., Around AD1300 to 1500, the site was visited by Mohawk Indians, who left behind fragments of their distinctive incised pottery, triangular arrow points, and other artifacts. Few artifacts attributable to the Mohawks were found, so the site does not appear to be a large village like the ones found west of Amsterdam. Instead, it is more likely the site served the same function as it did much earlier, possibly an encampment visited by just a few people on hunting, fishing, or gathering excursions away from the main village. ,