The Fisher Farm site is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

Centre County Centre County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 158,172. Its county seat is Bellefonte. Centre County comprises the State College, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. History The lands ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Located in fields on the outskirts of Unionville, it is one of central Pennsylvania's leading archaeological sites.

Profile

The Fisher Farm site encompasses approximately on the northern bank of Bald Eagle Creek. While the site primarily includes farm fields, the site is divided into two sections by a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line, and a former streambed is located amid the fields. west of central Unionville Farmers have plowed the fields west of central Unionville since at least the 1870s, but the area was farmed before European settlement. Investigations at the site have led archaeologists to conclude that the site is that of a

Late Woodland In the classification of archaeological cultures of North America, the Woodland period of North American pre-Columbian cultures spanned a period from roughly 1000 BCE to European contact in the eastern part of North America, with some archaeolog ...

farming village that was occupied between AD 1200 and 1600.

Excavations

Archaeological excavations of the Fisher Farm site commenced in 1976 and continued through 1978. Based on the tests conducted in 1976, the large-scale excavations of 1977 and 1978 resulted in the removal of hundreds of square meters of field and former streambed above Bald Eagle Creek. Among the artifacts recovered in 1977 were nine burials and sixty-three other items of interest, while the 1978 excavation yielded pollen and carbon-14 samples useful for

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

and reconstructing the profile of the site respectively. The site was named for its owner, Ivan Fisher.

Conclusions

The Fisher Farm site has been crucial to the understanding of Late Woodland archaeology in central Pennsylvania. Before excavations at Fisher Farm, research at Late Woodland villages in the region had been conducted at stockaded villages along rivers; sites such as Fisher Farm, which was smaller than the fortified villages and located along a less significant waterway, had been little studied. It has been suggested that these small villages were politically connected to the larger communities, although whether individuals would migrate between large and small villages is disputed. Much of the cultural evidence at the site is derived from pottery recovered in 1978 from the former streambed. While previous models had held that different styles of pottery replaced one another in a sudden fashion, the development of designs seen at Fisher Farm seems to indicate a more gradual transition from style to style. Finally, the Fisher Farm site was the first of many villages to be excavated in the

Nittany Valley Nittany Valley is an eroded anticlinal valley located in Centre County, Pennsylvania. It is separated from the Bald Eagle Valley by Bald Eagle Mountain and from Penns Valley by Mount Nittany. The valley is closed to the north by a high plateau t ...

; as such, it has become somewhat of a

type site In archaeology, a type site is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and Hallstatt led scholars to divide the European Iron A ...

in the region. Findings at the site have led to the proposal of a new model of Late Woodland culture in the region.

Recognition

In 1982, the Fisher Farm site was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

for its place as a significant archaeological site.

Profile

Excavations

Conclusions

Recognition

See also

References

Further reading