Through his extensive collection of prehistoric stone tools, archaeologist and historian Russell Cramer will discuss how Native American people living in the Poconos adapted to the challenges of a changing climate over thousands of years, from the post-Ice Age Paleo Period when big game animals roamed the area, through the Archaic Period when the climate was more similar to today, up to the late Woodland Period just prior to the arrival of Europeans in the mid-17th century. The environmental conditions and food resources present during each of these archaeological periods represented different challenges to the Native people. Mr. Cramer will be displaying hundreds of indigenous artifacts, some dating back nearly 12,800 years, to show how Native people adapted their tools and weapons with amazing technical skill and precision skill in order to survive and thrive.
Russell Cramer grew up in Shawnee-on-Delaware in the 1950s and became interested in local history at a young age. “I was so enthralled with what happened there that I wrote my senior thesis at Gettysburg College on its long history.” Russ has participated in excavations at the Shawnee-Minisink site conducted by archaeologist Donald Kline, who discovered the site in 1972. It is one of the most accurately dated Clovis sites in the East, providing a reliable date of nearly 11,000 years. Russ is a member of Indian Artifact Collectors Association of the North East (IACANE), a group dedicated to the preservation of Native American points and tools.
The program will be presented at 5:00 p.m. in the outdoor amphitheater at Promised Land State Park.
