Martz Rock Shelter 2
Overview
While the Martz Rock Shelter 1 site was known to modern archaeologists, this was not the case for the nearby Martz Rock Shelter 2 site (36 So 223) until archival research in the early 1990s uncovered the site's existence. This archival research also demonstrated that a much smaller portion of the hillside bench in front of the Martz Rock Shelter 2 was excavated by a WPA field crew in 1938 than was the case for the Martz Rock Shelter. Extensive investigations of the Martz Rock Shelter 2 in the 1990s in advance of highway construction encountered intact stratigraphy containing American Indian artifacts dating back thousands of years. The site no longer exists since it was destroyed to make way for the highway bypass around Meyersdale, Pennsylvania.
WPA field crew in 1938 excavates under the
overhang at Martz Rock Shelter No. 2.
(Courtesy of The State Museum of Pennsylvania)
Site Maps
Click image for larger version.
Estimated limits of 1938 WPA excavations at the
Martz Rock Shelter and Martz Rock Shelter No. 2.
Location of Phase II test units excavated
at Martz Rock Shelter No. 2 in 1995.
Artifact Images
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Tracings of artifacts
recovered in 1938.
The whereabouts
of the artifacts
is not known.
American Indian
chipped stone
artifacts recovered
in 1990s.
American Indian
chipped stone
artifacts recovered
in 1990s.
American Indian
chipped stone
and groundstone
tools recovered
in 1990s.
Site Scenes
Images indicated by a (*) date to 1938. Click image for larger version.
1938 WPA excavations (*)
on left and 1994
recreation on right
1938 WPA excavations (*)
on left and 1994
recreation on right
1938 WPA excavations (*)
on left and 1994
recreation on right
The Martz Rock
Shelter No. 2
in 1994.
1938 WPA
excavations (*)
on top and
1994 recreation
on bottom
References
Augustine, Edgar
1938 Important Research on Peck and Martz Rock Shelter Site in Somerset County. Pennsylvania Archaeologist 8 (4):83-88.
Means, Bernard K.
1998 Archaeological Past and Present: Field Methodology from 1930s Relief Excavations in Somerset County, Pennsylvania and its Relevance to Modern Archaeological Interpretations. Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology 14:39-63. Available online.
1999 Monongahela Mortuary Practices in Somerset County, Pennsylvania: Observations and Implications. Pennsylvania Archaeologist 69 (2):15-44.
2002 Revisiting Mary Butler's "Three Archaeological Sites in Somerset County, Pennsylvania" for Continuing Insights into Depression-era Archaeology in Southwestern Pennsylvania and Late Prehistoric Monongahela Social Organization. Pennsylvania Archaeologist 72 (2): 8-46.
2003 Deliver Me From Mononga-Hell: Thinking Beyond the Culture History Paradigm to Examine the Temporal and Spatial Parameters of Somerset Monongahela Village Settlements. Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology 19:37-58.
2006 Circular Reasoning: Drawing on Models of Ring-shaped Village Spatial Layouts To Examine Villages in Late Prehistoric Pennsylvania. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.
2007 Circular Villages of the Monongahela Tradition. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.