On Friday, July 2, 2010, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, together with the Smithfield Township Board of Supervisors, the Middle Smithfield Township Board of Supervisors, and the Eastern Monroe Regional Commission dedicated an official State Historical Marker commemorating the Shawnee/Minisink Archaeological Site at Rivers Edge Park in Minisink Hills.
The Shawnee-Minisink archaeological site is unique because it reflects a record of Native American occupation in the Upper Delaware River Valley spanning from the last Ice Age nearly 13,000 years ago until European contact.
A permanent display of the Native American artifacts collected from the Shawnee-Minisink site will be located at the Smithfield Township Municipal Center. Congratulations to all of the municipal supervisors, staff, volunteers, and individuals who worked to ensure this pre-historic story has been documented, promoted and preserved.
Front row, from left: Kurt Carr, senior curator, Department of Archaeology, Pennsylvania State Museum; Joseph Gingerich, University of Wyoming; Michael Stewart, Temple University, and Charles Kirkwood, Shawnee Inn. In back: Donald Kline, avocational archaeologist and the man who discovered the site.
