The Pethick site is located in the Town of Schoharie, Schoharie County, New York. The site has produced more than 350,000 artifacts associated with four major cultural occupations. The earliest occupation dates between 4,000-3,000 B.C. and consists of the remains of a small camp occupied by hunter-gatherers who used the site during forays into the valley. Artifacts recovered from this occupation include small projectile points, debris from the manufacture of stone tools, food remains (including nutshell, seeds, and white-tailed deer) as well as net weights used to catch fish from the Schoharie Creek.
The second occupation dates between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 300 and has produced evidence of a more lengthy occupation of the site for a season or two. Artifacts recovered from this occupation point to the use of the site as a long term camp with several post molds suggesting one or more temporary structures may have been present. Pottery decorated with cord marked designs, projectile points, and pieces of stone (or steatite) bowls have been recovered. Other stone tools include drills, bifaces, scrapers, and hammerstones. The recovery of non-local stone materials suggests that these groups interacted with other groups in southern and central New York, New England, and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
