Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Mead Island in the Allegheny River in Starbrick is the Type Site for the Mead Island Tradition, the dominant Native America culture of the region from the mid 10th century through the mid 14th century. A historic marker will be placed in Starbrick memorializing the location.

From the middle of the 10th century to through the middle of the 14th, the Mead Island Tradition was the dominant Native American culture in the Middle Allegheny River area.

And Mead Island, in Warren County, is considered the center of that culture.

It was centered on and named for an Allegheny River island at Starbrick.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) approved historic markers for the Mead Island Tradition and 22 other sites in the state.

A marker memorializing the Mead Island Tradition will be placed along Route 6 at Scientific Road in Starbrick.

The application was filed by Ken Burkett of the Jefferson County Historical Society and the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology. It includes supporting letters from the President of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, the Senior Curator of Archaeology for the State Museum of Pennsylvania, and the Immediate Past President of the Eastern States Archaeological Federation.

In the application, Burkett explains a Type Site.

“In Archaeology, a Type Site is a site that is considered the model or archetype for a particular archaeological culture that possess unique characteristic not shared by its regional neighbors. Type sites become important when new sites with the same material culture are found because these are measured against the type site. Because archaeological cultures also have time depth, these can be referred to as a tradition, hence the name Mead Island Tradition. Named for an island in the Allegheny River near Warren, Pennsylvania, the Mead Island Tradition was first identified in 1964 by Dr. Stanley Lantz, staff archeologist with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH).”

Burkett said there were eight villages, six rockshelter areas, and five campsites, in addition to the Type Site at Mead Island, that represent the tradition.

He said excavation near the current Penelec Station near where the marker will be located “helped clarify the characteristics of the culture.”

He said Lantz identified a fortified village, with a surrounding stockade, several ‘wigwam’ style dwellings, and hundreds of other features.

“The new markers, selected from 39 applications, will be added to the nearly 2,300 familiar blue signs with gold lettering along roads throughout Pennsylvania,” according to a PHMC release. “Since 1946 PHMC’s Historical Markers have chronicled the people, places and events that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries.”

“The signs feature subjects such as Native Americans and early settlers, government and politics, athletes, entertainers, artists, struggles for freedom and equality, factories and businesses, and a multitude of other noteworthy topics. Nominations for Pennsylvania Historical Markers may be submitted by any individual or organization and are evaluated by a panel of independent experts from across the state and approved by the agency’s commissioners.”