Dr. John P. Hart

Curator Emeritus
john.hart@nysed.gov
518-474-3895

My research has focused primarily on the histories of maize, bean, and squash in New York and the greater Northeast and the interactions of human populations with these crops. Through collaborations with numerous colleagues both at the Museum and other institutions, this research resulted in new understandings of these histories and interactions. A primary focus has been on charred cooking residues adhering to the interior surfaces of pottery sherds in the collections of the Museum. These residues contain microfossil evidence (phytoliths, starch, lipids) of the plants cooked in the pots. In addition the residues can be directly radiocarbon dated through accelerator mass spectrometry. These methods and techniques have provided new evidence that is radically altering our understandings of the histories of agriculture in New York State. Theory building to develop understandings of these new histories is another focus. This research has broad implications for Native American history in New York and the greater Northeast.

Most recently I have been working with colleagues on Social Network Analyses (SNA) of northern Iroquoian sites dating from A.D. 1350 to 1650. SNA is a formal graphing method, which in archaeology is used to identify relationships between sites based on similarities of artifact assemblages. This research is helping to build new understandings of interactions between village populations and how these interactions changed through time during the last centuries before and then after European involvements.

My Research Projects

Publications

2002

Terrell, J., Hart, J., 2002. Introduction, in: Hart, J., Terrell, J. (Eds.), Darwin and Archaeology: A Handbook of Key Concepts. Bergin \& Garvey, Westport, Connecticut, pp. 1-13.
J. Hart, D. Asch, C. Scarry, G. Crawford 2002, The Age of the Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the Northern Eastern Woodlands of North America, Antiquity 76, 377-385. 10.1017/S0003598X00090475
J. Hart, J. Terrell 2002, Darwin and Archaeology: A Handbook of Key Concepts, Bergin \& Garvey, Westport, Connecticut
C. Rieth, J. Hart 2002, Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700 1300, New York State Museum Bulletin The University of the State of New York, Albany, NY

2001

J. Hart 2001, Maize, Matrilocality, Migration, and Northern Iroquoian Evolution, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 8, 151-182. 10.1023/A:1011301218533

2000

Fisher, C., 2000. Archaeology and the Rural Landscape, in: Hart, J., Fisher, C. (Eds.), Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Domestic Site Archaeology in New York State. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 63-78.
LoRusso, M.S., 2000. The Betsey Prince Site: An Early Black Domestic Site on Long Island, in: Hart, J., Fisher, C. (Eds.), Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Domestic Site Archaeology in New York State. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 195-224.
Nass, J., Hart, J., 2000. Late Prehistoric Settlement in the Lower Upper Ohio River Basin, in: Genheimer, R. (Ed.), Cultures Before Contact: The Late Prehistory of Ohio and Surrounding Regions. The Ohio Archaeological Counci, Columbus, Ohio, pp. 124-155.
Pickands, M., 2000. The Spain’s Boarding House and Early Twentieth-Century Settlement in the Western Adirondacks, in: Hart, J., Fisher, C. (Eds.), Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth Century Domestic Site Arhcaeology in New York State. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 225-240.
J. Hart 2000, New Dates from Old Collections: The Roundtop Site and Maize-Beans-Squash Agriculture in the Northeast, North American Archaeologist 21, 7-17. 10.2190/1M03-BNGJ-FFMY-YNMP