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

2005

J. Hart 2005, Discovery Now: Making Sense of Gourds. Members Update 16, 4
J. Hart, H. Brumbach 2005, Cooking Residues, AMS Dates, and the Middle-to-Late-Woodland Transition in Central New York, Northeast Anthropology 69, 1-34.
J. Hart, B. Means, J. Nass 2005, Monongahela Subsistence-Settlement Change?, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 30, 327-365. 10.1179/mca.2005.011

2004

J. Hart 2004, Can Cucurbita pepo Gourd Seeds be Made Edible?, Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 1631-1633. 10.1016/j.jas.2004.04.004
C. Sheviak, R. Daniels, J. Hart 2004, Do Cucurbita pepo Gourds Float Fish Nets?, American Antiquity 69, 141-148. 10.2307/4128352
J. Hart, H. Brumbach, R. Thompson, R. Lusteck 2004, Phytolith Evidence for Twentieth-Century B.P. Maize in Northern Iroquoia, Northeast Anthropology 68, 25-39.

2003

Asch, D., Hart, J., 2003. Crop Domestication in Prehistoric Eastern North America, in: Goodman, R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Plant and Crop Science. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, New York, pp. 304-319.
Cadwell, D., Muller, E., Fleischer, P., 2003. Geomorphic History of New York State, in: Cremeens, D., Hart, J. (Eds.), Geoarchaeology of Landscapes in the Glaciated Northeast. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 7-14.
Cremeens, D., Hart, J., 2003. Introduction, in: Cremeens, D., Hart, J. (Eds.), Geoarchaeology of Landscapes in the Glaciated Northeast. The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York, pp. 1-3.
J. Hart, D. Cremeens 2003, Geoarchaeology of Landscapes in the Glaciated Northeast, New York State Museum Bulletin The University of the State of New York, Albany, New York