Spanish Hill
| Spanish Hill | |
|---|---|
| height | 298 m |
| location | Bradford County , Pennsylvania , USA |
| Coordinates | 41 ° 59 ′ 40 ″ N , 76 ° 33 ′ 0 ″ W |
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| particularities | archaeological finds , graves |
Spanish Hill is a 298 m high land elevation on the northern edge of Pennsylvania on the border with New York . There are traces of the indigenous people of the United States who belong to the Susquehannock tribe . The hill was both a settlement and a burial site. The excavations, if any, will be documented in the Tioga Point Museum in nearby Athens and made available to the public.
location
The 300 meter long hill, which runs in north-south direction, is located in the municipal area of South Waverly and is surrounded on its west side - orographically on the left - by the Chemung , which flows five kilometers further south at Tioga Point into the Susquehanna River coming from the left . To the south, these two rivers form a natural border of the low mountain range conglomerate , which runs flat to the north and especially towards Lake Ontario . Spanish Hill is the southernmost point of this geographic area and the only point that belongs to Pennsylvania due to the longitude division of the country. The Endless Mountains join further south .
Several traffic routes run along Spanish Hill: In the north, exactly on the border of the two states, passes Interstate 86 - better known as the Southern Tier Expressway, which branches off east into 220 towards Williamsport .
“Of many points of historic interest in our valley, perhaps none has attracted more attention or roused more speculation, from the earliest times to the present, than the mound called Spanish Hill. This prominence is due not only to its unsusal position (isolated from the hill ranges and regions), but also to its odd outline, the remains of fortifications on the top, and its present name. "
“Of many places of historical interest in our valley, from the earliest times to the present, perhaps none has attracted more attention or speculation than the hill called Spanish Hill. This importance stems not only from its unusual location, which is separated from other ranges of hills and regions, but also from its strange outlines, the remains of the fortifications and its current name. "
There are many legends about this hill, including the origin of its name. In the belief of the Indians, a deadly spirit lives on the hill, which one must not disturb. Even before the excavations began, the hill was known as Hill Espana or Hill Hisp. designated. What is certain is that the Spaniards made their first explorations on the Susquehanna in 1570 and perhaps also named this hill. Many other naming conventions are from this time and are obviously of Spanish origin.
There were also numerous traces of Indians around the hill. There were Indian trails with places to stay and burial sites along the large rivers. Over the years, many of these ritual places have disappeared, initially due to the cultivation of the white settlers, who did not appreciate these holy places due to a lack of cultural background. At the latest with the construction of the forerunner of the first main road ( highway ) in the 1890s, which took place completely without securing or recording mineral resources, valuable traces were lost there.
Excavations
The situation is similar with the permanent settlement on Spanish Hill. Here too, from today's perspective, improper excavation resulted in a loss of information or found its way into private collections.
The English, led by John Smith, named the indigenous people of this region in the early 17th century Susquehannocks after the Susquehanna River where they lived; the French called them Andastes . He describes them as very tall and extremely well proportioned. These tribal members are believed to have owned the artifacts and biofacts that have been excavated on Spanish Hill since the early 19th century. In 1833 the remains of a fortification wall could still be seen there, which completely delimited the plateau. For more than 100 years, grave robbers have been lured by scientific reports and sometimes lurid newspaper reports . In 1920/21 an Indian cemetery with 50 to 100 graves was found on the plateau. Records from that time, which are now in the museum, show that the excavations that were carried out at the beginning of the 20th century, in addition to numerous pottery shards, found former fireplaces with black discolored earth as well as shell deposits, flint fragments and hoards of grain.
literature
- Louise Welles Murray: Aboriginal Sites in and near "Teaoga", Now Athens, Pennsylvania . In: American Anthropologist, New Series , Vol. 23, No. 3 (July-Sept. 1921), pp. 268-297
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
- ^ A b Louise Welles Murray: Aboriginal sites in and near "Teaoga," now Athens, Pennsylvania
- ^ Tioga Point Museum , VIAF
- ^ Louise Welles Murray: A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania , Athens (PA) 1908, pp. 61ff on: openlibrary.org
- ^ Louise Welles Murray: Aboriginal Sites in and near "Teaoga", Now Athens, Pennsylvania . In: American Anthropologist, New Series , Vol. 23, No. 2 (April – June 1921)
- ↑ Susquehannocks / Andastes on spanishhill.com