Indian Head is a large, prehistoric archaeological site located on a wooded bluff twenty-five feet above the west bank of the Maurice River. It covers nearly seventy acres in space and 10,000 years in time. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence here for every cultural type found in the Northeast: from the small bands of nomadic people who first populated North America known as Paleo Indians to the natives of the late Woodlands period who greeted the earliest Europeans. The range, variety, and amount of material discovered here suggest that for millennia an extensive trade and travel network centered on this site.
The Indian Head Site has been yielding relics for 90 years. Yet despite all we have learned, there is still much archaeological research to be done on this property. The Landis Sewerage Authority (LSA), which owns the Indian Head Site, is required by legal covenant to protect it. But LSA maintains that weak laws make it impossible for them to stop relic collectors who loot material and lessen the site’s value. Archaeological sites are nonrenewable resources; once a site is destroyed, the record is lost. PNJ urges LSA to redouble its efforts to protect this priceless property while we seek legislation that can protect this and other publicly owned archaeological sites in New Jersey.
James Lee, Archaeological Society of NJ,
476 Lock Street
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865