Jay F Custer
Biographic Data
| ID | 278719 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jay F Custer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jay F |
| FAMILY NAME | Custer |
| SIGNATURE | CUSTER J F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Delaware |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6724-4750 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1982 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Correlation of regional late woodland triangle projectile point variation and native American ethnic group territories in the central middle Atlantic
The shapes and sizes of 983 Late Woodland triangular projectile points from four indigenous Native American different ethnic groups of the central Middle Atlantic region (Unami Lenapi – Lower Delaware Valley, Munsee Lenape – Upper Delaware Valley, Susquehannock – Lower Susquehanna Valley, Nanticoke – Lower Delmarva Peninsula) and one archaeological complex (Shenks Ferry – Lower Susquehanna Valley) were compared using various univariate statistica…
The ugly truth about pipe stem bore diameter dating
The usual practice of presenting and considering age estimates derived from pipe stem bore diameters as individual point estimates is incorrect, misleading, and ignores the true nature of the data set. Consideration of the age estimates as a range of values described by the mean and standard deviation correctly and more accurately reflects the nature of the data set, the probabilistic characteristics of the calculations, and allows for explicit e…
Experimental analysis of fire-cracked rocks from varied use contexts
This experimental study of fire-cracked rocks sought to determine if varied rock fracture attributes could be correlated with specific past uses of heated stones. A total of 864 rocks were heated in 41 fires that replicated hearth, stone boiling, sweat lodge, and earth oven uses of quartz, quartzite, and sandstone cobbles as heating elements. Analysis of experimental results considered three fire-cracked rock attributes (fracture rate, fragment t…
Ethics and the Hyperreality of the Archaeological Thought World
Archaeologists have created a thought world which serves to support their own power and privilege, harms the interests of American Indian people, and aids the on-going cultural genocide focused on Native Americans. However, this thought world is a form of hyperreality. Its images and ideas interact with and perpetuate one another with no reference to reality or meaning. We archaeologists must reject the hyperreality, come to terms with the unethi…
The Perils of Apostasy
Almost all of the critical comments on my article “Ethics and the Hyperreality of the Archaeological Thought World” are clear examples of the very trends in thinking that I sought to highlight concerning archaeology's unethical treatment of American Indian people, past and present. The unpleasant personal attacks that dominate many of the comments show the unwillingness and inability of the authors to come to terms with the serious higher level e…
Haunted by Pehin Hanska
Thanks to my name, I am writing this essay about what it is like to be named Custer and work as an anthropologist and archaeologist who studies American Indian people. Aside from the obvious fact that I would not be writing such an essay if my name were anything else, I mean to say that it is the name—not necessarily my personal characteristics—that give me this opportunity. Devon Mihesuah asked me to write about my experiences because in a lette…
Cultural Context and Cordage Twist Direction
Data on cordage impressions of ceramic vessels from several sites in Delaware and southeast Pennsylvania show significant cordage twist direction variation in relation to individual households, decorative styles, and cordage use. Variation within these cultural contexts complicates the use of cordage twist variation data to identify distinctive social groupings within the central Middle Atlantic region
Rethinking Delaware Archaeology
A pit feature containing human remains was originally interpreted as a trash pit based on its shape, the presence of ceramic sherds, flakes, and fire-cracked rocks, and the absence of items traditionally viewed as “grave goods.” However, a cooperative reconsideration of the feature, incorporating the insights of a representative of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, developed a new interpretation. Ethnohistoric data clearly indicate that local Indian pe…
Current archaeological research in the Middle Atlantic region of the eastern united states
A Simulation Study of Plow Zone Excavation Sample Designs
A sample simulation study was undertaken using a data base from an eighteenth-nineteenth century farmstead site in Delaware where the plow zone over the site core was completely excavated. Systematically stratified aligned samples based on quadrats provided more accurate, more precise, and more efficient estimates than did transect-based designs. Sampling fractions greater than 25 percent did not return significant increases in accuracy, precisio…
A deeply stratified archaeological and sedimentary sequence in the Delaware river valley of the middle Atlantic region, United States
A stratified sedimentary and archaeological sequence over seven meters thick is under investigation on Upper Shawnee Island in the Upper Delaware Valley, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Artifact deposits identified to date include Early Archaic (7380 B.C.), possible Middle Archaic (4300/3300 B.C.), Late Archaic (1565 B.C.), and Middle and Late Woodland components. This paper focuses on the Early Archaic deposits at approximately 4.3 meters below the…
An Introduction to Papers on the Middle/Late Woodland Transition in the Middle Atlantic Region, Part II
An Introduction to Papers on the Middle/Late Woodland Transition in the Middle Atlantic Region
The Woodland I—Woodland II Transition in the Delmarva Peninsula and Southeast Pennsylvania
The transition between Woodland I and Woodland II periods (ca. A.D. 800-A.D. 1000) is one of the most pronounced cultural changes seen during the prehistoric occupation of the Delmarva Peninsula and southeastern Pennsylvania. Cultural changes manifested in the local archaeological record include changes in site distributions and settlement patterns, the abandonment of some sections of certain drainage basins, the demise of regional exchange syste…
Analysis of microgrowth patterns of the American Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in the Middle Atlantic Region of Eastern North America
Analysis of Parasites from 19th Century Privy Contexts, Wilmington, Delaware
This article reports the finding of parasite ova in samples from four privy features excavated in Wilmington, Delaware. The privies, from which the samples were derived, dated to a variety of time periods ranging between 1790 and 1920. The predominate parasites found were the common roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, and the whipworm, Trichuris trichura. The presence of parasite ova in privies may serve as indicators of human feces within the organ…
A cautionary note on the use of chemstrips for detection of blood residues on prehistoric stone tools
Problems and Prospects in Northeastern Prehistoric Ceramic Studies
Three major research topics can be addressed using Northeastern ceramic data. First, different technological developments are seen in the earliest ceramics. Flat-bottomed wares develop in the Middle Atlantic and coiled, conoidal wares are earliest in New England. Second, the Abbott Farm and Delmarva Adena complexes of the central Middle Atlantic can be distinguished from surrounding Early and Middle Woodland complexes on the basis of ceramics; so…
News and Short Contributions
Jay F. Custer, Scott C. Watson, Colleen De Santis, Frederick M. Asher, Pam J. Crabtree, Michael W. Graves, Harold L. Dibble, News and Short Contributions, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Summer, 1987), pp. 229-254
Soil chemistry and historic archaeological site activity areas
Application of Landsat Data and Synoptic Remote Sensing to Predictive Models for Prehistoric Archaeological Sites
In recent research using prehistoric archaeological site data from the Delaware Coastal Plain we have developed techniques to apply Landsat remote sensing data to the generation of archaeological predictive models. Rather than focusing on the specific sensing of archaeological sites, we use a synoptic approach that delineates the likely environmental settings for archaeological sites. The logistical regression statistical technique provides a qua…
Lithic Procurement and Paleo-Indian Settlement Patterns on the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain
Paleo-Indian settlement patterns and differential tool use on the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain can be related to patterns of lithic resource distribution. In areas where cryptocrystalline lithic resources are concentrated in a few locales, a cyclical system oriented toward specific sources is seen. In areas where lithic resources are more numerous and dispersed, a serial system utilizing various non-specific outcrops or cobble beds is noted. The…
Holocene Climatic Change in the Middle Atlantic Area
Observations drawn from a variety of archaeological sites in the central Middle Atlantic area are presented as possible indicators of mid-Holocene climatic change. Alluvial deposition records, sediment accretion in rockshelters, episodes of aeolian deposition, and evidence of extinct ponds indicate a series of depositional discontinuities that are dated roughly between 4200 and 2200 BP. These discontinuities are correlated with the xerothermic co…
Patterns of Resource Distribution and Archaeological Settlement Patterns in the Piedmont Uplands of the Middle Atlantic Region
Varied patterns of subsistence resource distributions are found in the Piedmont Uplands throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Settlement patterns correlate with these resource distribution patterns through time. Paleo-Indian through Middle Archaic patterns are small scattered procurement sites that are part of a supra-local logistical system. Late Archaic through Middle Woodland patterns include large base camps in low relief settings for…
Lithic Procurement and Paleo-Indian Settlement Patterns on the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain
Paleo-Indian settlement patterns and differential tool use on the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain can be related to patterns of lithic resource distribution. In areas where cryptocrystalline lithic resources are concentrated in a few locales, a cyclical system oriented toward specific sources is seen. In areas where lithic resources are more numerous and dispersed, a serial system utilizing various non-specific outcrops or cobble beds is noted. The…
Analysis of microgrowth patterns of the American Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in the Middle Atlantic Region of Eastern North America
Rethinking Delaware Archaeology
A pit feature containing human remains was originally interpreted as a trash pit based on its shape, the presence of ceramic sherds, flakes, and fire-cracked rocks, and the absence of items traditionally viewed as “grave goods.” However, a cooperative reconsideration of the feature, incorporating the insights of a representative of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, developed a new interpretation. Ethnohistoric data clearly indicate that local Indian pe…
A cautionary note on the use of chemstrips for detection of blood residues on prehistoric stone tools
A deeply stratified archaeological and sedimentary sequence in the Delaware river valley of the middle Atlantic region, United States
A stratified sedimentary and archaeological sequence over seven meters thick is under investigation on Upper Shawnee Island in the Upper Delaware Valley, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Artifact deposits identified to date include Early Archaic (7380 B.C.), possible Middle Archaic (4300/3300 B.C.), Late Archaic (1565 B.C.), and Middle and Late Woodland components. This paper focuses on the Early Archaic deposits at approximately 4.3 meters below the…
A Simulation Study of Plow Zone Excavation Sample Designs
A sample simulation study was undertaken using a data base from an eighteenth-nineteenth century farmstead site in Delaware where the plow zone over the site core was completely excavated. Systematically stratified aligned samples based on quadrats provided more accurate, more precise, and more efficient estimates than did transect-based designs. Sampling fractions greater than 25 percent did not return significant increases in accuracy, precisio…
Holocene Climatic Change in the Middle Atlantic Area
Observations drawn from a variety of archaeological sites in the central Middle Atlantic area are presented as possible indicators of mid-Holocene climatic change. Alluvial deposition records, sediment accretion in rockshelters, episodes of aeolian deposition, and evidence of extinct ponds indicate a series of depositional discontinuities that are dated roughly between 4200 and 2200 BP. These discontinuities are correlated with the xerothermic co…
Problems and Prospects in Northeastern Prehistoric Ceramic Studies
Three major research topics can be addressed using Northeastern ceramic data. First, different technological developments are seen in the earliest ceramics. Flat-bottomed wares develop in the Middle Atlantic and coiled, conoidal wares are earliest in New England. Second, the Abbott Farm and Delmarva Adena complexes of the central Middle Atlantic can be distinguished from surrounding Early and Middle Woodland complexes on the basis of ceramics; so…
Soil chemistry and historic archaeological site activity areas
Application of Landsat Data and Synoptic Remote Sensing to Predictive Models for Prehistoric Archaeological Sites
In recent research using prehistoric archaeological site data from the Delaware Coastal Plain we have developed techniques to apply Landsat remote sensing data to the generation of archaeological predictive models. Rather than focusing on the specific sensing of archaeological sites, we use a synoptic approach that delineates the likely environmental settings for archaeological sites. The logistical regression statistical technique provides a qua…
Patterns of Resource Distribution and Archaeological Settlement Patterns in the Piedmont Uplands of the Middle Atlantic Region
Varied patterns of subsistence resource distributions are found in the Piedmont Uplands throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Settlement patterns correlate with these resource distribution patterns through time. Paleo-Indian through Middle Archaic patterns are small scattered procurement sites that are part of a supra-local logistical system. Late Archaic through Middle Woodland patterns include large base camps in low relief settings for…
Experimental analysis of fire-cracked rocks from varied use contexts
This experimental study of fire-cracked rocks sought to determine if varied rock fracture attributes could be correlated with specific past uses of heated stones. A total of 864 rocks were heated in 41 fires that replicated hearth, stone boiling, sweat lodge, and earth oven uses of quartz, quartzite, and sandstone cobbles as heating elements. Analysis of experimental results considered three fire-cracked rock attributes (fracture rate, fragment t…
Cultural Context and Cordage Twist Direction
Data on cordage impressions of ceramic vessels from several sites in Delaware and southeast Pennsylvania show significant cordage twist direction variation in relation to individual households, decorative styles, and cordage use. Variation within these cultural contexts complicates the use of cordage twist variation data to identify distinctive social groupings within the central Middle Atlantic region
Current archaeological research in the Middle Atlantic region of the eastern united states
The Woodland I—Woodland II Transition in the Delmarva Peninsula and Southeast Pennsylvania
The transition between Woodland I and Woodland II periods (ca. A.D. 800-A.D. 1000) is one of the most pronounced cultural changes seen during the prehistoric occupation of the Delmarva Peninsula and southeastern Pennsylvania. Cultural changes manifested in the local archaeological record include changes in site distributions and settlement patterns, the abandonment of some sections of certain drainage basins, the demise of regional exchange syste…
Ethics and the Hyperreality of the Archaeological Thought World
Archaeologists have created a thought world which serves to support their own power and privilege, harms the interests of American Indian people, and aids the on-going cultural genocide focused on Native Americans. However, this thought world is a form of hyperreality. Its images and ideas interact with and perpetuate one another with no reference to reality or meaning. We archaeologists must reject the hyperreality, come to terms with the unethi…
Haunted by Pehin Hanska
Thanks to my name, I am writing this essay about what it is like to be named Custer and work as an anthropologist and archaeologist who studies American Indian people. Aside from the obvious fact that I would not be writing such an essay if my name were anything else, I mean to say that it is the name—not necessarily my personal characteristics—that give me this opportunity. Devon Mihesuah asked me to write about my experiences because in a lette…
Analysis of Parasites from 19th Century Privy Contexts, Wilmington, Delaware
This article reports the finding of parasite ova in samples from four privy features excavated in Wilmington, Delaware. The privies, from which the samples were derived, dated to a variety of time periods ranging between 1790 and 1920. The predominate parasites found were the common roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, and the whipworm, Trichuris trichura. The presence of parasite ova in privies may serve as indicators of human feces within the organ…
News and Short Contributions
Jay F. Custer, Scott C. Watson, Colleen De Santis, Frederick M. Asher, Pam J. Crabtree, Michael W. Graves, Harold L. Dibble, News and Short Contributions, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Summer, 1987), pp. 229-254
Patterns of Resource Distribution and Archaeological Settlement Patterns in the Piedmont Uplands of the Middle Atlantic Region
Varied patterns of subsistence resource distributions are found in the Piedmont Uplands throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Settlement patterns correlate with these resource distribution patterns through time. Paleo-Indian through Middle Archaic patterns are small scattered procurement sites that are part of a supra-local logistical system. Late Archaic through Middle Woodland patterns include large base camps in low relief settings for…
Holocene Climatic Change in the Middle Atlantic Area
Observations drawn from a variety of archaeological sites in the central Middle Atlantic area are presented as possible indicators of mid-Holocene climatic change. Alluvial deposition records, sediment accretion in rockshelters, episodes of aeolian deposition, and evidence of extinct ponds indicate a series of depositional discontinuities that are dated roughly between 4200 and 2200 BP. These discontinuities are correlated with the xerothermic co…
Lithic Procurement and Paleo-Indian Settlement Patterns on the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain
Paleo-Indian settlement patterns and differential tool use on the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain can be related to patterns of lithic resource distribution. In areas where cryptocrystalline lithic resources are concentrated in a few locales, a cyclical system oriented toward specific sources is seen. In areas where lithic resources are more numerous and dispersed, a serial system utilizing various non-specific outcrops or cobble beds is noted. The…
Soil chemistry and historic archaeological site activity areas
Application of Landsat Data and Synoptic Remote Sensing to Predictive Models for Prehistoric Archaeological Sites
In recent research using prehistoric archaeological site data from the Delaware Coastal Plain we have developed techniques to apply Landsat remote sensing data to the generation of archaeological predictive models. Rather than focusing on the specific sensing of archaeological sites, we use a synoptic approach that delineates the likely environmental settings for archaeological sites. The logistical regression statistical technique provides a qua…
Problems and Prospects in Northeastern Prehistoric Ceramic Studies
Three major research topics can be addressed using Northeastern ceramic data. First, different technological developments are seen in the earliest ceramics. Flat-bottomed wares develop in the Middle Atlantic and coiled, conoidal wares are earliest in New England. Second, the Abbott Farm and Delmarva Adena complexes of the central Middle Atlantic can be distinguished from surrounding Early and Middle Woodland complexes on the basis of ceramics; so…
News and Short Contributions
Jay F. Custer, Scott C. Watson, Colleen De Santis, Frederick M. Asher, Pam J. Crabtree, Michael W. Graves, Harold L. Dibble, News and Short Contributions, Journal of Field Archaeology, Vol. 14, No. 2 (Summer, 1987), pp. 229-254
A cautionary note on the use of chemstrips for detection of blood residues on prehistoric stone tools
Analysis of microgrowth patterns of the American Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in the Middle Atlantic Region of Eastern North America
Analysis of Parasites from 19th Century Privy Contexts, Wilmington, Delaware
This article reports the finding of parasite ova in samples from four privy features excavated in Wilmington, Delaware. The privies, from which the samples were derived, dated to a variety of time periods ranging between 1790 and 1920. The predominate parasites found were the common roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, and the whipworm, Trichuris trichura. The presence of parasite ova in privies may serve as indicators of human feces within the organ…
A deeply stratified archaeological and sedimentary sequence in the Delaware river valley of the middle Atlantic region, United States
A stratified sedimentary and archaeological sequence over seven meters thick is under investigation on Upper Shawnee Island in the Upper Delaware Valley, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. Artifact deposits identified to date include Early Archaic (7380 B.C.), possible Middle Archaic (4300/3300 B.C.), Late Archaic (1565 B.C.), and Middle and Late Woodland components. This paper focuses on the Early Archaic deposits at approximately 4.3 meters below the…
An Introduction to Papers on the Middle/Late Woodland Transition in the Middle Atlantic Region, Part II
An Introduction to Papers on the Middle/Late Woodland Transition in the Middle Atlantic Region
The Woodland I—Woodland II Transition in the Delmarva Peninsula and Southeast Pennsylvania
The transition between Woodland I and Woodland II periods (ca. A.D. 800-A.D. 1000) is one of the most pronounced cultural changes seen during the prehistoric occupation of the Delmarva Peninsula and southeastern Pennsylvania. Cultural changes manifested in the local archaeological record include changes in site distributions and settlement patterns, the abandonment of some sections of certain drainage basins, the demise of regional exchange syste…
A Simulation Study of Plow Zone Excavation Sample Designs
A sample simulation study was undertaken using a data base from an eighteenth-nineteenth century farmstead site in Delaware where the plow zone over the site core was completely excavated. Systematically stratified aligned samples based on quadrats provided more accurate, more precise, and more efficient estimates than did transect-based designs. Sampling fractions greater than 25 percent did not return significant increases in accuracy, precisio…
Current archaeological research in the Middle Atlantic region of the eastern united states
Rethinking Delaware Archaeology
A pit feature containing human remains was originally interpreted as a trash pit based on its shape, the presence of ceramic sherds, flakes, and fire-cracked rocks, and the absence of items traditionally viewed as “grave goods.” However, a cooperative reconsideration of the feature, incorporating the insights of a representative of the Nanticoke Indian Tribe, developed a new interpretation. Ethnohistoric data clearly indicate that local Indian pe…
Cultural Context and Cordage Twist Direction
Data on cordage impressions of ceramic vessels from several sites in Delaware and southeast Pennsylvania show significant cordage twist direction variation in relation to individual households, decorative styles, and cordage use. Variation within these cultural contexts complicates the use of cordage twist variation data to identify distinctive social groupings within the central Middle Atlantic region
Ethics and the Hyperreality of the Archaeological Thought World
Archaeologists have created a thought world which serves to support their own power and privilege, harms the interests of American Indian people, and aids the on-going cultural genocide focused on Native Americans. However, this thought world is a form of hyperreality. Its images and ideas interact with and perpetuate one another with no reference to reality or meaning. We archaeologists must reject the hyperreality, come to terms with the unethi…
The Perils of Apostasy
Almost all of the critical comments on my article “Ethics and the Hyperreality of the Archaeological Thought World” are clear examples of the very trends in thinking that I sought to highlight concerning archaeology's unethical treatment of American Indian people, past and present. The unpleasant personal attacks that dominate many of the comments show the unwillingness and inability of the authors to come to terms with the serious higher level e…
Haunted by Pehin Hanska
Thanks to my name, I am writing this essay about what it is like to be named Custer and work as an anthropologist and archaeologist who studies American Indian people. Aside from the obvious fact that I would not be writing such an essay if my name were anything else, I mean to say that it is the name—not necessarily my personal characteristics—that give me this opportunity. Devon Mihesuah asked me to write about my experiences because in a lette…
Experimental analysis of fire-cracked rocks from varied use contexts
This experimental study of fire-cracked rocks sought to determine if varied rock fracture attributes could be correlated with specific past uses of heated stones. A total of 864 rocks were heated in 41 fires that replicated hearth, stone boiling, sweat lodge, and earth oven uses of quartz, quartzite, and sandstone cobbles as heating elements. Analysis of experimental results considered three fire-cracked rock attributes (fracture rate, fragment t…
Correlation of regional late woodland triangle projectile point variation and native American ethnic group territories in the central middle Atlantic
The shapes and sizes of 983 Late Woodland triangular projectile points from four indigenous Native American different ethnic groups of the central Middle Atlantic region (Unami Lenapi – Lower Delaware Valley, Munsee Lenape – Upper Delaware Valley, Susquehannock – Lower Susquehanna Valley, Nanticoke – Lower Delmarva Peninsula) and one archaeological complex (Shenks Ferry – Lower Susquehanna Valley) were compared using various univariate statistica…
The ugly truth about pipe stem bore diameter dating
The usual practice of presenting and considering age estimates derived from pipe stem bore diameters as individual point estimates is incorrect, misleading, and ignores the true nature of the data set. Consideration of the age estimates as a range of values described by the mean and standard deviation correctly and more accurately reflects the nature of the data set, the probabilistic characteristics of the calculations, and allows for explicit e…
Archaeology (22 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (19 works) · Geography (18 works) · Geology (15 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (11 works) · History (10 works) · History (10 works) · Ecology (7 works) · Woodland (7 works) · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies (6 works)