Pre-Historical Troy

Introduction

Although the New York area has a large fossil bed, a comprehensive history of its pre-historical ecological habitat is missing. Specifically, little is known about what occurred between the Mesozoic and the late Cenozoic period, making it difficult to predict what lived in New York in those eras.

Despite this difficulty with the historical record, some extrapolations about this period can be made by connecting the dots between the sparse findings that were made and their connection to our current day.

Troy in the Pleistocene

Much of New York in the Pleistocene was buried beneath massive glacial ice sheets, which both blocked off most life from living in the area, and destroy most records of those which did in the geological upheaval they created in their expansion and retreats. As such, most paleontological data for this period comes from more recent fossil beds. Pleistocene Troy, when not covered in glaciers, was a tundra (~18000-12000 years ago), one of which slowly gave way to a middling taiga environment (~11000 years ago), to a warmer broadleaf forest, to roughly its modern climate with the gradual ice sheet retreat. This changing environment supported the usual cast of ice age creatures, such as large body Short Face Bears, Stag Moose, Giant Bison, Horse species, and the mix of the ancestors of our more modern small body species. Particularly of note for Troy is the discovery of The Cohes Mastodon in the year 1866, not some 4.5 miles away, which was discovered during the construction of Harmony Mill No.3 in 1866. It is one of the few fossils to come out of the local area, and gleams insight into the ecology of the area. The Cohes Mastodon, dated to around 13000 years ago shows that the area was not a waste land, and had enough plant life to support a population of large body animals such as mastodon. It is now on display in the New York State History Museum in Albany, New York.

Humans in the Troy Area

The arrival of humans in New York dates back to roughly 13000 years ago. These people were likely Clovis, or some derivative of them, given the date of their arrival. Not much is known about them apart from a few scattered artifacts, but these people eventually went on to become the tribes which inhabit the area now.

References

Childs, Craig, and Sarah Gilman. Atlas of a Lost World : Travels in Ice Age America. New York, Vintage Books, 2019.

“Cohoes Mastodon | the New York State Museum.” Nysed.gov, 2023, www.nysm.nysed.gov/exhibitions/ongoing/cohoes-mastodon-0. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.

Wikipedia Contributors. “Harmony Mill No. 3.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Feb. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Mill_No._3. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.

---. “Paleontology in New York (State).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 2 Mar. 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleontology_in_New_York_(state)#murray-1974. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.

Ornl.gov, 2023, www.esd.ornl.gov/projects/qen/nercNORTHAMERICA.html. Accessed 3 Feb. 2023.