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The Lenape, a Native American tribe and First Nations people, were indigenous to Pennsylvania and the MidAtlantic region. This 1771 Benjamin West painting depicts William Penn's 1682 treaty with the Lenape. The painting is in the collection of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Western Pennsylvania dig turns up rare ancient fabric

Catherine Saunders-Watson
Catherine Saunders-Watson

The Lenape, a Native American tribe and First Nations people, were indigenous to Pennsylvania and the MidAtlantic region. This 1771 Benjamin West painting depicts William Penn's 1682 treaty with the Lenape. The painting is in the collection of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The Lenape, a Native American tribe and First Nations people, were indigenous to Pennsylvania and the MidAtlantic region. This 1771 Benjamin West painting depicts William Penn’s 1682 treaty with the Lenape. The painting is in the collection of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
OIL CITY, Pa. (AP) – An archaeological dig in western Pennsylvania is producing a rare fabric, possibly the only example from the state that dates to 1250 AD.

The Oil City Derrick reported Saturday that the Venango County chapter of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology has been working on the site along Sugar Creek near Franklin for two years.

The excavation has turned up pottery shards, tools and other elements that indicate the presence of Native Americans.

The fabric has a crisscrossed pattern and is woven tightly. It’s being studied more closely at Mercyhurst University in Erie.

The site so far has produced signs of warm-weather occupation, but not things like deer bones that might show early people were there in winter as well.

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Information from: The Derrick, http://www.thederrick.com

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The Lenape, a Native American tribe and First Nations people, were indigenous to Pennsylvania and the MidAtlantic region. This 1771 Benjamin West painting depicts William Penn's 1682 treaty with the Lenape. The painting is in the collection of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
The Lenape, a Native American tribe and First Nations people, were indigenous to Pennsylvania and the MidAtlantic region. This 1771 Benjamin West painting depicts William Penn’s 1682 treaty with the Lenape. The painting is in the collection of The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.