Early Military Sites Archaeology in New York State: An Interview with Richard J. Koke

Military sites archaeology in New York State originated in the early 20th cnetury with the pioneering work of William Calver and Reginald Bolton, working through the auspices of The New York Historical Society. One of their youngest associates was Richard J. Koke who later assembled many of their articles into the seminal volume, History Written with Pick and Shovel. Koke was one of the best military sites archaeologists of his day and has a superb recollection of what it was like to conduct archaeology in the 1930s. This article presents some of Koke's memories, based on two interviews conducted with him in 1998. Examples of subsequent military sites archaeology in New York State are then presented so that the reader may compare early research endeavors with the development of modern histroical archaeology as a more problem-oriented discipline.