Significant artifacts were discovered by landowner Richard T. Foley in 1971, when he began to plow part of the site to expand his garden.

Having found bits of flint, bone, and pottery, Foley contacted local archaeologists, who soon began a three-year excavation of the property.

[2]: 2 Grants from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and the R.K. Mellon Foundation enabled Herbstritt to lead another excavation in 1984, which examined the village found two years before.

The excavation showed that the village had been planned in an oval but consisted of two concentric circles composed of circular houses, at least sixty in number.

[3]: 893 A large number of artifacts found in the midden at the Foley Site are animal-related, including bones of birds and a wide range of animals, as well as shells of box turtles.