Conversations Between Communities: UMass Boston Archaeology for and with the Nipmuc Nation & the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation

Community-engaged scholarship, learning, and service are becoming important parts of university missions, ensuring that academic projects do not just “take” but also give back in meaningful ways. For Native American communities and archaeologists who come from and work with them, this kind of research sensitivity and community accountability is fundamentally important. Archaeological projects with, by, and for Native American communities vary as much in their structures and goals as the communities themselves. In order to meet the desires and needs of each community, two archaeological field schools at UMass Boston – Hassanamesit Woods (Grafton, Massachusetts) and Eastern Pequot (North Stonington, Connecticut) – have employed different levels of consultation and collaboration to engage the Nipmuc and the Eastern Pequot communities in the archaeology conducted on their lands. Similarities and differences between artifacts unearthed speak to each community’s unique experiences over the last 400 years, providing new insights to spark conversations between these indigenous groups and the archaeologists and students who work with them. The artifacts discovered fall into four main categories – connections to a deeper past, foodways, architecture, and daily lives – that broadly encapsulate life at a Nipmuc homesite and at several 18th- and 19th-century households on the Eastern Pequot reservation

Phase I Archaeological Intensive Survey of Hassanamesitt Woods Property, Grafton, Massachusetts

The Center for Cultural and Environmental History conducted a Phase I archaeological intensive survey of the Hassanamesitt Woods property in Grafton, Massachusetts from October 2004 through January 2005. Documentary evidence has suggested that the property may contain remains of the church for the Praying Indian village of Hassanamisco, established by John Eliot in 1660. Historical deed research has also placed several Nipmuc families on the property in the early 18th century, suggesting the area was resettled by the original inhabitants of Hassanimisco in the aftermath of King Philip\u27s War. Throughout the course of the 18th and 19th centuries the property was subsequently parceled out for agricultural purposes to white landowners. Nipmuc presence on the property however endured until the end of the 19th century. During the 20th century the property was utilized predominantly for orchards before reverting to its current state of woodland. The survey of the 203+ acre property on the southern slope of Keith Hill consisted of shovel testing and a GPS survey of above ground features in order to identify historic and prehistoric resources and make recommendations for the future management of the property. A total of 386 test pits were excavated on 10m and 20m intervals covering approximately 74 acres and identifying six historic sites and one prehistoric site. The prehistoric site is composed of a well-defined lithic quarry, while the historic sites consist of the remains of 18th, 19th, and 20th century residential, agricultural, and low level industrial activities. The highest concentration of residential material has been identified as the remains of 18th and 19th century Nipmuc settlement. No 17th century component related to John Eliot\u27s church or meeting house was recovered. Several aboveground features were located, including cellar holes, wens, extensive stone walls, stone retaining walls, and cobbled terraces. Because the property is not slated for large-scale development it is recommended that no further immediate archaeological testing is needed. However, the archaeological remains related to 18th and 19th century Nipmuc settlement offer an opportunity to investigate Native American resettlement after the abandonment of Hassanamisco. Future archaeology may also help with public interpretation of the property within the context of long term land use from the Prehistoric Archaic period through the Early Modem period. Data gathered during this Phase I survey provides a starting point for the public interpretation of the Hassanamesitt Woods property and allows for the proper management of the property in terms of trail placement and low impact construction

The Archaeology of Sylvester Manor

This chapter introduces the history of the Sylvester Manor Project. It emphasizes the importance of the interdisciplinary approach employed during the project and the overall goals of the investigations. A discussion of pluralistic space and its importance as a central theme of the investigations is also presented. This is followed by a discussion of the Native American history of Shelter Island and its European colonization with particular attention given to the initial establishment of Sylvester Manor as a provisioning plantation, its connections to two large sugar plantations on Barbados, and its subsequent transformation into a commercial estate

Conclusion: Meditations on the Archaeology of Northern Plantations

A summary of the methods employed and the conclusions reached after nine seasons of archaeological fieldwork are presented. Emphasis is placed on the success and limitations of the methods employed in the investigations at Sylvester Manor and results of those investigations. Although excavations concentrated on the plantation core, additional areas examined produced little in the way of archaeological features. The results, although preliminary, point to a major role for Native Americans as laborers during the earliest phases of the plantation’s operation. Landscape evidence also suggests an evolving economy as the Manor transitions from a provisioning operation to a commercial farm/tenant run operation within a decade of Nathaniel Sylvester’s death in 1680. A third transition saw the commercial farm reconfigured once again as a Georgian-inspired country estate eclipsed it

Continuity of Lithic Practice from the Eighteenth to the Nineteenth Centuries at the Nipmuc Homestead of Sarah Boston, Grafton, Massachusetts

Stone tools have been found at all Nipmuc-related house sites in central Massachusetts dating from the 17th through 20th centuries. This article explores in detail the lithic assemblage recovered from the kitchen midden of the late 18th and early 19th century Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston farmstead in Grafton, Massachusetts. Quartz and quartzite lithics were found in similar concentrations as historic ceramics within the midden suggesting that these tools were in active use within the household. Ground-stone tools of ancient origin indicate curation and reuse of older materials, and knapped glass and re-worked gunflints suggest knowledge of flintknapping. This article argues that despite colonial rules forbidding traditional Native practices, this and other Nipmuc families continued to practice the production and use of lithics for at least 300 years after the arrival of Europeans

The Archaeology of Hassanamesit Woods: The Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead

Between 2003 and 2013 the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted an intensive investigation of the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead on Keith Hill in Grafton, Massachusetts. The project employed a collaborative method that involved working closely with the Town of Grafton, through the Hassanmesit Woods Management Committee, and the Nipmuc Nation, the state recognized government of the Nipmuc people. Yearly excavation and research plans were decided through consultation with both the Nipmuc Tribal Council, their designated representative, Dr. D. Rae Gould, and the Hassanamesit Woods Management Committee. Dr. Gould also played a continuous and active role in reviewing and collaborating on research activities including scholarly presentations at national and international academic meetings and public presentations at the community level. Large scale excavation between 2006 and 2013 focused on the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston farmstead that was occupied intensively between 1750 and 1840. Sarah Burnee and Sarah Boston were two of four Nipmuc women to own and possibly reside on the 206 acre parcel that today comprises Hassanamesit Woods. The other two, Sarah Robins and Sarah Muckamaug, were Sarah Burnee’s grandmother and mother respectively. Excavation, archaeogeophysical survey, soil chemistry, and micromorphological and macrobotanical analysis were combined with the analysis of material culture and faunal material to generate a detailed picture of Nipmuc life during the 18th and 19th centuries. Excavation also found evidence of earlier indigenous occupations spanning some 6,000 years. The most intensive period of occupation covered the period 1750 to 1840, but with a significant spike the period 1790 to 1830. This appears to coincide with the coming of age of Sarah Boston who continues to live in the household with her mother Sarah Burnee Philips. Based on a combination of the documentary, architectural and archaeological data, it seems that an addition was made the structure between 1799 and 1802. A rich material assemblage of more than 120,000 artifacts was recovered from the site that provides detailed information on cultural practices including foodways, exchange networks, agricultural activities and other work-related activities such as basket making. A wealth of foodways related artifacts as well as faunal and floral remains provide ample evidence of daily meals and feasting. The latter conclusion is particularly important because of the implications is has for demonstrating that the Hassanamisco Nipmuc were regularly engaged in political activities. We believe the findings of the project provide empirical evidence that counters arguments made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the Hassanamisco Nipmuc did not persist as a politically and culturally continuous community

Pratos e mais pratos: louças domésticas, divisões culturais e limites sociais no Rio de Janeiro, século XIX

Reply to ten comments on a paper published in the last issue of this journal. The discussion follows along six main lines: History museums, identity, ideology and the category of nation; the need of material collections and their modalities: patrimonial, operational, virtual; theater versus laboratory; visitors and their ambiguities; Public History: the museum and the academy.Resposta aos comentários de dez especialistas que contribuíram no debate de texto publicado no último número desta revista. A discussão orientou-se segundo seis tópicos principais: museus históricos, identidade, ideologia e a categoria de nação; a necessidade de acervos materiais e suas modalidades: acervo patrimonial, operacional, virtual; teatro versus laboratório; o público e suas ambigüidades; História Pública: o museu e a Academia