Historians have spoken often of the Americas as a "New World" without ever delving into what that meant to 17th century explorers and settlers from Europe. National Park Service Ranger John McNiff relates how the expectations of the earliest "New" England explorers and settlers – about the climate, landscape, and even the appearance of the […]
Tonya Largy, Past President of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society and Wayland resident, will discuss several interesting archaeological projects carried out in our locality, where Native Americans have lived and prospered for over 10,000 years. She will discuss how archaeologists learn from several lines of evidence, including stone tools, ceramics, and the remains of animals and […]
In his vivid travelogue through prehistory, author Craig Childs traces the arrivals of North America's first peoples and the artifacts that tell of their lives and fates. Part adventurer, part archaeologist, Childs visits various sites and connects what has been found at each to theories about how people first arrived there. Copies of the book […]
David DeMello, Museum Director, Robbins Museum of Archaeology, speaks about the journey of the First People in the Northeast as interpreted from the archaeological record. We follow them as they adapt their lifestyles to the changing environment, starting with the last glaciation and continuing to the contact period.
Eric Johnson, Lecturer in the University of Massachusetts/Amherst Anthropology Department, provides a retrospective on the 1980 laboratory analysis and results from the excavation of this remarkable site in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He discusses the identification of animals now or recently extinct in Massachusetts, how the site was used as a winter home 4,000 years ago, and […]
Former Acton Health Director Doug Halley describes the discovery of the Pine Hawk archaeological site and its significance. He relates how the project activated increased interest in historical preservation.
Ken Feder, Ph.D., of Central Connecticut State University asks if archaeologists should rewrite textbooks to include various archaeological oddities found in North America. While his short answer is no, that doesn't make the stories behind them any less interesting. He discusses claims of a hidden history these oddities suggest as described in his book "Archaeological […]
