Date: Fri 26-Jul-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

archaeology-Paugussett

Full Text:

Digging Into Prehistory A Centimeter At A Time

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

Armed with trowels, brushes, screens, and a hypothesis, Dr Laurie Weinstein

and her six students unearthed evidence of prehistoric culture centimeter by

centimeter this week in Upper Paugussett State Forest. This is the third

summer the WestConn professor has led archaeological investigation in the

forest, but it is the first year her class has excavated.

"This is a piece of an ulu - a slate knife. See the bevelled edges?" said Dr

Weinstein, holding up half of the semi-lunar knife that was found this week.

Although the native people who used this instrument were prehistoric, the

knife is almost identical to those used by Eskimo groups in historic times to

skin mammals, she said.

"We've also found two broken quartz projectile points, and quite a few

scrapers made out of clear and white quartz. And we've found some bi-faces and

utilized flakes," said the professor of anthropology. "We think this was a

quartz lithic workshop."

Two years ago, one of her classes explored the knoll and dug test pits which

indicated tool production at the site. At that time they believed it was a

lithic, or stone, quarry because of negative evidence - that is, the fact that

the area is lacking in hearths, stained and/or hard-packed floors, post molds,

and other features that would indicated a more general a varied use of the

site. Wood working tools, food processing tools, and farming tools are also

absent.

The forest would have been an "ideal location" for Native people, said Dr

Weinstein, because of the number of brooks in the forest that feed into the

Housatonic as well as the natural veins of quartz, a very good material for

making tools.

"Most of what we're finding is late Archaic period, which was about 3,500 to

6,000 years ago," said Marc Banks, a graduate student in anthropology at UConn

who has worked for Dr Weinstein on the project for the past three years.

Under the guidance of Dr Weinstein, the students are excavating five sections

that are one meter in width. The soil from each quadrant of the meter is

painstakingly removed and screened for minute fragments. Larger pieces, such

as 3 X 2 inch quartz blocks that have been fractured on all sides, are

carefully removed. The location and depth of any item that may indicate human

presence is recorded in notebooks and later studied by the group in the

laboratory.

Quartz is a local material, but the flint that has been found at the site

comes from outside of Connecticut, according to Mr Banks. "They may have

traveled [to the Hudson Valley] but more probably traded with neighboring

groups," he said.

Students and Rock Hounds

The class is a mix of people from different schools, and of varying ages and

interests.

Jim Morasco, a retired state employee who worked at Fairfield Hills Hospital,

is pursuing his bachelor's degree in anthropology and archaeology. "I really

enjoy it. I love it - find it very relaxing and rewarding," he said. "I've

worked on other digs. It's pretty exciting to find things. That's like playing

golf and acing a hole.

His interest in archaeology is so keen that Mr Morasco intends to pursue it

the rest of his life. "But I wanted to do it right," he said. "I know a lot of

`pot-diggers' and their pieces are not labelled and not organized. That

doesn't help science."

The area shows some evidence of prior disturbance - possibly by people hunting

for pots, bottles, or arrowheads, said Mr Banks. But this is the first

archaeological team to survey and excavate in the forest. "It is very

important that an area be excavated properly to find whatever association

there is between facts," he explained.

Two members of the team are pursuing an interest in archaeology, not a degree.

David Rappaport of Woodbridge works in retail at a car rental agency. "This is

my vacation. This is something I've wanted to do," he said. Before joining

this field project, he had just read magazines on archaeology. "Now I'm

working at the site, learning how to set up measurements, about the Indians in

general, and what specific [tools] were used."

He said he has also learned how to look up deeds and other land-transfer

information at Edmond Town Hall that relates to a historic site in the state

forest.

Jolie Salomone of West Haven, a jeweler and gemologist, read about the dig in

an archaeological bulletin and decided to spend her vacation with the group.

"I always was a rock hound as a kid. That's why I went in to gemology. But my

dream has always been to be an archaeologist," she said. "I love finding

things and digging in the soil."

Now that she has acquired some formal training, Ms Salomone said she will

spend future vacations as a volunteer on archaeological digs.

Mr Morasco summed up the experience of being on a dig. "Your heart beats a

little faster when you find a point that no one's touched for a couple of

thousand years, he said.

Dr Weinstein is interested in speaking with anyone who may have artifacts from

the Upper Paugussett State Forest or information on the Patrick Blake or

Mulliken families. Old maps of the area may also be helpful in the on-going

investigation of pre-historic and historic sites in the forest. The professor

can be reached by calling WestConn at 837-8453.