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Print This Article E-mail This Article Special Reports Most Popular Buy this Photo Tim Martin Bob Sebastian, a member of the Eastern Pequot tribe, prepares a glowing smudge to spread smoke — said to cleanse the body and spirit — onto visitors to an archaeological dig at the tribe's reservation in North Stonington Wednesday. The archaeological team, in its third year at the site, has discovered ruins from the 18th and 19th centuries. “Ideally we would like to find sites from the 1600s, when people were first here, so we can tie everything together.” UMass-Boston Prof. Stephen Silliman, who is leading a team of students in the excavation Buy this Photo Tim Martin UMass-Boston anthropology student Emily Rinck of Jackson, Miss., holds artifacts Wednesday recovered from an archaeological dig at the Eastern Pequot Tribe's reservation in North Stonington. Buy this Photo Tim Martin Archaeology student Matt Lackett, of Melrose, Mass., excavates a site near the foundation of an 18th century home on the Eastern Pequot Reservation in Nroth Stonington on Wednesday. A team from the University of Massachusetts-Boston anthropology department has spent the past three summers studying a couple of different sites on the reservation. TODAY'S TOP STORIES ± Blair Pledges New Measures For Dealing With Radicals ± From A Silent World To The Miracle Of Sound ± Presbyterians Press Firms On Israel Ties ± Race On To Save Trapped Russian Sailors ± States Taking A Hard Look At Eminent Domain ± ‘It Really Was A Unique Place' ± Death Penalty Opponents Doubt Guilt Of Second Executed Man In Missouri ± FDA Proceeds Cautiously On Drug Safety In Wake Of Criticism ± Guam Politician Wants Groton Base's Subs Now ± Hunger At Crisis Level In Niger ± It's Been An Emotional And Bumpy Ride For Astronauts' Families ± Plants' Water Use Rules Lead To Lawsuit ± Request For Roberts Documents Denied ± State Targets Internet Betting On Races ± U.S., Iraqi Forces Mount Attack Against Insurgents ± Utopia To Meet With State Lawmakers ± Wal-Mart Wants Bias Case Tossed

By KAREN FLORIN
Day Staff Writer, Casinos/Gambling
Published on 8/4/2005

North Stonington -- If at first you don't find anything, dig deeper.

A team from the University of Massachusetts-Boston anthropology department that returned to the Eastern Pequot reservation for the third summer is excavating a homestead from the 18th century.

Professor Stephen Silliman and his students found the site — identifiable by a fallen chimney — when they began the scientific survey two years ago. They concentrated last year on a 19th-century dwelling found elsewhere on the reservation and returned for a closer look at the 18th-century site this year.

On Wednesday they showed their work to State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni and David Poirier, a staff archaeologist from the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism.

“It's become quite a nice site,” Silliman said.

Located on the eastern quadrant of the reservation, the relatively small house sat in a rocky area above some wetlands. It had a fairly deep cellar and, to those in the know, was clearly a native dwelling. The visiting archaeologists deemed the site interesting and unusual. Tribal records do not specify who lived on the site, and the researchers are eager to learn more about the living habits of the occupants.

“At first glance it looks colonial, but the size of the house and the layout indicate it's native,” Poirier said.

The students and tribal member Darlene “Tubby” Fonville continued scraping, scooping and sifting dirt from test pits as Silliman and tribal officials toured with the visitors. Those who were working around the fallen chimney were hoping to find the firebox, or fireplace, in order to sift through the ash deposits for interesting clues about the dwelling's occupants. Later, as the guests prepared to leave, a young woman reported she had finally found some ash.

Such persistence has led to other discoveries. Test pits in and near the dwelling yielded bits of stoneware, nails, bottle and window glass, buttons, a knife and fork. The materials indicate the house was likely occupied “smack in the 18th century,” Silliman said. Shellfish remains and bones from cows and pigs came out of a nearby hole, possibly the site of a trash pit.

Several yards away, a circular area enclosed by a small stone wall intrigued the researchers, who do not know if it was an animal pen, site of a Wigwam dwelling or something else.

“We started excavating,” Silliman said. “We got down four levels and not a single artifact. At about level five (15-20 centimeters, or about 6-8 inches) we started finding things.”

They discovered glass, pipestone and beads, and interesting shaped stone, with flat sides and a ridged top, that they think merits further study. They found gun flints nearby.

“The deeper we go, the more we find,” said Bobby Sebastian, the tribe's historic preservation officer. Sebastian, who has long lived on and hunted the reservation lands, serves as sort of a site monitor, blessing those who enter with the smoke from burning sage and helping visitors navigate the rocky terrain.

The Eastern Pequots have developed an Office of Historic and Cultural Preservation and are striving to survey sites of interest on the reservation and create a master plan before any clearing or development can occur there. The University of Massachusetts team, funded by grants, is using the excavation work to further their own studies. One student wrote his master's thesis on animal bones found on the reservation.

On Wednesday, Bellantoni, the state archaeologist, told Katherine “Watsawan” Sebastian and Ron “Wolf” Jackson, members of the tribe's historic and cultural preservation committee, that he was grateful such work is taking place.

“It not only promotes the tribe's history and your knowledge of the land,” Bellantoni said. “But also (furthers) historic archaeology.”

The UMass team compares notes and visits regularly with researchers from the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribe, who are almost perpetually engaged in some kind of field work. Silliman presented a session on collaborative field opportunities, with input from all of the tribes, at a recent meeting of the Society of American Archaeology. The Amerind Foundation, a southeastern Arizona organization that promotes education about American Indian history, selected the group based on Silliman's presentation, and 17 people involved in the collaborative work will be traveling to Arizona this fall for a five-day seminar. The work will be published next fall by the University of Arizona Press.

Publications specific to the Eastern Pequot dig also should be forthcoming soon.

“Hopefully in the next year or so we can do some academic papers about the results,” Silliman said.

Having gone back to the 1700s this year, Silliman said he would like to find even older sites in the future. The Eastern Pequot reservation was established in 1683.

“Ideally we would like to find sites from the 1600s, when people were first here, so we can tie everything together,” he said.