VERMONTARCHlEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

NEWSLETTERNumber 85 ISSN 1043-1918 September 1998

The First Excavated Susquehanna TraditionSite in Northwestern Vermont

Robert FlorentinConsulting Archaeology Program, UVM

Archaeological investigations at VT-CH -384 revealeda multicomponent site dating to the Late Archaic andLate Woodland periods. The recovery of a Genesee-like projectile point and an associated radiocarbondate of 3700±60 B.P. provides the framework forbetter understanding of local and regional culturalchronologies during the later part of the Late Archaicperiod.

The site, identified during the Chittenden CountyCircumferential Highway project, is located on ahigh, gently sloping, outwash terrace roughly 0.56 kmsouth of the Winooski River. The north side of theterrace drops into a narrow valley drained by a smallstream that flowed northwest to the Winooski River.To the east and south, a small spring-fed stream hasincised a drainage channel which joins the largerstream along the north side of the terrace.

Artifacts recovered during the Phase 1 and 2studies were located within three distinct loci. Loci 2and 3 contained limited artifacts, including threequartzite flakes and a quartz core. Locus 1, wheremost of the excavations were focused, containedseveral artifacts related to hunting, processing,cooking and tool manufacturing activities. Theseartifacts include three projectile points or pointfragments, three possible utilized flakes, one bifacialblank, 596 flakes, 361 pieces (14.0 kg) of fire-crackedrock, and 1.5 g of burned mammal bone. The majorityof flakes are chert, with quartzite and quartz consti-tuting a minority of the assemblage. Additionally, onedeep cooking hearth was identified. Other shallowhearths were probably once present, but weredestroyed by plowing. A radiocarbon date of 3700±60B.P. (Beta-116685) was obtained from the cookinghearth. The calibrated date for the sample is 2270-1910 B.C.

Two diagnostic artifacts, a Genesee-like projectilepoint and a Madison projectile point, were recoveredfrom Locus 1. The presence of these points, alongwith the radiocarbon date, indicates the site wasoccupied during the Late Archaic period and againroughly 3,000 years later during the Late Woodlandperiod. Most, if not all, of the chert debitage was pro-bably produced during the Late Archaic period

see Susquehanna Tradition Site -3

A Brief Report of Continuing Phase III DataRecovery Excavations at the Cloverleaf Site

in Bennington, VermontBelinda J. Cox

Field Director, UMF

On August 10th, 1998, a team of archaeologists fromthe University of Maine at Farmington ArchaeologyResearch Center (UMF ARC) began supplementalarchaeological excavations at the Late ArchaicCloverleaf site in Bennington, Vermont. Thissupplemental fieldwork is being conducted for theVermont Agency of Transportation Special ProjectsUnit - Bennington Bypass and the Federal HighwayAdministration.

Initial phase III excavations were conducted at theCloverleaf site in 1997. These excavations werecompleted in approximately 58 days. As a result ofthe 1997 work effort, a total of 209 square meters ofsite sediment was hand excavated. In addition, six 1-meter-wide trenches of variable lengths weremechanically excavated by backhoe to enablestratigraphic and geomorphological interpretationsacross the site.

NOTICE

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Saturday & Sunday, November 7 & 8in South Burlington

Mark your Calendar Now

Overall, the archaeological field work conducted in1997 was extremely productive and further confirmedthe significance and importance of the site in bothlocal and regional contexts. The excavations resultedin the identification and documentation of 66 culturalfeatures (for a combined site total of 92 features) thathave been variably identified as hearths, refuse pits,storage pits, roasting pits, and lithic concentrations.In addition, several thousand prehistoric NativeAmerican artifacts were recovered including lithic(stone) tools, lithic debitage, fire-altered and fire-cracked rock and subsistence remains, including bothflora (or charred plant remains) and fauna (or burnedbone). see Cloverleaf Site -5

The Vermont Archaeological Society1997-1998 Officers and Directors

James B. PetersenAnthropology Dept., UVM

Burlington VT 05405656-3884(w)

jpeterse@zoo.uvm.edu

Jill Oliver, Vice PresidentP.O. Box 265Middlebury VT 05753443-5546 (w)oliver@panther.middlebury.edu

Victor Rolando, Newsletter Editor214 Jefferson HeightsBennington VT 05201442-0105 (h/w)qwerty. uiopl@juno.com

Herman C. Brown250 West Shore RoadGrand Isle, VT 05458

372-8743 (h)chazmanbsr@aol.com

Robert Sloma, Secretary22A Blodgett StreetBurlington VT 05401862-5817 (h)geoarch@Sover.net

Scott McLaughlin, President183 Plains Road

Jericho VT 05465899-4036 (h)

smclaugh@zoo.uvm.edu

Jen RussellRFD 1 Box 710Northfield VT 05663828-3981 (w)

Gerd Sommer746 Covey Drive

Underhill VT 05489899-3165 (h)

Marjorie Robbins10 Springside RoadMiddlebury VT 05753388-2881 (h)

Frank Bump4 Church Street

Brandon VT 05733247-6980 (h)

Perter Brouke77 Main Street #1Middlebury VT 05753

(vacancy)

Ex Officio

Joseph Popecki, Treas.33 Woodridge DriveBurlington VT 05401863-4121 (h)

David Starbuck, 1st Past Pres.P.O. Box 492

Chestertown NY 12817518-494-5583 (h)

Bruce Hedin, 2nd Past President20 Brimstone Corner Rd.Hancock NH 03449603-525-3701 (h)

Address general inquiries concerning the Societyto the Secretary

VASBoard Opportunities

One resignation and some end-of-term expirationshave resulted in a few openings on the VAS Board. Ifyou are interested in serving and are in goodstanding (no dues arrears), contact Robert Sloma at862-5817 (h) or at geoarch@Sover.net. The Boardmeets every 3rd Wednesday in Middlebury.

Great Discoveries in Vermont Archeology:The State Archeologist's "Top 10"Picks

(although there's more than 10!.••.)Giovanna Peebles, State Archeologist

Division for Historic Preservation

In September 1997, I signed myself up to do a specialslide program at the Vermont Historical Society inhonor of Vermont Archeology Week. ChoosingVermont's "most important" archeological discoverieswas a challenge, and summarizing their importancein a few sentences and a handful of slides wasdifficult indeed. These are the sites I picked and thestories I told about them. Which sites would you haveselected as contributing the most to our knowledge ofpast Vermonters?

Discovering 10,000-year-old groved spear points ina sandblow in East Highgate remains one ofVermont's greatest archeological discoveries. Dis-covered by two St. Albans amateur archeologists, BillRoss and Benjamin Fisher in the 1920s, the ReaganSite lies high above the Missisquoi River Valley. Itsimportance was that it confirmed conclusively thatNative Americans first occupied Vermont approxi-mately 10,000 years ago. In 1979, in Swanton, theVermont Agency of Transportation initiated pro-fessional archeological studies on a small rocky knollabove the Missisquoi River prior to replacing anaging (and historic) bridge on Route 7. A smallNative American campsite was discovered by theUniversity of Vermont's Consulting ArchaeologyProgram. At first, we believed it to be a relativelycommon-place 5,000-year-old small campsite similarto others known throughout the Champlain Valley.Then the radiocarbon dates from a sample of charcoalmade Vermont's archeological community sit back.The John's Bridge Site seems to have been occupiedseveral times about 8,000 years ago. It drafted

a whole new chapter of Vermont's history aboutwhich we had known nothing. This site in Swantonwas the first professionally excavated and reportedsite in Vermont and gave us a small but clearglimpse into Vermont's remotest human history. Inthis place on the Missisquoi River, approximately8,000 years ago, one or two small families spent days ~.or weeks making corner notched spear points, repair-

see Giovanna's "Top 10"Picks =6

2

Archaeologists excavating VF-CH-384, Locus 1 (CAP-DVM photo).

Susquehanna Tradition Site (continued)occupation. No other artifacts besides the Madisonpoint could be explicitly associated with the LateWoodland period occupation.

The recovery of a Genesee-like point next to afeature dated to 3700±60 B.P. indicates that Locus 1was occupied during the latter part of the LateArchaic period, or to what Snow has called theTerminal Archaic period (Snow 1980). Genesee-typepoints are stylistically related to a variety ofgenerally large, broad-bladed points with straight toslight contracting stems. They are variously knownas Atlantic (in eastern New England and north to thecentral Maine coast) or Snook Kill (in eastern NewYork and western New England) points. Both areassociated with the earliest phase of the broaderSusquehanna tradition of the Northeast. In NewYork, Funk (1976) associates Genesee points withwhat he refers to as the Batten Kill complex. Hedates this complex to roughly 3850-3500 B.P. (1900-1600 B.C., uncalibrated), or roughly contemporaneouswith the Snook Kill phase of the Susquehanna

tradition as originally defined by Ritchie (1969:134-142). Snook Kill points and related artifacts occurwith some frequency at sites in the middle and upperHudson Valley where they have been dated at 3420±100 B.P. (1470 B.C., uncalibrated) at the Snook Killsite and 3620±130 B.P. (1670 B.C., uncalibrated) atthe Kuhr site (Funk 1976:259).The weighted averageof a host of standard and AMS radiocarbon dates ofca. 3665 B.P. from Atlantic phase features at theTurner Farm site on the central Maine coast stronglysuggests a rapid spread of this point style throughoutNew England (Robinson 1996). The date of 3700±60B.P. derived from VT-CH-384 is significant forVermont because it is the only date that can bedirectly associated with a Genesee-like point. Fallingsquarely within the time range estimated by Funk,this date reinforces the idea of a regional chronology.

Excavations at VT-CH-384 have providedinformation about a significant aspect of culturalchronology by establishing an approximate date forthe occurrence of Genesee-like projectile points inVermont. Studies at VT-CH-384, the only excavated

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Susquehanna tradition-related site in the WinooskiRiver valley, have provided an essential beginning,but more sites of this cultural period must beexcavated before the broader picture comes intofocus. (For more information about the site, contactthe Consulting Archaeology Program at theUniversity of Vermont.)

References Cited:Funk, Robert E.

1976 Recent Contributions to Hudson Valley Pre-history. Memoir 22, New York State Museum. TheUniversity of the State of New York, Albany, N.Y.

Ritchie, William A.1969 The Archaeology of New York State. AmericanMuseum of Natural History, The Natural HistoryPress, Garden City, N.Y..

Robinson, Brian S.1996 "Archaic Period Burial Patterning in North-eastern North America" The Review of Archaeology17:1.

Snow, Dean1980 The Archaeology of New England. AcademicPress, New York.

Book Review(submitted by Christopher A. Roy, VAS)

(Reviewed for H-Ethnic by Philip A. Korth, korth@pilot.msu.edu, Michigan State University. Copyright (c)1998 by H-Net, all rights reserved. This work may becopied for non-profit educational use if proper credit isgiven to the author and the list. For other permission,please contact: H-Net@H-Net. MSU.EDU.)

Colin G. Calloway. New Worlds For All: Indians,Europeans and the Remaking of Early America.Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. xxi+229pp. Maps, timeline, bibliographic essay, andindex. $14.95 (paper) 0-8018-5959-X.

Most books today fill out the landscape or shine lightinto the dark interstices of existing paradigms. A fewtake the reader on a journey guided by a new map. Avery few provide a reader a new atlas informed bynew perspectives and new information. Colin G.Calloway's New Worlds For All synthesizes the recentwork of ethno- historians and historians of thecolonial period into a coherent and convincing, newhistorical and cultural atlas of the first 300 years ofcontact between Europeans and the indigenouspeoples of North America. This book rewards theavocational historian who will find flashes of insightand interpretative brilliance in every one of the ten

chapters. It also rewards the professional historianwho will find in it linkages and evaluations thatbring coherence to new historical research. It is afine work, suited to a general audience, but mostappropriate for any audience interested in historicalinterpretation.

The book is organized into ten thematic chapterswhich examine both ideas and practice in suchdiverse areas as medicine, warfare, theology, inter-national relations, demographics, and ideology. Eacharea unfolds to show the interplay of culture,personality, and the land. Calloway marshals ex-amples from a wide range of well known historianssuch as James Axtell, Bernard Bailyn, Jennifer S.H.Brown, James Clifton, Denys Delage, John MarkFaragher, Frederick Hoxie, Francis Jennings, PhilipMorgan, Jacqueline Peterson, Margaret Szasz, RubenThwaites, Frederick Jackson Turner, and RichardWhite, to name only the most prominent. It concludeswith an excellent bibliographic essay to guide readerson additional explorations into current scholarship.

A century ago, Franz Boas observed that when twocultures meet neither culture remains unchanged.The central point of Calloway's fine book demon-strates convincingly that historians should haveattended to Boas all along, for the record of culturalborrowing, adapting, adopting, rejecting, modifying,and creating that recent historians have identifiedadds a wonderful richness to our understanding ofAmerican culture. The historiographic tradition thatfavored tracking the triumph of European and thenAmerican culture over Indian cultures mapped atbest only part of the terrain. Calloway corrects thatimbalance offering a more complex and sophisticatedanalysis. He does so without feeling compelled toattack older historians and herein lies a significantvirtue of the book: its tone. Calloway's voice is confi-dent, but balanced. He resists overstatement, evendampening overstatement when he finds it in hissources. He resists taking gratuitous slaps athistorians whose work seems now outdated, prefer-ring rather to rescue elements of their work worthattending to now.

In sum, this is a positive, moderately, evenmodestly stated account that convinces through solidexample and clear detail gleaned from respectedhistorians working on the cusp of modern scholarshipof the first three centuries of European-Indiancontacts. It is an impressive achievement.

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Cloverleaf Site (continued)Based on radiocarbon dates returned for 15 of the

92 cultural features excavated, we can confidentlystate that the vast majority of cultural deposits maybe reliably assigned to a very short span of timebetween ca. 2070-1860 B.C. The radiocarbon datesand the projectile point assemblage, which includesover 30 Normanskill-type points, clearly establishthat the majority of the prehistoric occupation nowpreserved at the Cloverleaf Site can be assigned to alate portion of the Late Archaic period called theRiver phase, which dates to ca. 2000-1800 B.C.

Excavations at the Cloverleaf Site during the summerof 1997 (Rolando photo).

Based on preliminary analysis of a select sampleof cultural and natural materials, the Cloverleaf Siterepresents a relatively large archaeological site thatpreserves the remains of a prehistoric NativeAmerican village dating almost exclusively to a briefspan in time during River phase. As such, it providesan unusually detailed view of this particular timethat has never been matched for this period andmost others in local and regional prehistory.

Besides the recovery of important archaeologicaldata, perhaps one of the greatest impacts of the 1997phase III effort at the Cloverleaf site was in the areaof public education. Over the course of the fieldseason, roughly 2,000 individualsreceived in-houselectures and/or visited the site. In addition, about 41volunteers contributed to the initial phase III effort.

This season once again, the UMF ARC invites youto join in the discovery and excitement of digging theprehistory of Bennington. If you are interested involunteer opportunities, or your group would like toschedule a lecture and/or tour of the site please call

our Public Education and Outreach CoordinatorPoppy Baldwin, at the UMF ARC lab in Benningtonat 802-447-7391, _ or visit our web page atHYPERLINK http://www.umf.maine.edutumfarc .The dig ends October 23. Hope to see you there!!

Much Found During Recent ExploratoryExcavation of U.S. Pottery Co. Site, Bennington

Catherine Zusy, Project DirectorCambridge, Massachusetts

Much was found during theAugust 7-21, 1998exploratoryexcavation of the U.S. PotteryCompany site (VT-BE-263),now the location of Benning-ton Elementary School.Volunteers, digging under the

- leadership of Victor Rolandoand David Starbuck, dug tenpits in the playground southof the school. It is esti-mated that over 20,000 cera-mic objects were found, atleast as many sherds and bitsof kiln furniture as were exca-vated during the May 26-30,1997 dig (in the southwestcorner of the yard).

The U.S. Pottery Company(1847-1858) was not only theearliest and largest 19th-century pottery in New

England, but it was also the first American pottery toproduce figures in parian. While much is knownabout the pottery - it was the subject of some of theearliest monographs on American ceramics - less isknown about the firm's production, and particularlyits pari an porcelain production.

Finds include thousands of fragments of bisqueyellowware, parian porcelain, Rockingham, flintenamel, agate ware, glazed yellow and white wares,and kiln furniture. Fragments of the following knownparian pitchers were found: tulip & sunflower,charter oak, pond lily, wild rose, palm tree, Paul &Virginia, cascade, and the design Richard CarterBarret illustrates on p. 81, the bottom right-handcorner in his Bennington Pottery and Porcelain.

While formal analysis of artifacts has not yetbegun - this will happen after all of the objects foundare washed and sorted - the following are significantfinds:• fragments of a parian pitcher decorated in reliefwith Lily of the Valley flowers and small clusters ofgrapes, (a design not previously identified withBennington) see U.S. Pottery Dig -10

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Giovanna's'Top 10" Picks (continued)ing hunting equipment broken when hunting gamewith spears and spear throwers, called atlatls,fishing, and living off the land's abundant resources.Now that we recognize these small notched spearpoints as being 8,000 years old, a veil of ignorancecame off our collective archeological eyes and webegan to recognize a lot more of these 8,000-year-oldsites elsewhere in the Missisquoi watershed,throughout the Champlain Valley, and in severalsites along the Connecticut River.

One of the most important discoveries made in the1980s was that ancient Native Americans used allparts of the Vermont landscape, every environmentand micro-environment, from the high mountains tothe river bottoms and to every small drainage inbetween. At high elevation in the Green MountainNational Forest on the west flank of the GreenMountains, Forest Service Archeologist David Lacymade an amazing discovery in 1987. Hiking along theLong Trail at nearly the 2,000-foot elevation, Davidnoticed a thick layer of quartzite flakes up and downthe trail and to the side as far as he could see. Whathe had discovered was one of the largest prehistoricstone quarries in all of New England, used by NativeAmericans for probably thousands of years as asource of quartzite. Up until this discovery, and manysubsequent others up in the mountains, it wasbelieved that the ancient Native people neveroccupied the mountain environments. The HomerStone quarry discovery dealt one more blow to ourignorance.

Recent excavations and discoveries sponsored bythe Vermont Agency of Transportation at theCloverleaf Site in Bennington are providing enormousand unique detail to a major chapter of Vermonthistory. While thousands of Late Archaic spear pointshave been gathered by collectors from the surface ofcornfields throughout most of Vermont, we didn'thave a lot of information about the people who usedthem. How did they live? What did they eat? Whatdid they do besides hunt? What did their settlementslook like? The careful excavations at the Cloverleafvillage site provide a clear glimpse of peoples' lives onthe Walloomsac River 4,000 years ago. With itsdozens of intact fire hearths, garbage pits, toolmaking areas, nut roasting pits, and rich botanical

and animal remains, this site is the largest, mostintact, and data-rich site of this period known in theentire northeast. The Rivers Phase, Late Archaic Sitehas yielded an extraordinary number of radiocarbondates from pits and hearths and other site areas fullof charcoal. This large ancient village site was occu-pied for a very short period of time; the carbon datestell us that instead of being a cluster of small campsoccupied over a long period, it seems to have been anextensive village occupied perhaps one time.

How many Vermonters have ever been to Canaan,in the northeastern-most corner of Vermont'sNortheast Kingdom? Prior to removing an agingbridge across the Connecticut River and building anew one slightly downstream, the Vermont Agency ofTransportation contracted for an archeologicalinvestigation of the Vermont site of the constructionproject. Archeologists discovered a rare and intact3,000-year-old Early Woodland campsite lyingburied and undisturbed in the floodplain of the Con-necticut River. Careful professional excavations atthe site yielded fire hearths in several locations withenough charcoal fragments for radiocarbon dating.Besides confirming the ancient use of this cold andmost northeastern comer of Vermont, linking specificstone tools with radiocarbon dates finally gave us theability to recognize sites and artifacts for this 3,000-year-old narrow slice of Vermont history.

We were finally beginning to get detailed glimpsesof Vermont's rich Native American heritage prior toEuropean contact. These vignettes of pre-historyshow people hunting, fishing, gathering plants,trapping, and successfully exploiting all environ-mental resources and niches. Massive riverbankerosion at a site in Springfield, Vermont, on the Con-

SHELBURNE PONO DUGOUT CANOE

o '2 4 S

fAl I I~'I.• '"I

necticut River, led us to two very significant dis-coveries in the late 1980s that widened our windowof information and gave us fresh and exciting insightinto ancient lifeways. Archeological investigations atthe site which we call Skitchewaug, funded by NewEngland Power Company, yielded Vermont's firstevidence of Native American farming. In fire pits,archeologists from the University of Maine Farming-ton discovered tiny burnt corn cobs together withevidence of beans and squash cultivation dating to'1120 A.D. Thus, 370 years before Columbus arrived

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in America, Native Americans were farming inVermont. The long, black, thick layers of soil at thesite provided Vermont's first solid evidence ofprehistoric shelters. These comprised circular or ovalhomes which we call wigwams. The Skitchewaug sitein Springfield confirmed yet again that at least someof Vermont's archeological patrimony remainsremarkably intact by having been deeply buriedunder floodplains. Plowing, erosion scouring, logging,nor artifact looting have disturbed these deeplyburied sites so we still have the chance to carefullyunravel the stories they can tell about our history.

Two discoveries over the last 20 years wereespecially poignant. While excavating at the NativeAmerican village of Winooski, representing 4,000years of occupation, one of the archeologists on theUniversity of Vermont team discovered a 1,000-year-old pottery fragment with the potter's fingerprintbaked into it. Unusual artifacts such as this one adda very human presence to an artifact and remind usthat archeology, after all, is the study of past peoplethrough the remains they have left behind. We knowthat Native Americans used dugout canoes forthousands of years as transportation on Vermont'slake and river highways, but finding two dugoutcanoes in Shelburne Pond in 1978 confirmed use ofthese traditional craft that dated, in these two cases,to the 15th and 19th centuries. About a dozen dugoutcanoes have been discovered thus far in Vermont.These and many other archeological discoveries of thelast 20 years have helped Vermonters of Europeanancestry begin to understand in greater depth therich and ancient traditions of Vermont's originalinhabitants.

Archeological sites of the historic period involve adifferent kind of discovery. Whereas our primaryknowledge of ancient Native American history is fromthe study of the sites themselves, there are writtenrecords for many aspects of the last 250 years.Historic maps, documents, and photos give us cluesabout past industries and activities. So for the his-

CANAL BOAT SITE PLAN

,-,-,-.

toric period, the concept of "discovery" has to do with"rediscovery" of places whose stories were well knownto many others at one time and are simply unknownto most of us today.

The Ely copper mine in Vershire is a unique site inNew England that many Vermonters have not yet

discovered. The 1870 map shows a thriving miningcommunity with mine operations, tenement houses,shops, school, church, stables, and all the other partsof a vital community, The Ely copper mine site todayis a lunar landscape defined by ruins of the 19th-century copper mining operations and town: roastingbeds, the mile-long flue, the entry to the mine shaft,and many other intact remains represent one of NewEngland's great, "rediscovered" towns.

Vermont historian Victor Rolando, working as avolunteer, has rediscovered a rich part of Vermont'sindustrial past. He has inventoried all of this state'sblast furnaces, such as those in Dorset and Brandon,and written the fascinating story of Vermont'sremarkable iron, charcoal, and lime industries in hisbook, 200 Years of Soot and Sweat.

In Bennington in 1991, Hartgen ArcheologicalConsultants, Inc., working for developers applying foran Act 250 permit, discovered one of the 19th-century Bennington potteries under a 1940s concreteflooring from a car sales lot. One hundred years afterits manufacture, an intact pot, made by the famousNorton pottery, sat undisturbed in a kiln that hadbeen used as a footing for the sales building.

In 1979, archeologists and maritime historiansstarted looking more carefully at Lake Champlainand rapidly made more and more remarkable dis-coveries on the lake's bottom. The 1997 discovery bythe Lake Champlain Maritime Museum of one ofBenedict Arnold's intact gunboats from the October13, 1776 Battle ofValcour was the most exciting in along chain of great discoveries in this lake. Theability to use sidescan sonar technology, whichprovides a sonar image of a shipwreck, has allowedrediscovery of the Lake's great maritime history.

First found by two divers in 1980 off the Burling-ton Breakwater, the General Butler proved to be ourfirst glimpse of what was actually a very commonvessel, although unique to this lake, the sailing canalboat. Also very common was the horse powered typevessel, one of which was rediscovered in 1985 offBurlington. This is the only horse-powered ship-wreck to have been discovered so far in America; sounique, that the National Geographic featured anarticle on it in the October 1985 issue of themagazine. A few exceptional Vermont sites have

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combined a great land discovery with a great under-water discovery. At Mount Independence in the townof Orwell, home to thousands of American soldiers inthe Revolutionary War for part of the winter of 1776and 1777, dozens of intact sites representing thehospital, fortifications, barracks, butchering sites,and many others, tell the story of Vermont's criticalcontributions to the birth of the American nation. In1991, a unique Revolutionary War cannon and shotwere recovered by the Lake Champlain MaritimeMuseum during an inten-sive underwater archeo-logical study. The rediscovery of this importantVermont site by Vermonters and Americans of allages is just one example of how our archeologicaldiscoveries have helped spark greater interest in thisstate's very special and very long history.

Concepts of Wildernessin Some Recent Popular Books

David Lacy, Forest ArcheologistU.S. Forest Service, Rutland

Over the last year or so, I've been able to steal moretime than usual to read. This reading has been out-side of, but related to, archaeology and - whether bycoincidence, design, or misperception (in which casethis article is moot!) - I've found that my choices inreading have a common thread of confronting realand perceived "wildernesses." Perhaps I am simply"seeing" this theme in the following books given myinterest in culturally affected landscapes, my percep-tion that society doesn't give credence to the lengthof time that people have been affecting theirenvironments, and any professional involvement inmanaging several thousand acres of Congressionallydesignated "Wilderness" on the National Forest. Bethat as it may, the following books (listed in theorder that I read them) may be of interest to you forprofessional and/or recreational reading.

I started with the popular and exhilarating IntoThin Air by John Krakauer and followed that up withthe same author's earlier, well-written-but-frustrating Into the Wild. While the former rivetingaccount of the disastrous interface between peopleand the elements on Mount Everest has beenreviewed from here-to-eternity, the latter explora-tion of one young man's rather disaffected search formeaning, maturity, and vision - resulting in hisunnecessary death in the Denali Wilderness - hasbeen trumpeted to a lesser degree. For anyone whohas been a participant in a difficult coming-of-agescenario or who is wondering if there is or could be amodern Thoreau, this book provides some compellingreading; and as the author points out in thebeginning of the. book, the reader is left with thechallenge of deciding if the protagonist's fate is tragicor foolish. In both books, the undeveloped wild-lands

I.

are as essential to the story as the protagonists.Next on my list was Richard Ketchum's Saratoga,

no doubt already read and appreciated by many VASmembers. It too has been reviewed extensively else-where, and I liked this book for all the normalreasons - but also for the effective portrayal of justhow undeveloped our backyard environs (the LakeChamplain/Lake George corridor) really were just a"short" time ago. Reading this book gave me occasionto think about the concepts of "wilderness" and"frontier," and how time and history have wedgedthose concepts further apart than they may havebeen a mere two hundred years ago.

Following another historical transect, I readHoward Coffin's Full Duty; upon reviewing it for mycolleagues here on the Forest, Charles Frazier's ColdMountain was recommenced to me. Interestingly, Igot much the same feel for the mountains of theCarolinas from Frazier that Ketchum lends to theChamplain Basin nearly a hundred years earlier. Thepatterns of social interaction and land use thatarchaeologists are often interested in are representedas far more violent, dispersed, and idiosyncratic thanmany of us (my perception of "us"/archaeologists ashaving largely white, middle-class, semi-suburbanbackgrounds) seem to expect or document in ourinterpretations of the historical past.

Reading the Mountains of Home by John Elder(Middlebury College Professor of English and Envi-ronmental Studies) is a work reflecting the author'sattempt to inter-weave his personal explorations ofconcepts of wilderness and the ironies of environ-mentalism, with his physical (and metaphysicali')experiences in wilderness areas (most especially theBristol Cliffs area of Vermont); an in-depth analysisof Robert Frost's poem Directives, and the geologicaland social history of the area; and, ... well, you getthe picture. Whew! It's quite an undertaking, but hedoes a wonderful job of putting himself, and thus thereader, into an interesting place where time-depth,semantics, perception, and peoples' understanding oftheir role in defming and affecting the world all comeinto play when discussing "wilderness."

While on vacation this summer I thought I wouldtake a break from this seeming immersion inwilderness- related reading, so I took along TonyHillerman's most recent southwestern "who-dunnit,"First Eagle. No sooner did I start reading it than Irealized that peoples' relationships to their envi-ronment in the reservation vastness in whichHillerman's stories are embedded have many of theelements of wilderness that north easterners value intheir woods - lots of acres, minimal development, lowvisual impacts, limited population. But is the desertsouthwest a "wilderness'''?

Without answering that question (I was still anvacationl), I took a big leap back to the Northeast toGloucester, Mass., and read Sebastian Junger's The

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Perfect Storm, about the ill-fated fishing vesselAndrea Gail. This best-selling tale of men (andwomen)-against-the-sea really Ieant some perspec-tive to my other readings. I mean, these folks areOUT there (hundreds of miles out to sea, that is)!And still, cultural impacts were affecting theirenvironment (i.e., the fisheries are dying out),although not the physical/meteorological dynamicsthat sealed their fate.

In any case, back from vacation and shortly afterrecommending Saratoga to Forest Service folks,someone suggested I would enjoy a new book aboutthe Adirondacks - Paul Schneider's The Adirondacks:America's First Wilderness. Well, by now, how couldI resist? As I write this I am nearly through thisvolume and fmd that it conveniently reflects many ofthemes triggered for me in the other books (eventhough I have several political bones to pick with theauthor); the high peaks adventure of Mount Everest(although less daunting ... ); the sense of forbiddingwilderness and independence sought in Into the Wild;a history of occupation, exploitation and developmentof "wilderness" just to the west of the Saratoga saga;the isolation of historical residents comparable tothat portrayed in Cold Mountain; some strikinglyundefmed uses of the term "wilderness," which setsup a dialogue (in my head, any way) with Elder'sin-depth treatment of the concept in Reading theMountains of Home; the intimacy that up-stateresidents seem always to have had with their"wilderness" park, reminiscent of Hillerman'scharacters' familiarity with their very differentlandscape; and finally, a sense of disconnectednessfrom the rest of the Northeast that - despite its moreintimate geographic setting - must seem like thedwarfing immensity of the Andrea Gail's NorthAtlantic to those "mountain men" who first trappedand guided in the Adirondacks.

So what do we mean by "wilderness" in a regionthat (like most everywhere else) has been occupiedfor at least 10,000 years? Does it have a bio-physicaldefmition (age, diversity, integrity of the biotic popu-lations)? Can we recognize it (and agree about it)when we see it? Is it an entirely artificial social/philosophical construct? Is it different now than itwas 200 or 300 years ago (why, for example, do weembrace wilderness now when our ancestors fearedit and cast it as an enemy to be overcome)? Or canwe understand it, in the present, to be simply aprocess, a state of being-and-becomingfor a part ofour landscape?

My readings have got me thinking about conceptsof wilderness in ways that parallel the historicpreservation movement's shift in its posturing. Overthe last several years, historic preservation hasattempted to recast (and re-emphasize} its role aspart of the economic fabric of community develop-ment. Similarly, perhaps, environmental and wilder-

ness advocates are beginning to acknowledge thatpeople are and always have been integral parts of ourecosystems, therefore precluding the existence of truewilderness in the pristine, undisturbed sense thatearlier advocates envisioned. Concepts of wildernessthat do not incorporate the human/social element willbe always be false constructs, and misguidedattempts to erase evidence (sites, features, andcultural landscapes) as has been advocated from timeto time, will not alter that; but areas reflectingancient land-use, now left to evolve without directintervention by people, may provide us with therelatively isolated, unstructured, aged contexts whichtrigger inner visions of an idyllic past and place our"civilized" existence in some dramatic contrast tothose past and present parts of the world that do notreadily submit to our taming hands.

Vermont Archaeology Week Steaming Ahead!Kathleen E. Callum / Robert A. Sloma

VA W '98 State Coordinators

The Vermont Archaeological Society and the VermontDivision for Historic Preservation are launchingVermont ArchaeologyWeek, September 20-26, 1998!This year's theme, Journey Into the Past, celebratesthe 5th Vermont Archaeology Week, the 30thanniversary of the Vermont Archaeological Society,and the 150th year of railroads in Vermont.

Vermont Archeology Week Needs Your HelpSuggested Donation: $15.00

to the VAS, address on back coverContributions to VAWare Tax-Deductible

Vermont's leading heritage tourism outreachpublicizes over 70 educational historic preservationevents and exhibits, most free and open to the public.Make your own atlatl (a prehistoric spear-thrower

used to hunt caribou), learn what Native Americansate for dinner in the past, take part in a paneldiscussion on the future of Vermont's railroad sites,and dig into many other aspects of Vermont'sarchaeology.

Activities that promote stewardship of Vermont'sfragile archaeological and historic sites and struc-tures are publicized through distribution of eventcalendars and posters to event participants, libraries,schools, museums, and chambers of commerce. Thisyear's poster features a collage of transportationsepia-toned "photographs" penned by Robert K.

9

Carsten of Springfield,Vermont.Vermont's important sites include 12,000-year-old

Paleoindian camps on the shores of glacial lakes,revolutionary war ships, stage coach inns, abandonedquarries, and railroad roundhouses. The effort toidentify and protect these diverse resources is sharedby all. Archaeological projects draw on the skills oflocal historians, biologists, architects, woodworkers,folklorists, Native Americans, and countless others toachieve an understanding of Vermont's past lifeways.Grassroots outreach through Vermont ArchaeologyWeek enables over 10,000 folks to annually enjoy andlearn more about Vermont's significant, non-renewable archaeological sites and help protect them.

The Green Mountain State's rich and ancientheritage provides a tangible link to the past, sense ofidentity, and tremendous economic growth potentialthrough heritage tourism. Vermont's business com-munity, government agencies, non-profit organiza-tions, historic preservation consultants, and manyothers participate as sponsors, hosts, and speakers.Begin your Journey Into the Past with "artiFACT orFICTION?," "Pedal Power," "Logs on Rails,""Traveling in the Old Days," and much, much more.

To receive a free Event Calendar, contact theDivision for Historic Preservation, National LifeBuilding, Drawer 20, Montpelier VT 05620-0501,phone 802-828-3119. For general publicity infor-mation, contact Kathleen E. Callum/Robert A Sloma,VAW '98 State Coordinators, do GEOARCH, Inc., 594Indian Trail, Leicester VT 05733, phone 802-247-8127. For donation in support of VAW or a VAW '98Poster ($6, supply limited), send check or moneyorder to: Vermont Archaeological Society, Inc., AttnVermont Archaeology Week, P.O. Box 663, BurlingtonVT 05402-0663. VAS Web Page for more informationand Calendar of Events: http://www.uvm.edutvhnet/hpres/org/vas/vas.htm.

u.s. Pottery Dig (continued)• a fragment of a parian figure of a dog• several parian cane heads, with and withoutmustaches (as illustrated in Barret, p. 327)• fragments of a parian curtain tie-back, similar toone illustrated in Barret, p. 137• several parian sherds of the Paul & Virginiapitcher. We knew the pottery made this form becausemarked examples exist, but fragments of thesepitchers were not found during May 26-30, 1997 andApril 20-22, 1998 digs• several fragments of known Bennington pariandesigns in yellowware• several fragments of known Bennington parianpitcher designs in yellowware• bisque yellowware faces and fragments of variousToby forms• bisque yellowware head of a cow creamer• more yellowware fragments which appear to bear

relief decoration not yet associated with the potteryFragments of parian vases and trinket boxes were

not found at the site, but this is not conclusiveevidence that the U.S. Pottery Company did notmanufacture these items. Many fragments of otherknown pottery forms have not been unearthed duringthe total of twelve days of exploratory digging (1997and 1998) at the pottery site. Furthermore, theexploratory excavations have concentrated in thearea to the south of the pottery.

Digging under the pavement that surrounds theschool and under the school itself could yield frag-ments of other forms and decoration. Other locationsin Bennington - where the pottery either dumpedmaterials or soil from the site was moved during theerection of the schools on the site in the 1870s and1950s - could also reveal significant sherds.

Over thirty volunteers assisted with the excavationand washing, sorting, and cataloging of finds. Muchmore work remains to process and ultimately to knowand understand the significance of these objects.Volunteers are now being recruited to help wash,sort, and catalog artifacts in Bennington during theweekends of September 19-20 and 26-27. Pleasecontact me at (617) 868-0488 (or CathZusy@aol.com)to learn more about this volunteer opportunity.

Whither Industrial Archeology?Scott A. McLaughlin, VAS President

A special conference on the current state of practicein the field of industrial archeology (IA) and onfuture directions for the discipline will be held atLowell, Mass., November 12-14, 1998, sponsored bythe Society for Industrial Archeology, the LowellNational Historic Park, and the Historic AmericanEngineering Record. The conference will feature aseries of commissioned presentations by some of theforemost practitioners of IA in the United States,Canada, and Europe. Topics will include critical re-flections on the past quarter-century of practice,public agencies and IA, theory and interpretation inIA, education in IA, and new directions for IA. Thoseattending the conference will be encouraged toparticipate in special "break-out" discussion groupsto evaluate various issues stemming from the formalpresentations. Publication of papers and commentaryfrom the "break-out" sessions is anticipated after theconference, which promises to provoke seriousdiscussion about the contributions of industrialarcheology to scholarship in other disciplines andabout future prospects for the field.

For more information, contact Gray Fitzsimons,Park Historian, Lowell National Historic Park, 67Kirk St., Lowell, MA 01852-1029, phone 978-275-1724, fax 978-275-1762, e-mail gray _fitzsimons@nps.gov.

10

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One Final Note ...

New CAP Publications on Vermont Archeology

A Changing World: 8,000 Years of Native AmericanSettlement along the Missisquoi River in Highgate,Vermont. Prepared by Consulting ArchaeologyProgram (CAP) for the Village of Swanton, this 504-page book contains lots of artifact illustrations andphotos. $30.00 including postage. Order from CAP,112 University Heights, Burlington, VT 05405. Con-tact Prudence Doherty at 656-8224 for information.

Wood and Water: Mills in Searsburg, Vermont.Produced by CAP for YAm, this 21-page publicationdescribes the history and archeology of tannery andsawmill sites between the Route 9 and the DeerfieldRiver in Searsburg. Contact CAP (above address) forordering information.

New Archaeology and Science MagazineJeff D. Leach, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Discover Archaeology Magazine(via Vic Rolando & many Emails)

I am pleased to announce the creation of a newarchaeology magazine, Discover Archaeology, an il-lustrated, glossy bimonthly magazine about the latestdiscoveries in archaeology and the archaeologicalsciences. The magazine is written for those who arecurious about archaeology and the sciences, and havea sense of discovery and passion for adventure.

Discover Archaeology will cover the archaeology ofthe world like no other magazine. Through inform a-

ShoeGOOD GRIEF!

WHERE DID THISPAUNCHY OLD

ARCHEOLOGIST I _ •••-:c ••••

COME FROM?

12/2.£

tive articles, vivid graphics, and beautiful photos, thereader will take part in the latest discoveries fromaround the globe - both on land and under water.Each article will be carefully edited and accompaniedby illustrations developed to enhance the reader'sunderstanding of the subject matter.

The editorial content includes feature articles,essays and comments, a forum section and reviews.The editorial staff will strive to provide content thatis broad enough for the general reader, but rigorousenough for the scientist. Discover Archaeology willsoon build a reputation as an authoritative source forthe latest breaking news in the archaeologicalsciences. The magazine will be available on news-stands throughout the United States and selectforeign countries, as well as by individual andinstitutional subscription.

Information about the magazine, its content, andbreaking news in archaeology will be provided on ourmagazine's web site - Discover Archaeology Online(http://www.discoverarchaeology.com).Note that theweb site is currently under construction so when youvisit us there, please excuse the mess. The first issueof the magazine will be available in late December.

We will always be looking for articles, both shortnews briefs (less than 750 words) and full-lengthsubmissions (1,000 - 4,000 words), and hope that youcan contribute. Guidelines for submissions and sub-scription information can be obtained from our website (above), phoning 877-347-2724, or via email ateditor@discoverarchaeology.com . Thank you for yourtime; I look' forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy our publication.

WITH APOLOGIES TO - Jeff MacNelly

11

Vermont Archeeological Society, Inc.P.O. Box 663Burlington, VT 05402-0663

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