● Conferences & Meetings

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● Events of Interest to NEARA Members

● Archive of Past NEARA Conferences & Meetings

● Archive of Past NEARA Field Trip & Chapter Events

NEARA's Spring Meeting April 25-27, 2008

Clarion Hotel & Conference Center

Northampton, Massachusetts

Featuring: ● Mystery Walls of Nova Scotia ● C-14 Dating ● Land of the Sky Inscriptions ● Glastenbury Mt. Cairns ● Brazilian Rock Art ● Indain Trails ● Yankee Root Cellars ● Stone Chambers ● the many battles over Nipsachuck Hill ● and a new coherent methodology for identifying stone sites in New England.

Schedule of Conference Events

Featured Speakers & Abstracts

Conference Field Trips

Clarion Hotel Rates & Directions

Conference Registration

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Schedule of Events

Friday April 25th

Saturday April 26th

Sunday April 27th

Featured Speakers & Abstracts

Terry J. Deveau: The Ruins of the Chain Lakes Watershed Area near Halifax, NS

An extensive set of heavily built stone walls are located in what was for many years a remote wooded area outside of Halifax, NS.  Previously known only to a few local woodsmen, these inexplicable ruins were brought to public attention in 1990 when they were threatened by the development of the Bayer’s Lake Business Park, one of the largest commercial developments in all of Atlantic Canada.  Now fairly well known as the Bayer’s Lake “Mystery” Walls, and after a few small-scale investigations by government and university researchers, the walls have received some protection from encroaching development, but no really satisfactory explanation for their existence has yet been found.  Beginning in 2002, Terry Deveau has undertaken a personal research project to investigate not only the walls themselves, but the entire surrounding undeveloped area (called the Chain Lakes Watershed) to uncover any additional ruins or other clues that can lead to a fuller explanation.  This work has involved not only a methodical crisscrossing ground search of rugged terrain covering 2.5 sq. km, but also many hours pouring over old records in the Provincial and Municipal archives, the registry of deeds,  rare books, maps, and documents held in various library special collections.  Terry’s talk will present an overview of his results to date, including several additional ruin sites, and how they are linked to each other, as well as, where they fit (or not) in the spectrum of the documented 400 years of European settlement in Nova Scotia.

 

  

Terry J. Deveau lives in Herring Cove, Nova Scotia, and works as a software developer and defence contractor, specializing in computer models of underwater sound and sonar performance.  He holds a BSc in Math and a Diploma in Engineering from Saint Mary's University, as well as a Master of Science in Acoustics from Penn State University.  Over the past eight years, Terry has been devoting much of his spare time to investigating reports of unusual stone ruins in NS.  Terry has been a member of NEARA since 2003 and the Maritime Canada Region Coordinator since 2005.  Terry is also a member of the Nova Scotia Archaeology Society (NSAS), the Nova Scotia Historical Society (NSHS), and La société historique acadienne (SHA).

Doug Schwartz: Operation of a Swamp Yankee Root Cellar

This is a video interview with Whit Davis, an 83-year-old Swamp Yankee, who gave us a tour of his family's c. 1670 farmhouse at the mouth of the Pawcatuck River in Stonington, CT.  He explained how he and his family stored 350 bushels of turnips, 200 jars of preserves, butter, potatoes, crocks of salt pork, barrels of cider and apples, etc., with room to spare.  Even during World War II, when President Roosevelt exhorted American farmers to produce enough food to feed the world, they never came close to exceeding the capacity of the cellar.  This puts the lie to the typical explanation of stone chambers as having been built as root cellars.  There would have been no need to do so until the arrival of coal furnaces in the 19th Century.  The Davis family never installed a furnace, instead opting to use stoves and the original fireplaces for heating, until Whit moved out about 15 years ago.  The Davis farmstead is a remarkable window into the past, where salt hay is still harvested to this day, one of the last such operations in New England.  This National Register listed farm is being preserved as a museum to document a remarkable example of a bygone era.  For further details: www.stantondavishomestead.org 

Doug Schwartz is a long time NEARA member and the Connecticut State Coordinator.  He is a supervisor with the U.S. Postal Service.

Polly Midgley: Enigmatic Stone Chambers

This presentation focuses primarily on the location of chambers, the patterns that emerge and the possible stories these patterns suggest.

  

Polly Midgley is a long time NEARA member and the New York State Coordinator of the Hudson Valley region.  She lives near many stone chambers in NY's Westchester and Putnam Counties where she knows the geography well.  Polly has family members who have lived in this area for a very long time. This intimate knowledge of the land and the sites has benefited her research and allowed for many valuable observations.  This type of information deserves to be preserved and NEARA tries to do so but it has become more difficult to come by as sites disappear, streams get piped underground, earth turns into parking lots and long time residents often move elsewhere. Polly believes these insights have helped provide good judgment about the sites.  

Cathy Taylor: Indian Trails and Stone Works

Native American trails were the original networks connecting people and places.  The Great Trail went from Jamaica Pond in Boston, to Framingham, to Grafton, then down to Webster Lake, and then over to Windsor Falls in Connecticut.  Waterfalls, a great lake, and the source of all rivers were key places along the way.   A stone chamber in Upton and a stone chamber in Webster are two famous stone works along this path.  The trails eventually became cart paths and then roads for the English colonists.  Underlying our busy highways and roads is an older system of connections that can shed light on a different way of living long ago.  This power point presentation will be filled with maps and photos of stone works of interest along the way.

 

Cathy Taylor is a NEARA member and also a member of the National Council for Geocosmic Research. Interest in the astronomy of the Ohio Earth Mounds led to a NEARA presentation last spring and an article that was recently published in the winter NCGR journal.  Cathy also has a strong interest in New England stone chambers and is on the Upton Historical Commission.

Rob Carter: C-14 Dating: A Simplified Explanation

In this talk Rob will explain the scientific in very easy to understand terms the process for Carbon 14 dating, a valuable tool in archaeological dating.

 

Rob Carter is a long time NEARA member, a NEARA board member and our resident ‘audio/visual’ specialist at the NEARA conferences.

Zena Halpern: Tanit in Onteora?

Onteora is the Native American name for “Land in the Sky” and describes the Catskill Mountains of New York State.  Within the Neversink River Valley three inscribed stones with ancient scripts and symbols have been found in the last several years.  Zena’s presentation will discuss a stone found in 2006, which may shed important light on the pre-history of the valley and the area to the northeast.  From the spiral petroglyph in the valley where the stones were found and continuing northeast eighteen miles, the Hammonasset Line aligns with Devil’s Tombstone at Stony Clove where two mountains face each other, Hunter and Plateau. The significance of the area and the meaning of the inscribed stone found in 2006 will be discussed in light of the extraordinary implication that ancient voyagers traveled to this area and carved their ancient scripts and symbols on stones.

 

Zena Halpern is a long time NEARA member of almost 20 years.   She was taking graduate courses at NYU from Cyrus Gordon.  Cyrus Gordon came to NYU after a lengthy stay at Brandeiss University where he headed the department of Mediterranean Studies.  In 1971, his groundbreaking book was published; "Before Columbus: Links Between the Old World and Ancient America."   Gordon's theories of trans-oceanic contact and his dynamic teaching sent Zena on a quest that has continued for 35 years. Upon retirement in 1998, she began intensive investigation for evidence of ancient seafaring, ancient ships and harbor construction along the east Mediterranean coast. She has traveled to Crete, Mexico, Israel, Greece and states in the US, where reports have come in of inscribed stones in ancient alphabets.  She is presently writing a book about connections between the eastern Mediterranean, Iberia, Mexico and American sites. She has her B.A. from Long Island University, and her M.A., New York University. 

Norman Muller: Glastenbury Mountain Cairns

About ten years ago, Dave Lacy, chief archaeologist with the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont, discovered three cairns just below the summit and off the trail to Glastenbury Mountain in southern Vermont.  In late summer 2007, a group of five, consisting of Lisa Gannon, Ted Timreck , the speaker and his son Peter, plus Tom Wessels, ecologist and author, climbed the six plus miles to the cairn site to investigate and photograph the cairns.  Based on lichen and plant cover, the cairns appear to predate by a considerable amount the first documented activity on the mountain.  The cairns are compared with other, similar cairns found at much lower altitudes.

 

Norman Muller is an art conservator affiliated with the Princeton University Art Museum, where he has worked and lectured for the past twenty-five years. For the past ten years he has been researching the stone ruins at various sites in the Northeast, and has lectured to various organizations, such as the Eastern States Archaeological Federation and NEARA, on his work.  Nine web articles Norman has written on various aspects of stone constructions have been posted on the Internet in the past ten years (see http://rock-piles.com/muller.html). An article on the Oley Hills site in eastern Pennsylvania, titled “Accenting the Landscape: Interpreting the Oley Hills Site,” will appear in a book titled Semiotics in Landscape II, edited by George Nash of the University of Bristol, England.

Peter Anick: Rock Art of Brazil’s Serra da Capivara National Park

Pedra Furada became one of the most controversial archaeological sites in the Americas when a hearth there was dated to over 50,000 years ago.  Less controversial is the visual record of 12,000 years of human activity exposed in hundreds of pictograph panels in the surrounding Serra da Capivara escarpment.  Peter will present an account of his five-day visit to the site in 2005, describing the chronology of rock art styles and showing examples which range in subject matter from extinct megafauna through depictions of ritual and hunting scenes to shamanic symbols.

 

Peter Anick develops information retrieval technology at Yahoo! and writes articles on folk and jazz fiddling for Fiddler Magazine but his interest in archaeology predates his involvement with both computers and music.   Over the years, he has made a point of seeking out rock art sites off the beaten path, including cave paintings in France, Paleolithic engravings in Portugal, Norwegian helleristninger and songline figures in central Australia.  Since joining NEARA, he’s been happy to discover that there are sites near enough to drive to!

Joe Bonni: Tear Down Their Altars, Smash Their Sacred Stones: A Call for Methodological Innovation in Understanding and Identifying Native Sacred Spaces in New England

You must completely destroy all the places where the nations you dispossess have served their gods, on high mountains, on hills, under any spreading tree; you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, burn their sacred poles, hack to bits the statues of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

- Deuteronomy 12: 2-3

In the summer of 2007 I spent my second season in the woods of Grafton, MA with Steven Mrozowski in search of one of Reverend Eliot’s “Praying Villages.”  At this time, I was particularly interested in the specific question of whether or not the Reverend John Eliot intentionally exploited sacred Native American spaces when choosing locations for his 17^th century church communities.  Unfortunately, we did not find the Rev Eliot’s Church and as a result I was unable to answer my question regarding the possible Colonial and Christian exploitation of native sacred space.  But after my time spent in the field with Mrozowski, conversations with both a number of academic archaeologists and avocational archaeologists, and an initial smattering of readings I was convinced to broaden my topic.  It became apparent to me that even if the church had been found on Mrozowski’s dig, any attempt to investigate whether the Christian church had been built on native sacred space would have been inhibited by a lack of archaeological recognition of built native sacred spaces in New England.  While built spaces, particularly those involving stonework, are widely accepted throughout most of North America as ubiquitous and a common manner in which Native Americans demarcated sacred space, the opposite is true in much of the northeastern US.  As a result, I have become interested in a more general question - and criticism - regarding why historical archaeologists in New England have ignored the importance of stone features as potentially indicative of native spaces, and how this lack of recognition, and the lack of a useful typology of such sites, inhibits the ability to answer questions such as the one I initially posed for Eliot.  Additionally, there are concerns that such an omission has resulted and continues to result in the misidentification of culturally significant landscapes resulting in no protection of such spaces.

 

In a short paper I am now proposing to offer a new coherent methodology for identifying stone sites in New England.  However, I will analyze this longstanding but potentially aberrant position against the very idea of identifying stonework in New England as extant indigenous constructions; and then suggest a number of (I hope) potent and useful criticisms of the biases involved in establishing typologies/classification systems – that is the institutional power of academia in deciding what is “useful” or “real” in regards to classification - and the potential negative impact resulting from a lack of input from indigenous peoples and other non-academics. Avocational archaeologists’ work in this field is extensive and deserves the interest and timely review by academic and state archaeologists who may be lagging behind their amateur counterparts in regards to innovation, imagination, and boundary pushing.  We have invented endless ceramic and projectile point classification systems but nothing for stone and lithic sites.  Sites which some say are densely and ubiquitously scattered across New England geography possessing much to tell about the lives of the people who built and utilized them but yet potentially silenced by a lack of recognition. 

 

Joe Bonni is a Graduate student at the University of Chicago and this is his Masters Thesis.

Dr. Fred Meli: Nipsachuck Hill and Swamp Area North Smithfield Rhode Island:  A Battle Field Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Nipsachuck Hill and Swamp Area, a 21^st century battlefield:  A place riddled in mystery, misinformation and historic accounts that are often contradicting.  The location is real enough; it lies west of route 7 (Douglas Pike) and north of the junctions of Rt. 7 and Rt. 104, in North Smithfield, RI.  However, Smithfield a neighboring town also lays claim to the site of the battles in the King Phillip’s War.  The present day conflict is over jurisdiction and interpretations.  Some see the site as a possible historical park, native museum; others see it as gravel pit ripe for harvesting. The battle lines are thus drawn (pun intended): historical commission, developers, land owners and concerned neighbors.

 

  

 

Dr. Frederick Meli Archaeologist:  He is a full-time consultant, director and lead archaeologist with Archaeological Services and Consulting.  He has been involved in extensive fieldwork in Eastern Europe, Central Europe, North East America, (New England) and Central America.  His earliest work was centered on the Mound Builders and the Tombigbee peoples.  His current work involves the study of Pre-Columbian indigenous cultures and their construction of public ceremonial and burial landscapes throughout New England and Canada.  He is also presently working on a book:  Stone Ceremonial Landscapes of New England, with Lexington Press.

Field Trips Sponsored by Brenda Toomey, Massachusetts State Coordinator

● Friday Field Trip: 25 April 2008

There will be a field trip leaving the Clarion Hotel, in Northampton, MA, between 12:00 and 12:30.  We will see some of the many chambers and lithic features that exist in Franklin County, Massachusetts.   Due to the limited parking on the country roads where we are going, and the high cost of gas, participants are encouraged to car pool.  We will return before 6:00 in the evening.   

 ● Sunday Field Trip: 27 April 2008

There will be one field trip, which will leave the hotel by 9:30 in the morning.  We will see more of the chambers and lithic features in Franklin County.  Of special interest will be the complex of corbelled chambered in Shutesbury, on and around Mt. Mineral, including the Monks Chamber.  There is a spiritual retreat on the top of this mountain and we will hike up the hill to see the carved stone, which has the figure on it that NEARA has adopted for its logo.  If it is possible, one driver will be asked to drive those who have difficulty walking.  Again people are encouraged to car pool and share the cost of gas.  

Important Notice for Sunday’s Field Trip: 

 

In Leverett, MA, we will stop at The Village Co-op and General Store, which sells ready-made sandwiches. It has the only bathroom we will see on this field trip.  I have spoken to the owners and learned they will need at least 6 days notice to have enough sandwiches on Sunday for our group.  Please let me know if you think you would like to buy a sandwich.  I will call our order in to the store in advance. Please call me (Brenda Toomey) at 508-885-0993, and leave a message, or email me at brendatoomey@verizon.net.

 

More details on these field trips, including maps and directions, will be given out at the conference.  People may need to know that because of the hilly terrain where we are going, most cell phones will not work.

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Lodgings: Clarion Hotel & Conference Center

Northampton, Massachusetts

Clarion Hotel & Conference Center, 1 Atwood Drive, Northampton, MA 01060.  Toll-Free: 800-582-2929, Phone: 413-586-1211, Fax: 413-586-0630, Email Address, Website.

Ideally located off Interstate 91, the Clarion Hotel^® & Conference Center welcomes you to the culturally rich city of Northampton, the beautiful Connecticut River Valley and the famous Five Colleges area, home to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Hampshire College, Smith College, Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College.

NEARA has secured a rate of $99.00 per night, plus applicable sales taxes for single or double occupancy, and $109.00 per night, plus applicable sales taxes for triple or quad occupancy.  When you call to make your reservations, mention that you are a NEARA member and verify that you are receiving the special rate. 

Additional points of interest in the area include:

● Six Flags New England Amusement Park

● Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens

● Deerfield Academy college preparatory school

● CLARKE - School for the Deaf / Center for Oral Education

● Bradley International Airport

● Brimfield Antique and Collectibles Show

● William D. Mullins Memorial Center entertainment venue

Montana's Steakhouse, located on the premises, serves a delicious breakfast and a full menu nightly. The on-site Montana's Piano Bar also offers great fare in a relaxing environment. Room service is also available.

Email: hotelhelp@choicehotels.com

Website: http://www.clarionhotel.com/ires/en-US/html/HotelInfo?hotel=MA117&promo=gglocal

Important Notice: The cut-off date for NEARA special rates is April 1^st so call to reserve your room now!!  After the cut-off date, all rooms being held for NEARA will be released back into general inventory and any requests made after April 1^st will be subject to room availability.

Please make your reservations by April 1st.

Registration   (click here)  

Please follow the link for Spring Meeting registrations form.  Please print the form, fill it out, and mail it in to the address on the form.  (We do not have on-line registration capabilities as yet.)  Thank you!

Notice: NEARA Members receive a discount on the registration fee.  If you would like to become a NEARA member there is a Membership Application attached to the Registration Form. 

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NEARA 2008 Fall Meeting:

7-9 November 2008, Mainstay Inn, Newport, Rhode Island

NEARA Field Trips
 

NEARA Field Trips are organized by the State Coordinators for the individual New England (and surrounding) states.

Non-members may participate in field trips, but should contact these coordinators for details and directions.

Please call ahead to confirm trip details and get on the list! Bring water, bag lunch, favorite bug juice, camera, etc. Hope to see you there!

Massachusetts Chapter
 

State Coordinator:

Brenda Thompson Toomey
P.O.Box 724

Spencer MA 01562
508-885-0993
Email: brebdatoomey@version.net

June 24, 2007 - Led by George Krusen

On Sunday, June 24, 2007 NEARA member, George Krusen will lead a field trip in Boxborough, MA through an area that was part of the Nashoba Praying Village.

Meet at 3:00 P.M. in Boxborough at the intersections of Littleton Road, Depot Road, and Littlefield Road. To find this intersection take Exit 29 off I-495 and go East on Route 2 (towards Acton) to Exit 41. Go South on Central Street, toward West Acton, and turn right on the first road, which is Littlefield Road. Then go about a mile and turn right onto Littleton Road. Park your car by # 30 Littleton Road.

George Krusen will show us three sites. First, he will show the sunrise alignments on the Sudbury Valley Trustees Land. Second, he will show us a chamber. The axis line of this chamber suggests a possible connection to Hassamessitt, in Grafton, and even to Orient Point, Long Island, NY.

Then we will follow George in our cars to go to the Boxborough Esker. We will walk a mile on the esker to where we can picnic and about 7:00 P.M. observe the summer solstice sunset (or its location if it is overcast). We will leave the esker by 8:00 P.M., near the intersection of Route 495 and Route 111.

The Boxborough Esker is a two and ½ mile long ridge about 56 feet tall that runs between two swamps. There are stone rows, stone mounds, and pits, on and near the esker. Near the end of the esker two earthen ramps, which begin some feet apart, lead diagonally down to the valley below, meeting near two U-shaped “prayer seats”.

See: MANITOU, by Mavor and Dix, Chapter 11, page 275.

Please where comfortable shoes, bring food and water, a flash light, and any bug spray you would like to use. As always, dress for the weather.

RSVP to brendatoomey@verizon.net. When emailing me please put NEARA in the subject line. Please do not just hit “Reply” and send my notice back to me, start a new email, or call me at 508-885-0993 and leave a message.

May 20, 2007

The Massachusetts chapter of NEARA will hold a field trip to Borderland State Park on Sunday, May 20. Our last visit to Borderland, in 2001, was led by Ellie Ricker. We all miss her.

The park spans the borders of Sharon and Easton, MA. For centuries this land marked the territorial boundary between the Wampanoug and Massachusetts tribes. It was being used by both tribes for hunting and fishing in 1690, when the first colonists moved to the area. On our tour we will see a stone prayer seat, a chamber, and many other interesting stone constructions, and geological features. We will record their GPS locations for our site reports. The park geologist, Bill Hocking, and the Visitor Services Supervisor, Ellenor Yahrmarkt, will join us. She will show us the Ames Mansion after our NEARA tour.

On Sunday, May 20, beginning at 10:30 we will meet at the Borderland State Park parking lot. Bring two $1.00 bills. The parking fee is collected by a machine, not by a person with change!

At 11:00 we will start our hike. Please dress for the damp weather. A few showers are expected during the afternoon, but generally I think it will be alright. Bring a sandwich and water. Plan to secure your car keys, cell phone, and camera in a backpack, or another safe place. I'm told they find about two cell phones there everyday!

Directions: From I-95 TAKE Exit 7 (in Foxborough), onto 140 east. In Mansfield turn onto 106 east, to Poquantic Avenue north (near Easton), and left on to Massapoag Avenue and then follow signs about two miles to the park entrance.   See the DeLorme Atlas, pages 52-53. Parking fee of $2.00

To learn more about the park and for more detailed directions:

www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/southeast/bord.htm www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/brochures/bord/welcome.htm

Please contact Brenda Toomey for registration and directions to all Field Trips:

New Hampshire Chapter
 

State Coordinator:

Margaret Venator
20 Stark Highway South
Dunbarton, NH 03046-4406
603-774-3577
Email: mvenator2000@aol.com

April 15, 2006

On Saturday April 15, 10:30 a.m. we will meet in Dunbarton, NH, to learn how to make accurate and permanently useful site reports, in a standardized fashion so any of us can click into action when we discover new sites or update old site files.  Dunbarton is some ten miles southwest of Concord.  For exact directions email Margaret Venator at mvenator2000@aol.com.  Or call at 603-774-3577.

Vermont Chapter
 

State Coordinator:

Lisa A. Gannon
284 River Cove Road

Williston, VT 05495

802-999-9699

Email: Lisa-Gannon@comcast.net

For complete field trip details, call or email Lisa at 802-879-3902, lgannon@quixnet.net.

All field trips will be held the last Saturday of each month, except where noted. Meet at designated point at 10:00AM.
 

Maine Chapter
 

State Coordinator:

Roslyn Strong
94 Cross Point Road
Edgecomb, ME 04556 

Phone: 207-882-9425
Fax: 207-882-8162
Email: krosspt@lincoln.midcoast.com

New York Hudson Valley Chapter

State Coordinator:
Polly Midgley

855 Sleepy Hollow Road

Briarcliff, NY 10510

914-373-4247

Email: polmidge@optonline.net

Volunteer Steward Program for Rockshelters. 

Contact the Trailside Museum 845-786-2701 x263

October 13, 2007

Saturday, October 13, 2007: This is a Field Trip to view one chamber in Cranberry Lake Preserve in North White Plains, NY and  several chambers in Silver Lake Park located in White Plains/Harrison, NY on Saturday, October 13.  We will meet in the parking lot of Cranberry Lake Preserve at 11:30 AM.  Cranberry Lake Preserve is located at 1609 Old Orchard Street, North White Plains.  From Route 22, turn at the traffic light for  Old Orchard Street and continue on Old Orchard Street for a short distance, then turn right at the sign for Cranberry Lake Preserve. Continue on the road into the parking lot. 

After viewing the chamber at Cranberry Lake, we will proceed to Silver Lake Park in White Plains/Harrison. 

Contact Gerry McLoughlin at 914-337-7084 or gm-mail@ix.netcom.com for questions.  Gerry is leading this trip and will be assisted by Walter Wheeler who has studied the Silver Lake chambers.  A bag lunch is suggested. This field trip is relatively easy, with some uneven terrain. 

May 12, 2007

Field Trip to Bull Hill (Taurus Mountain), Beacon, NY, 10:00am, Leader: Chip Marks

Meet in the parking lot of the Desmond Fish Library in Garrison at the intersection of Rte. 413 and 9D. This is a place of many perched boulders, researched alignments, good views and interesting trails.  We will car pool to a parking place part way up the hill.  Questions:  Chip Marks @ 845-424-3422  

Events of Interest to NEARA

...Under Construction...

Non-NEARA sponsored events that may be of interest to NEARA Members

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Special Event April 17, 2005

Central Massachusetts Chapter of the Massachusetts Archeological Society

Field Trip

On Sunday, April 17, Rick Lynch (NEARA President) will lead a field trip for the Central Massachusetts Chapter of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society. It is being run as a fund raiser and the cost to join the trip will be $5.00. This trip will be well worth the cost, and if you are not yet a member of the MA Archeology Society you will meet many kindred spirits. Rick will take people to the following sites:

• The "Gallop Rock Shelter" a Native American deer kill site in Voluntown, CT. 
• Oneco, CT, two stone chambers, a colonial cellar hole and other objects of interest.
• The Moosup River Chamber.
• The Rattlesnake Rock Shelter, in W. Greenwich, RI.
• The Ochee Springs Soapstone Quarry in Johnston, RI.

Persons going on this trip will meet at 9:00 a.m. at the McDonald's located at exit 87 off of I-395 in CT. (I-395 is a continuation of I-290 in Worcester.) The trip will begin promptly at 9:30. If you have any questions email Rick Lynch at HstrclRsch@aol.com.
 

Special Event April 30, 2005

Central Massachusetts Chapter of the Massachusetts Archeological Society

Semi-Annual Meeting

Saturday, April 30: MA Archeological Society (MAS) Semi-Annual Meeting at the University of MA in Amherst: Paleo-Indian Sites in New England. A full day of talks and activities beginning at 9:30 at Thompson Hall 102.
 

Special Event April 30, 2005

Conference on New England Archeology

25th Annual Meeting

Saturday May 7, daytime Conference on New England Archeology (CNEA), 25th Annual Meeting, Sturbridge Village, "New Directions on Old Roads". Pre-registration is $15.00. and $20,00 at the door. If interested send money to Charlotte Taylor, 150 Benefit St., Providence RI 02903, 413-222-4140. Free admission to Sturbridge Village is included.
 

Special Event April 30, 2005

Central Massachusetts Chapter of the Massachusetts Archeological Society

Chapter Meeting

Saturday May 7, evening Chapter Meeting for the Central Massachusetts Chapter of MAS. Craig Chatrier, M.A., will talk about the Plymouth Archeological Rediscovery Project, New Bedford, MA. Meetings begin 7:00 p.m. and are in the basement of the Zion Lutheran Church on Whitmarsh Avenue, off Route 12 in the Greendale section of Worcester. Park across the street, and enter church from the side street.
 

Special Event August 21, 2004

Programs For Environmental Awareness & Cultural Exchange

Presents:

A Time Before New Hampshire

Presenter:  Michael J. Caduto
Hosted by: Student Conservation Association Center for Conservation Service
Location:  SCA Center for Conservation Service, Charlestown, New Hampshire
Date:  Saturday 21 August 2004
Time:  9:00am-4:00pm
Fee:  $40  (includes all materials)

For further information and pre-registration (required) contact:
Michael Caduto: 802-649-1815 (tel/fax);   or e-mail: michaelcaduto@p-e-a-c-e.net

Title: A Time Before New Hampshire

Description: The story of New Hampshire's amazing geology and the state's tumultuous ice age are among our most fascinating ancient histories.  These formative events have been followed by 12,000 years in the lives of the Abenaki (Alnôbak), the native peoples of this region.    This program looks at both the history of the landscape and the deep connection that the native peoples of this region maintain with their homeland, Gedakina, "Our Land."

Come spend the day on a  journey immersed in the natural and cultural histories of New Hampshire and nearby Vermont.  Participants will imagine a living past through stories, slides, discussion, music and a journey into the countryside.  We¹ll explore traditional land use, stewardship and the impacts the Alnôbak have had on the land.  During the afternoon we'll visit some historic places.  This field trip will include Native American folklore and information about the traditional uses of wild edible, medicinal and poisonous plants.  We'll also sample some wild edibles.
 

Michael J. Caduto is an award-winning author, ecologist, musician and storyteller who has taught at numerous nature centers, museums, schools, colleges and universities.  His books include A Time Before New Hampshire: The Story of a Land and Native Peoples; Native American Gardening: Stories, Projects and Recipes for Families and the best-selling Keepers of the Earth® series.

Special Event September 27, 2003

New England Native American Institute Presents:

A field trip to Lancaster, Sterling and Princeton, Mass

to see prominent sites in King Phillip's War.

"We will be visiting Lancaster, Sterling, and Princeton, Massachusetts. Join us on a tour of sites that figured prominently during King Philip's War. We will start in Lancaster and visit the site of the "Old North Village" from here we move to the site of Rowlandson Garrison and monument. It was here that Mary Rowaldson was captured. We move across the street to the old cemetery where Rev. Joseph Rowlandson had his first 2 meeting houses/churches, are marked by a monument. We then travel to the restricted "Old Settler's Cemetery" located close by. In this cemetery is a monument stone with the entire deed of land from sagamore, George Tahanto to John Houghton for all the lands in the Lancaster Sterling area.

From here we will visit the garrison house's of Cyprian Stevens, Ephraim Roper, and Thomas Sawyer. Next we are on to Rowlandson Rock, where Mary was taken on the first night of her capture, as the town of Lancaster burned under the attack of Monoco. We will then travel along the Massachusetts Bay Path, the old Indian road from the ocean heading west to the "inside lands" to Princeton, where we will visit Redemption Rock. Here, Mary Rowlandson was released by the Indians and reunited with her surviving family. If time allows, we will also visit Mt. Wachusett. Our last stop will be at Lake Waushacum where we will visit the site of the Waushacum Lake Battle. Please register by September 25, 2003"

Cost $10.00. For directions: http://www.nenai.org/calview.html, or call 508-791-5007.

Special Event October 18, 2003

The Massachusetts Archaeological Society Presents:

64^th Annual Meeting

The 64th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society will be held at the Middleboro Public Library on October 18, 2003.

Schedule of Events: http://webhost.bridgew.edu/mas/AnnualMtg2003.JPG

Directions: http://webhost.bridgew.edu/mas/MuseumDirections.JPG

     MAS

     P.O. Box 700

     Middleborough, MA 02346

     508-947-9005

     mas@bridgew.edu

Special Event: Running Indefinitely

Peabody Museum

In collaboration with Harvard's Museum of Natural History Presents:

Encounters with the Americas

Encounters with the Americas is an exhibit exploring the native cultures of Latin America before and after 1492, when the first voyage of Columbus initiated dramatic worldwide changes.  Encounters considers 16^th century native responses to military and religious missions, the introduction of new plants and animals, and the tragic toll of new diseases. It explores the unique, pre-1492 civilizations, exemplified by the Classic Maya and Post classic Aztec.

Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest museums in the world devoted to anthropology and houses one of the most comprehensive records of human cultural history in the Western Hemisphere. Te Peabody Museum engages in ongoing anthropological discourse through exhibitions, workshops, symposia, and publications; allows faculty and students to draw upon the collections to enrich classes and research; and serves a wide public audience through educational programs developed in collaboration with Harvard’s Museum of Natural History.

For more info: Peabody Museum

Special Event: Opens October 18, 2003 

American Museum of Natural History Presents:

Petra: Lost City of Stone

 The most comprehensive exhibition ever presented on the stunning art and culture of this ancient near eastern crossroads.

Highlighting new scholarship and recent archaeological discoveries, Petra opens at American Museum of Natural History

Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History, and Timothy Rub, Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, announced today that Petra: Lost City of Stone, the most comprehensive exhibition ever presented on the ancient city of Petra, and its creators, the Nabataeans, will open at the American Museum of Natural History on Saturday, October 18, 2003. Presented under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, Petra is the first major cultural collaboration between Jordan and the United States. This groundbreaking exhibition, on view in New York City through July 6, 2004, offers North American audiences the opportunity to learn about the ancient metropolis of Petra, which was literally carved from the red sandstone in the harsh desert cliffs of southern Jordan. From the second century B.C. to the second century A.D., Petra stood at a nexus of international silk and spice trade routes linking China, India, and Southern Arabia with the markets of Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Syria, and was governed by the Nabataeans who were renowned for their great skills in trade, agriculture, engineering, and architecture. 

For full details: www.amnh.org/exhibitions/petra/?src=e_h