It's hard to believe that nearly six weeks have passed since I started as Connecticut's new State Archaeologist.

During my apprenticeship, Nick has kept me on the move in an attempt to introduce me to as many of his essential statewide contacts as possible. Invariably, Nick is greeted with hugs, kisses, and sometimes tears from his many colleagues. If it seems hard for someone to imagine the devotion granted to this humble state worker, then they clearly haven't met Nick. If there is one remark I've heard again and again it's, "you've sure got some big shoes to fill!" to which Nick responds with typical humility: "I'm just an eight and a half!"

Before getting too distracted by Nick and my recent adventures, let me briefly introduce myself to FOSA members I haven't had a chance to meet yet. I've been a resident of Connecticut since 1968 when my family moved to Glastonbury. I spent most of my youth exploring the woods up and down Smith Brook, unwittingly walking past many of the town's most significant archaeological sites while looking for snakes and salamanders. I graduated from Glastonbury High in 1982 and headed off to Oberlin College where I received a BA in Anthropology in 1986. Spurred by a youthful need to explore the world, I spent nine months in Southeast Asia, followed by a three year stay at the University of Cologne where I studied European Prehistory. While in Germany I had the opportunity to work on sites spanning the Upper Paleolithic through Medieval periods, from cave sites on the Danube to Roman burials in Cologne.

I eventually found myself interested in the Peopling of the New World, and decided to finish my degree back home at UConn. With a pinch of luck, a pint of determination, and a bucket-full of naiveté, I actually found a late Paleoindian site on the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation within six months of my return to the US. With that site under my belt, I finished my dissertation in 1998 and began working as the Supervisor of Field Archaeology at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation. On the Reservation I had the opportunity to excavate sites dating from the Early Archaic base camp Sandy Hill, through 18th and 19th century Pequot homesteads. After my time as a tribal archaeologist, I worked with AHS/PAST Inc. in Storrs and UMass Archaeological Services in Amherst, Massachusetts, primarily writing Cultural Resource Management site reports while doing some teaching on the side. Some notable recent CRM projects included an Early Archaic quartz-industry site dated to 8600 years ago, and a very rich Snook Kill phase Terminal Archaic site that might have been used as a place to construct a bark canoe. The latter will be the focus of my talk at the upcoming Archaeology Society of Connecticut meeting at Wesleyan.

I've set some goals for the coming year, including the development of a web-based inventory of Connecticut's historical resources. This online database will eventually include open access to information about the state's architectural surveys, as well as state and federal historic districts. I look forward to continuing many of the traditional FOSA programs, such as the annual fall excavation at the Horton Farm in South Glastonbury with Smith Middle School students. Hopefully we can also begin some new traditions, such as a FOSA-member weeklong field school program next summer. Another project I would like to get off the ground next summer is a field school event for special needs kids, and another for underprivileged youth, ideally in their own community. I am therefore confident that FOSA members will continue to have numerous opportunities to help the Office of State Archaeology in many ways: in the field, in the lab, and with the general public.

One of the summer's highlights was the adult field school offered by the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History. Nick decided to examine the Titus Coan birthplace, largely because of his recent connections to Hawaii through the repatriation of the remains of Henry Opukahaia.

Titus Coan (b. 1801) was an important Christian missionary in Hawaii, but had rather humble beginnings in Killingworth, Connecticut. The field school spent a week at the site, now a jumbled cellar ruin. Background research by FOSA member Roger Thompson suggested the house was constructed after 1785. While Titus had moved out by 1826, Gaylord Coan, Titus' father, remained in the small home until his death in 1857. The field school tested areas around and within the house and recovered numerous artifacts dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly creamware (ca. 1791) and shell-edged and transfer-printed pearlwares (ca. 1805 and 1818).

These finds generally supported the known age of the house, but the archaeology also produced some surprises. The first was the near absence of whiteware (ca. 1845), and the second was the consistent, if uncommon, presence of comb-decorated earthenwares and English white salt-glazed stoneware, both more typical of pre-Revolutionary War assemblages. These observations suggested two things. First, Titus' father, Gaylord, appears to have been a pretty thrifty Yankee who resisted the purchase of new table wares until his death. Second, the presence of unexpectedly early ceramics raises the possibility that the house was actually constructed sometime in the mid-18th century rather than after the Revolutionary War. Alternatively, Titus' parents brought some rather old heirloom serving dishes with them when they moved in. In addition, the broadcast discard pattern of the recovered artifacts exemplified a very 18th-century approach to yard maintenance: artifacts were not concentrated in a single midden area, rather, they appear to have been discarded haphazardly out the doors and windows of the house. Overall, the archaeological data correspond well with Titus' description of his father as "a thoughtful, quiet and modest farmer, industrious, frugal and temperate ... avoiding debts, abhorring extravagance and profligacy..." (Life in Hawaii, by Titus Coan 1882).

I can't express enough how privileged I feel to have been selected for a job that is associated with such an energetic, helpful and skillful group of people. If it weren't for FOSA, the Office of State Archaeology would be a pale reflection of the vibrant institution it has become. I look forward to working closely with FOSA and getting to know each of you better over the coming years. I'm sure we have some great archaeological adventures ahead of us!

Brian Jones, PhD, State Archaeologist