It’s fair to say we’re all familiar with this phrase, borne of the events of the 9/11 attack. The crux of it is that the attacks were preceded by out-of-the-ordinary events that many people may have seen, which were out of the ordinary, but which were ignored. And as a result….

Archaeology isn’t, of course, in the same category. But the same rule of thumb applies. Something that is out of the ordinary, which could be important to our understanding of where and how we live if looked into, could be lost if we think, “Meh. Someone will report this, so I won’t bother. Besides, I’m busy now and it’s probably nothing anyway.” I expect we’ve all done that at one time or another. Heck, I know I have.

But not everyone. Our newsletter is testament to what can happen when people don’t take the easy way out and ignore oddities. Following are a few examples.

1. Excavation at Two Wrasslin’ Cats

If you click Case-1 you’ll find out how the excavation came about. The first sentence, though, says it all: “One day in May 2020, while settling on the porch of the Two Wrasslin’ Cats coffee shop in East Haddam, Connecticut, archaeologist Mark Clymer glanced down and noticed something left behind by someone who had been at the same spot before him — around 12,000 years ago.”

This is admittedly an extreme example: Mark Clymer, who spotted the tool, knew from his past experience that it could only have come from a spot 100 miles away. Mark spoke to the owner of the coffee shop, did a small excavation, found enough artifacts that he then contacted Sarah Sportman and David Leslie, who commenced a series of formalized digs at the site.

The last couple of sentences at the end of the article summarize the event: “[The owner] marvels at how close the project came to never getting started. If Mark hadn’t shown up, this research wouldn’t be happening. Somebody [else] would likely have picked that stone up and just thrown it in the brook.”

2. Hurd’s Iron Mountain Magnetic Spring Site

Back in June, 2022, I noticed an article in our local newspaper, the Rivereast News Bulletin, about some odd–looking stonework that a member of the Chatham Historical Society encountered during a walk in East Hampton. The structural remains were unusual, hence his article – including a picture – in the newspaper, asking if anyone knew anything about them. I forwarded the article to Glenda Rose, who arranged a Site Walk, including 3 FOSA members, Nick Bellantoni, the author of the newspaper item, and 1 other resident. You can read the details of the Walk and what the results were, by accessing the Fall 2022 FOSA Newsletter, by clicking Case-2 and scrolling to page 5. The whole episode is remarkable … and enlightening.

The point of all this, however, is not what was found, but the fact that the Field Walk and subsequent research were initiated by a single question from a non-archaeologist. Who saw something he didn’t understand and said something about it.

3. The Vampire Skull and the Kennewick Man

Back in 1990, Nick Bellantoni became involved with the unearthing of skulls, and later whole skeletons of people, during excavation of a gravel pit in Griswold, CT. Actually, the skulls were found by three 10 year-old boys sliding down the gravel pit. When one of the boys reported the find to his mother, she basically said “Meh, yeah, sure; now go away and play, I’m busy.” They went back to the pit and dug a skull out and brought it to her; that got her attention. Nick Bellantoni got involved and uncovered evidence of an undocumented cemetery and apparent vampire-defense desecration of some of the remains. The specifics of all this can be found in the FOSA website by clicking Case-3a.

A couple of pre-teen boys found the skulls. It took a bit, but they were believed. And the resulting analysis is fascinating. Had the boys ignored them (as the mother doubtless hoped they would), much of what eventually transpired could well not have happened. Including a better understanding of where our New England vampire legends come from. And who the alleged vampire was.

The Kennewick Man is similar, in that it was a skeleton embedded in a river bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. There was no doubt that the canoeists who found the skeleton had indeed found it; though there was considerable doubt over who he was. While it was uncertain if the skeleton belonged to a Native American, that was the conclusion drawn; and among the results was the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Information on the Kennewick Man can be found in several places in the FOSA website, though pictures and info from the 2015 Annual Meeting are perhaps of primary interest. You can access the Kennewick Man pictures by clicking Case-3b.

As with the 3 boys above, none of the canoeists was an archaeologist; but they knew right away what the right thing to do was when they saw that skeleton.

4. The Odd-Looking Jug

In October 2019, I received an email from a young man who had found an odd-looking jug of some sort that he and his uncle had found in his very old home in Derby. CT. He included a picture of the jug, and asked if we could help find some information on it. I forwarded his email and the picture to Nick Bellantoni; who replied to him that it was most likely a piece of modern folk art (19th or 20th century), as it bore no resemblance to Native American or European heritage that he was aware of.

This is another example of someone who did the right thing when they found this piece of pottery: They went and asked someone presumably knowledgeable about it (me). And they got an answer from perhaps the best person in CT to answer it (Nick); and who forwarded also it to his colleagues in the event he was mistaken. A win all around!

(OK: So why did he send his request to me instead of, say, Nick in the first place? Because at the time I had my name and email address showing on the website. I’ve learned my lesson!)

Anyway...

A basic tenet of archaeology is that much can be learned from what has been thrown away. The obvious precondition is that the stuff thrown away has to be found in the first place. And the best resource for that could well be the masses of people out there who aren’t archaeologists but who are curious enough to say, “Hmm, that’s odd” and pursue it, rather than shrug “Meh” and forget about it.

If this doesn’t happen, that portion of our knowledge of who we are and why we’re like that will be gone. More slowly than the Twin Towers, but just as completely.

So...

In order to help people determine if something they saw is of archaeological interest, a small change is being made to the FOSA website, whereby folks can send an email about it to members of the Board, (to fosa.ct@gmail.com,) with a Subject reading “Found Something Unusual” or some such, so recipients will know the message’s purpose.

The email would then be forwarded to Sarah Sportman, Nick Bellantoni, perhaps one of the participants in our iCRV discussions, or even perhaps the police if it’s felt appropriate.

Note: The phrase “If You See Something, Say Something” has been trademarked by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA), so we can’t (or at least shouldn’t) use it here. So we’ll use our own:

Found Something Unusual? Ask An Archaeologist!

Probably preaching to the choir here, but there you are.