Mashantucket Update

A dedicated crew of archaeologists continue to excavate a multicomponent site with a significant Paleo-Indian component. Recent recoveries include a Vail-Debert fluted point, channel flakes, blades, and a handful of scraping tools of various materials, including Munsungan chert and jasper.

Second Battle of Nipsachuck

Researchers have completed archaeological and remote sensing studies at a King Philip's War battlefield site with the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, Blackstone Valley Historical Society of Lincoln, RI, and the Narragansett Tribe at Nipsachuck, supported by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program. Although the battle site is not contained in Connecticut's borders, military forces present at the battle included Connecticut English soldiers accompanied by 100 Mohegans and Pequots. The historical impacts of this battle reverberated through all communities of southern New England during the second half of the seventeenth century.

Battlefields of the Pequot War

Writers and editors have completed the "Battle of Mistick Fort Site Identification and Documentation Public Technical Report," now available online at https://pequotwar.org/. Archaeological work supported by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program will continue this coming summer at the "Retreat from Mistick Fort Site Identification and Documentation." This site was identified last year using historical documentation with archaeological and remote sensing surveys; it is where English-Allied forces encountered significant Pequot counter-attacks as they retreated eight miles west to their waiting ships following the destruction of Mistick Fort. Pequot War researchers are currently working hand-in-hand with the Old Saybrook Historical Society and landholders at Saybrook Point, where field work will begin this summer to define and locate the sites associated with the Pequot War's "Siege and Battle of Saybrook Fort." During the winter months of 1636-37, the Pequot besieged the fort in retaliation for English attacks at Block Island and near the Thames River. The Pequot attacked the fort and its English inhabitants, commanded by Lieutenant Lion Gardiner.

2013 Field Schools

The University of Connecticut and Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center will offer two field schools this coming summer in both historic battlefield archaeology and pre-Contact archaeology. Students in the battlefield field school will excavate at two Pequot War battlefields, the "Retreat from Mistick Fort (May 26, 1637)" and the "Siege and Battle of Saybrook Fort (Sept. 1636 - May 1637)," as well as a War of 1812 battlefield, "The British Raid on Essex (April 7-8, 1814)." All three projects are supported by the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program, and are part of a long-term effort to document the Battlefields of the Pequot War (visit https://pequotwar.org/ for additional information) and Connecticut's role during the War of 1812. The pre-Contact field school will include surveys and excavations on landforms associated with two Paleo-Indian sites. The field schools will be based at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center with fieldwork taking place in Connecticut on the Mashantucket Reservation, Mystic, Old Saybrook, and Essex.

These six-week, six-credit field schools include training in standard archaeological field survey and excavation, artifact conservation, cataloguing and analysis, research, and field methods specific to battlefield archaeology including an analysis of primary sources, use of military terrain models, metal detecting surveys, and GPS/GIS applications. The field schools provide a unique opportunity for students to work on a nationally significant collaborative research project alongside tribal members, archaeologists, and military historians. In addition to the field-work, students will participate in training workshops in laboratory and research methods, attend guest lectures, complete assigned readings, and maintain a daily field journal.