WEBMASTER NOTE: While this website section has focused on FOSA personnel, we believe it would be appropriate to also include these thoughts on Cosimo Sgarlata. Cos was both well-known and respected of by many members of FOSA; and as noted in the article, he was an enthusiastic student and teacher of archaeology in Connecticut. He will be missed by all in the Connecticut archaeological community who were privileged to work and be associated with him.

Most of you know Cosimo Sgarlata as "Dr. Cos". I knew him before he was Dr. Cos, and I want to share with you a few memories of him from back in the day.

I first met Cos when he was a student in my Intro to Archaeology course in the early 90s. He was a quiet student who quietly excelled in his work, both in class and in the field. His first dig with me was at the Chitwick Pond site in Greenwich. He always put in a full day working under a blazing sun and never a complaint of the heat and humidity. Admirable yes, but what concerned me was that he never brought a lunch or, more importantly, water with him. I would offer him bottles of water and a half of my sandwich, but he always quietly refused. I kept watching him for signs of dehydration and heat exhaustion but he never faltered. Perhaps I should have nicknamed him Cos the Camel!

Cos' enthusiasm for archaeology developed quickly, and he was a constant presence at many of the Norwalk Community College (NCC) Eulogy digs and our weekly Thursday night lab sessions. Always a bit on the quiet side, I think it was his exposure to the merry band of archaeologists that began to loosen up his tongue a bit. Within a couple of years, Cos made lifelong friends in the NCC Archaeology Club, many of whom are here today. During the constant chatter that typified digs and lab sessions, he began to reveal a little (a very little) about his past. Just enough to spur the imagination, but no details. Among the brief references he made was something about a motorcycle and singing in a rock band. Once, to the surprise of all, he leapt on one of the lab tables and began to channel his inner Jim Morrison, singing hits from the Doors, one of his very favorite groups. While visiting Cos at Hartford Hospital, I played a couple of Doors songs for him. He could not speak but the nodding of his head in time to "Light My Fire" told me all I needed to know.

Cos graduated from the NCC "Archaeology as an Avocation" certificate program. Each program graduate gets a "Golden Marshalltown" trowel. A couple of years later, he mentioned that he had worn most of the gold paint off the blade. Some students put theirs on the mantle, but not our Cos! Sister Giovanna has retrieved his trowel, worn down from years in the field and caked with soil from his last dig, to make sure it accompanies Cos to his new digs in Heaven.

Cos continued to volunteer for any number of Archaeology Club activities. He helped with our public outreach programs such as the annual South Norwalk Arts Festival, where the club would engage with thousands of visitors about local archaeology. He gave presentations to the Archaeology Club and wrote articles for Archaeotext, the club newsletter. He also served as club president from 2001-03.

By this time he was now a student at Western Connecticut State University, where he received his bachelor's degree. In 2002 he applied for and received the second Olivia Vlahos Scholarship to support his studies. His senior thesis was, I believe about the Wintergreen Notch site at a narrow pass on New Haven's famous West Rock. A small but very important site that led not only to the discovery of many sites at the summit of West Rock, but to Cos's lesser-known nickname, Cos "The Notch" Sgarlata. You've all seen this site when you enter the Merritt Parkway Tunnel at West Rock - just look up (but only for a second!) at the notch where ancient Native Americans waited to intercept deer traveling through the only possible pass along the 17-mile length of West Rock. For close to 20 years, I have said his nom de guerre each time I passed through.

Soon, Cos began graduate school at the City University of New York, earning his PhD in anthropology in 2009. His dissertation centered on the series of Native American sites that he discovered atop West Rock, a pioneering work in "Uplands Archaeology" that has implications far beyond its place in local archaeology.

He immediately began work at WestConn, working with Laurie Weinstein and the rest of the department. He taught a wide variety of courses, including summer field schools. Some of these were at the Templeton Paleoindian site in Washington, CT., where he worked with Zach Singer. I often worked at the site (what Connecticut archaeologist hasn't?!!) and observed Cos in action with his class. He was a patient, thoughtful and inspiring figure to his students and it was clear to me that they held him in high regard and were thoroughly enjoying time-traveling with Dr. Cos!

Over the last few days, many of Cos's friends have asked me "What was wrong with his heart?" I could not provide an answer and as I thought about it each day, I finally arrived at the answer: there was nothing wrong with his heart!

Cos had the heart of a lion and the humble soul of a saint. While he worked miracles in the field and lab, he was never one to draw attention to himself. He was always there for his family and for his many friends, colleagues, and students. His work as Treasurer and later President of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut, his support of the NCC Archaeology Club and, just last year, his helping me with the preparation of GIS maps of the Allens Meadows Paleoindian site for a presentation at ESAF are just some of his selfless efforts on behalf of those he cared about. I am sure that all of you here today have your own stories, and I hope that you will share them with each other.

Cos was the textbook example of the phrase "There are no limits to what can be accomplished as long as you don't care who gets credit". At some time or another, he has been there for all of us, and his generosity of spirit didn't come from nowhere. His parents, Josephine and Pasquale, along with his older sister Giovanna, obviously were instrumental in making Cos the generous, kind soul that we all came to love.

- Ernie Wiegand