It might surprise you to learn that by merely digging down a depth of one foot, you are reaching thousands of years into the past. This was just one of several interesting facts unearthed on October 5 when Craig Chartier gave an archaeological presentation at the Mattapoisett Public Library.
Chartier, a New Bedford native, has been digging in the dirt for over 20 years. As director and principal archaeologist for the Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project, he has participated in archaeological digs throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, including an ongoing research project at the Taylor Bray Farm located in Yarmouthport. The property is 22 acres with lineage to the Taylor family dating back to the 17th century.
During Chartier’s 30-minute presentation, he explained that in 1987 the Town of Yarmouthport learned that the Taylor Bray Farm property was up for sale with the threat of possible sub-division. The town went into action to secure the acreage through Community Preservation Act funding and preserve the delicate and important site into perpetuity. After more than two decades of archaeological exploration, pre-historic as well as historic evidence of human activity has been found with new archaeological material being discovered during each digging season.
“You only have to go down about one foot to get to glacial soils,” Chartier said. According to Chartier, the shallow depth where precious artifacts may be found in New England makes them easy targets for destruction. But at the Cape Cod site, Chartier and fellow archaeologists along with local volunteers have unearthed 30,000 artifacts. Of those items, he said that 3,000 fell into the pre-historic category.
Using modern mapping tools such as Google Earth, Chartier’s team has found Native American activity pre-dating the farm in the form of storage pits, animal bones, and spearheads. One of the more interesting takeaways of the evening was learning that arrows are a relatively new invention.
“Arrow technology moved here from the south about a thousand years ago,” Chartier stated. He said that prior to the introduction of arrows, early humans used spears to hunt larger animals.
Before concluding his presentation and turning the floor over to the audience, Chartier invited anyone interested in becoming a volunteer archaeologist at the Taylor Bray Farm to do so. He said that because the farm site is protected, researchers have been able to “take their time,” ensuring that artifacts and early human activity can be thoroughly examined.
Audience members were then invited to share their “finds” with Chartier for identification. Several people brought in rocks that seemed to be something more than just interesting shapes. Chartier gently disabused them of that thought.
“Sometimes a rock is just a rock,” he chuckled along with the crowd. “A common phrase you’ll hear at Taylor Bray,” he said was, “That’s just a rock…”
Brad Hathaway of Aucoot Cove and his wife, Priscilla, brought an interesting rock which turned out to be “just a rock,” but they also brought arrows and spearheads Priscilla has found over years of walking the tideline along the Cove. “She found a stone bowl … that’s at the museum,” Hathaway said.
Carole Clifford of Mattapoisett brought along a glass bottle. Chartier detailed how to identify a 20th century bottle from earlier centuries. Clifford’s find was dated to about 1870.
But the winner of the evening in terms of antiquity was Susan Wainio’s spearhead. Chartier said it was a good example of a Susquehanna broad point projectile. The large spearhead was 3,000 years old and made of rhyolite, a volcanic rock most likely from the Blue Hills. Wainio’s artifact was part of her Grandmother Helen Doane’s possessions. Doane was a lifelong resident of Rochester. Wainio speculates that the spearhead was found on the Doane homestead by their grandmother.
To learn more about volunteer opportunities at the Taylor Bray Farm, visit www.taylorbrayfarm.org. To learn more about local archaeological explorations, contact Chartier at craig@plymoutharch.com.
By Marilou Newell