The Peopling of the Place We Now Call The Fells

1. The Peopling of the Place We Now Call The Fells

2. What are cultural resources? Cultural resources are archaeological sites, historic buildings, structures and landscapes that contain the remains of past human activity and/or artifacts (including historical records and archives) that can tell us about the people who created them. What is Archaeology? • Archaeology is the study of past human behavior by analyzing the artifacts people left behind. What is an artifact? An artifact is anything made, used, or altered by a human

3. Pre-Contact Archaeological Resources in the Fells A site can be as small as one stone tool or as large as a football field sized shell-midden used for hundreds of years by thousands of people

4. →Only a few known pre-Contact sites have been identified in the Fells, through systematic archaeological excavations. →Thousands of pre-Contact artifacts have been collected in the Fells over the years. →A large percentage of the Fells is highly sensitive for pre-Contact sites.

5. →Archaeological sites are fragile and non-renewable. →DCR is responsible for maintaining a cultural resource inventory (CRI) and protecting these sites on almost half-a-million acres across the Commonwealth.

6. Criteria for Assessing Archaeological Site Sensitivity for Native American Sites: • The presence of known Native American sites within or adjacent to a project area • Proximity to supplies of fresh water • Proximity to seasonal or perennial subsistence resources • Soil characteristics such as drainage, texture, and suitability for cultivation • Topographic features such as slope, aspect, elevation, and barriers to prevailing winds • Proximity to known sources of raw materials

7. In order to understand the long-term human occupation and respective associated subsistence patterns, a regional environmental context must be considered to predict and understand pre-contact sites in the area. Lynn Volcanics Melrose Rhyolite Diorite, granite, and felsilte/MFR Saugus Jasper Northern Boundary Fault/ Rim of Boston Basin Saugus River Mystic Lakes Alewife Brook Mystic River Fresh Pond Charles River Estuary

8. Massachusetts Bay: FLOODING AND STABILIZING

9. Paleoindian Period (ca. 13,000-10,000 years before present

10. PALEOINDIAN PERIOD (ca. 13,000-10,000 B.P.) • Mystic River, Saugus River, Mill River, and Lower Charles River occupied continuously from the PaleoIndian times until European contact • Tundra-like environment, forests dominated by spruce, birch and alder • Hunters and gatherers travelling in small bands from large base camps • Stone tool technology mostly large fluted points for hunting/processing megafauna • Essentially nothing is known about social structure, family life, and religion TUNDRA

11. Archaic Period • Early Archaic Period (10,000-8000 B.P.) • Middle Archaic Period (8000-6000 B.P.) • Late Archaic Period (6000-3000 B.P.) Fishweir ca. 5,300-3,500 B.P.

12. ARCHAIC PERIOD 9,000-3000 B.P. • No consensus as to how people of the Early Archaic Period were related to those of the preceding Paleoindian Period • Sea level gradually rising, anadramous fish create major spawning runs up river, and valuable fisheries and shellfish nearby. • New fishing and hunting technologies adapt to these changes, including fishweirs • Between 8000-6000 B.P. deciduous forest became established providing a diverse array of plant and animal food. • Wooded uplands ideal for temporary camps, hunting game and gathering raw materials for stone tools • First evidence of religious beliefs-evidence of fire, red ocher and grave goods • Late Archaic sees experimentation with cultigens-wild squash, gourds and sunflowers DECIDUOUS FOREST

13. Woodland Period • Early Woodland Period (3000-2000 B.P.) • Middle Woodland Period (2000-1000 B.P.) • Late Woodland Period (1000-400 B.P.)

14. WOODLAND PERIOD 3000-400 B.P. • Shoreline and climate stabilizes and there are more permanent camps along coast or inland watercourses • Specialized subsistence foci, such as shellfish, fish and sea mammals • Widespread use of ceramics • Horticulture begins 1500 years after emergence of ceramic technology. • People are able to settle and work the land. • Bow and arrow technology • Rich burial ceremonialism in EWP. In 19th c, 18 tightly flexed burials uncovered in West Medford

15. Diorama of a Pawtucket village along the Merrimack River 500 years ago. The Robert S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Andover, Massachusetts

16. Submerged Resources

17. CONTACT PERIOD (A.D.1500-1620) • Pawtucket, Nipmuc, Massachusett, Wampanoag, Pequot, Nehantic, Mahican developed independantly of each other based on language distinction, cultural traits and material traditions. All part of a larger group of tribes known as the Eastern Algonquians • Melrose area important social and political center • Sachem Nanepashemet of the Pawtuckets had a palisaded fortress in the hills of Medford until his death by the Tarratines in 1619 • After his death, wife Squaw Sachem ruled groups north of Boston Basin • Documents suggest village near Turkey Swamp in Winchester • Between 1616-1619, population decimated by disease

18. Historic Period Early Exploration, Settlement & Industry • Common Land until 1658 • Timbering: To supply local ship building, brick making, cedar shingle making and shoe peg industries. • Milling: Grist, saw, possibly chocolate, pepper or mustard mills • Shoemaking industry • Metalurgy and Mining: Grundy Brass Foundry and Silver Mine Hill • Quarrying: Medford Granite • Ice cutting: FrederickTudor, Charles C. Jones, Nathaniel Wyeth • Farming: Gould Farm, Chandler Farm • Vacationing: Private summer estates, Langwood Hotel • Recreating: 19th century boxing on Great Island to the Stone Zoo • Health and Well-being: From New England Sanitorium to New England Memorial Hospital • The Water Industry: The reservoirs • The Parks System

19. Future Plans for the identification, recordation, protection, preservation and interpretation of cultural resources in MFR • Additional fieldwork to identify and assess existing conditions • Site specific management recommendations for cultural resources have been included in the DCR Resource Management Plan for Middlesex Fells Reservation. • Training and educational workshop and presentations for and by DCR employees, docents, stakeholders and the public. • Temporary and permanent interpretive signage • DCR has AMAZING interpretive specialists and managers!

20. What to do if you find an archaeological resource… • The Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) maintains the Cultural Resource Inventory (CRI) for the Commonwealth. They are located at 220 Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester, and can be reached at 617-727-8470. The name of the State Archaeologist is Brona Simon. • If an artifact or site is found on State property, call me at 617-626-1377. • Remember, it is illegal to dig on state property.

21. Happy Massachusetts Preservation Month 2014! • Wright’s Tower is open weekends in May 10am-5pm. Park at Bellevue Pond on South Border Road, Medford. • Check out Ryan Hayward and his “Industrial Eden: The Legacy of Haywardville” programming! He’s all over the Fells!

22. THANK YOU FRIENDS! FOR ALL THE GOOD WORK YOU DO!