Document Type

Research Report

Publication Date

2022

Abstract

As part of a cooperative agreement with the NPS Cape Cod National Seashore, the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted digital elevation modeling, geophysical survey, and excavations at the locations of several known archeological sites on Great Island in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Coastal erosion is a serious threat to many of these sites, which can be deeply buried under aeolian sand. These deeply buried, eroding sites are difficult to identify, let alone assess and characterize. The Fiske Center’s project had multiple goals, including developing methods for efficiently assessing sites in this environment, gathering additional information about known sites, and tracking coastal erosion that is actively destroying shell midden sites on Great Island. Fieldwork took place at Great Island Site 1 and C-10, Great Island Sites 2 and 4, the Great Island Tavern (C-9), and additional, localized colonial period deposits around the tavern in 2018. Aerial photography to track coastline changes due to erosion took place from 2018 to 2020. To address these goals, we employed a wide suite of field and laboratory methods including aerial kite photography and photogrammetry, geophysical survey, traditional excavations and auguring (58 test locations), radiocarbon dating (36 AMS samples), and block sampling for micromorphological study. To put the results in the context of current scholarship, we reviewed intellectual developments in the study of Native sites the Northeast to suggest ways in which both existing and new data can be used to create a nuanced account of the deep and more recent history of the Cape in collaboration with indigenous scholars in order to address the legacies of colonialism that remain powerful forces in the world today. The results from this field project are both methodological and topical. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) was successful in mapping the limits of preserved buried occupation layers and shell middens in this environment. Test excavations and AMS dating at Great Island Site 1 provided more information about two sites: a late 17th/early 18th-century site with limited boundaries, and an Indigenous shell midden deposited over a short period of time in the Middle Woodland period. Using GPR, excavation units, and cores, we refined the boundaries of Great Island Site 2, today buried under between 40 cm and 3 m of sand. At Great Island Site 2, there is a low artifact density, occupation layer preserved over a large area (200 x 75 m) with shell middens at multiple locations across the site. These deposits were formed by repeated, short-term use from the Middle Woodland (as early as Cal AD 662) to the Contact periods, possibly with use intensifying over time, primarily to gather shellfish. The dates in the Middle and Late Woodland periods do not seem to be in tight clusters, indicating that people came here regularly throughout this time period. The site extends to the coastal bluff and is actively being eroded. The Great Island Tavern (ca. 1690-1740) sits with the boundaries of Great Island Site 2. Unlike the broad extent of older Indigenous deposits, historic period deposits are very localized around the tavern and in a single outlying area. The results from Great Island are important to understanding Cape Cod’s Indigenous history because they shift the focus from artifact rich village sites to incorporate large, low-density sites that were nonetheless used repeatedly over a millennium. This result would not have been possible without an intensive program of AMS dating. With the greater temporal resolution, it is possible for archaeologists to rethink previous interpretations of indigenous history as well as the epistemologies that have underpinned close to a century and half of archaeological practice. Only the Samuel Smith Tavern Site is already listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Great Island Site 1 and Great Island Site 2 are eligible under Criterion A and/or D individually. All Great Island and Great Beach Hill sites are also eligible as a part of an archaeological district.

Comments

The full report is not available, at the request of the National Park Service. If you are a researcher who needs access to data from this report, please send your request to the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at fiske.center@umb.edu

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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