Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center

By Alesha Christensen
Ms. Christensen is a college student and a member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation.

Archaeology is like digging in a giant sandbox looking for buried treasure. Like any other treasure, it belonged to somebody else and can sometimes be difficult to find. Each bit of the treasure allows us to learn more about the person or people who last possessed it. With each piece that is found, the puzzle becomes closer to being solved.

I am Alesha Christensen, currently a student at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah. I am also a proud member of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. I live at home on the reservation during the summers and this year wanted to take Anthropology 297 from Dr. Kevin McBride because I love learning about the history of my tribe. I plan on majoring in Anthropology. I am one of more than a dozen college students taking part in the eight-week-long University of Connecticut Field School in Archaeology, which has been held at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation for the past 20 years.

The area we are now excavating is slated to be part of a tribal project to build more houses on the reservation. The Tribe needs to know first what previous sites they are building over and whether they should be preserved. The site number for this excavation is 72-226 and is located off Kate Swamp Road, an old highway on the reservation. The approximate date that the site was used is between 1820 and 1855. All that could be seen of the previous habitation was a large rock pile that is now known to be the remains of a chimney or a hearth. The questions that were asked before beginning the excavation were: Who lived here? How long was it occupied? What were the people doing there? What did the structure look like? And what kind of food did they eat?

The first thing we did at this site was to dig several test pits. These help to determine the boundary of the site. For example, finding several artifacts in one particular area indicates that that area should be included in the site, while not finding any artifacts, or very few, determines where the site ends. Digging test pits can be very frustrating. One day my partner and I dug six, four of which were completely sterile of cultural material. Professor McBride explained to us that finding nothing is just as important as finding something.

After we had dug enough test pits to determine the boundary, we began digging one meter by one meter square units. We divided the units into four quads: the Southwest, the Southeast, the Northeast, and the Northwest. We excavated each quad one at a time, usually taking the unit down 10cm at a time and sifting the dirt with screens to find any artifacts. While digging, we also paid close attention to any changes in the soil or rock patterns known as features, darker patches of soil and rock piles that could be structural remains.

We found several artifacts including nails, window glass, bottle glass, various pieces of ceramic, pieces of clay pipe and lots of pieces of charcoal. Some of the most interesting things that were found were a fork, and what looks like a button. The artifacts are useful in determining that this site was a domestic site and in determining the date it was occupied. From excavating we determined that the house may have burned down because of the large amounts of charcoal that we found. Also, the hearth is larger than any other that has been excavated on the reservation so far.

During our time in field school, my partner and I were assigned to dig in the rock pile. This was a difficult assignment. There were too many rocks for us to dig with a shovel, so we had to trowel shave it. The soil had to be removed from around, between, under and over the rocks. We were allowed to remove many of the smaller ones, but the larger ones had to stay because they could be part of a firebox, which was what we were looking for. After bringing the unit down 10cm at a time, we drew all the rocks that appeared in the unit at that depth. Our unit was then checked over by Professor McBride, who removed any of the rocks that were not part of the original structure.

Not too far into the rock pile, we hit ashy soil taking up the majority of our units. We were instructed to save this soil by bagging it, so that it can be examined in the lab. We filled several large bags with the ashy soil. On the next rainy day, we took the bags into the lab and “floated” the soil. This process allows us to separate from the soil carbonized seed remains, material that is sometimes too small to find while sifting with our quarter-inch mesh screens. Since the soil was ash and in the possible firebox, we hoped to find the remains of the food that was eaten at the site. We should have the results of this process by the time Field School ends. We are now studying underwater archaeology, but we will still be spending a few days out in the field working on this site.

I love the experience I have had working to help bring back some of my peoples’s history. I feel it is an important part of my tribe. After finishing school, I hope to one day return to the reservation to help out researching the tribe. Our tribe has a great story to tell about survival and holding on to our culture. We need to keep it close to us and share it with others.