Last
week at the Windham Public Library, the Windham Historical Society and State
Head Archaeologist Leith Smith, invited the public for a presentation surrounding
the archeological dig at Province Fort, a historic site on River Road, which is
scheduled to continue this summer.
Entitled
“Digging up Windham: Forts from 1700 - Part One”, the purpose of the
presentation and the information sharing session, was to enlighten anyone
interested in the study of archaeology and the unearthed history of the region;
including what has been recovered thus far. When asked by Windham Historical
Society Linda Griffin to do a talk on the subject there was no hesitation by Smith.
Using
slides in his presentation, the process of establishing, performing and
completing a dig was revealed. “The purpose today is to talk about the process
we go through at the Maine Preservation Commission when we have to go and investigate
archaeological sites,” Smith said.
Smith
began the presentation by discussing the Fort Richmond, Maine archeological dig
- a site that had been excavated and worked on for about two years; so those in
attendance could get a better understanding of the Province Fort dig.
“Anytime
there is a road building project, new bridges or other types of ground
disturbing construction we receive notices that these are going to occur; we
review them and make determinations of whether or not there is potential for
historic resources to be damaged,” Smith stated.
In
the case of Fort Richmond, it was the bridge over the Kennebec River just north
of Swan Island that sparked interest. Specifically it was the re-routing of an
access road to the proposed new bridge that raised questions.
“To
determine what kind of area is going to be impacted by the construction having,
at the time, no idea where the bridge was going to go. That gave us a great
deal of area to investigate on both sides of the river,” continued Smith.
Potential
for Native American sites on the Richmond side were confirmed by standard
archaeological phase one testing strategy. This involved shoveling test pits
one meter by one meter and about 15 feet apart, after which the removed soil
was then screened to spot artifacts for evidence of foundations, posts and such
that would indicate historical and Native American occupation.
“With
the discovery of stone walls and numerous artifacts, a required application for
a phase two dig was then filed for the purpose of determining the site’s
eligibility for listing on the National Register based on having good
integrity,” Smith continued. “In other words, could we learn a lot about Fort
Richmond based on its level of preservation?”
Old
maps and other documentary resources are also utilized. “The primary resource
however was Reverend Henry Thayer who, in 1893, published an article, after
extensive research on Fort Richmond and its early history. Most of the
information we had came from his research,” said Smith
On
display were interesting historic fragments of time. Of particular interest was
the fragmented section of a small caliber cannon, with the shot still lodged
within it. This was found by the National Geographic TV series “Diggers” crew; who
had asked if they could be a part of the dig for a few days. Although not
typically in the practice of using a metal detector by archaeologists, the show
was granted access and proved interesting.”
To
this, Smith pointed out that, “The media would have you believe that
archaeologist spend the majority of their time looking at the unearthed
goodies. In reality, we spend about 95 percent of our time looking at
structures and soil samples because that’s what really tells us about the site
and aids in the interpretation of what’s going on. And that is what is going to
be going on this summer when, for the third straight year, Smith and a team of
volunteers will begin again accessing an extension of last year’s dig at the
Parson Smith House site off River Road.
In
the meantime, on March 18 at 10 a.m. at the Little Meeting House, 719 Roosevelt
Trail, Smith will be presenting: “Part Two of Digging up Maine”, when he
presents an overview of the Province Fort site and reveals for display, the variety
of artifacts and knowledge that has been gained form that dig.
FMI
visit: windhamhistorical.org/
Or
call: 650-7484
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