Native American Archaeological site 240 in Colchester, Vermont

Click on photos for larger image.

Biface knife in situ.

Emma Coldwell begins excavation.

Photo of site from the Northwest.

Photo of site facing the Southeast from above.

Photo of site facing the southeast.

Site VT-CH-240, a precontact Native American site, was first identified in 1985 as a result of the initial archaeological survey conducted in advance of the CCCH. The site is situated on an elongated, intermediate ridge around the headwaters of an unnamed brook which flows northwest to Malletts Bay. The site is located north of existing Severance Road, in Colchester, between the proposed CCCH and proposed Ramp D, part of the proposed Severance Corners interchange. Based on positive Phase I and Phase II test pits, the size of the site is estimated to be approximately 400 square meters.

The University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Program recently began Phase III data recovery at the site to excavate and document significant archaeological remains prior to highway construction.

The artifact inventory from the site thus far includes chert and quartzite flake debitage, utlilized chert flakes, pottery, fire-cracked rock and burned food bone. Some of the chert material may have originated in outcrops near the site area. Although no artifacts diagnostic of specific periods were recovered, the recovery of pottery indicates that the site dates to between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1600, probably somewhere between 100 B.C. and A.D. 1000. Cultural features, likely cooking hearths, already have been identified and additional features are likely preserved at the site.

Site VT-CH-240 is significant because it has the potential to contribute to our understanding of Native American adaptation and technology during this period of time, as well as to our understanding of their settlement and subsistence systems. The site contains artifacts, food remains, and hearths that can provide inferences about relevant past activities including tool and pottery manufacture and hunting and gathering strategies. The pottery and stone tools from the site will help identify the period that the site was occupied. This information along with the spatial relationships among artifacts and other deposits will help archaeologists reconstruct what people were doing at the site more than 1000 years ago.

Article by:
John Crock, Director, UVM Consulting Archaeology Program

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