Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University

Title

Digging in the Field of Dreams: An Archaeological Report on the Middleborough Little League Site

Authors

Curtiss Hoffman, Bridgewater State University

Files

Description

The Middleborough Little League Site, in southeastern Massachusetts, which is situated on three successive terraces overlooking the Nemasket River, and was occupied by Native Americans for over 7,000 years, from ca. 6200 B.C. to ca. 1100 A.D. The purpose of the current volume is to present the evidence for this unique archaeological site in full detail, and to demonstrate several analytical methods that have been used to interpret the site, which may be useful to archaeological investigators elsewhere in the Eastern Woodlands region. In addition to presenting the evidence from this site, putting the site into its regional context, and providing a basis for settlement pattern analysis based on site age, etc. Most of the archaeological work done in the Northeast today is cultural resource management, which seeks to evaluate sites in the path of construction quickly. This has resulted in a body of data which is often incomplete and even misleading about sites. The current book describes a long-term archaeological project, rare for these times, which enabled several analyses which go far beyond the usual parameters of archaeological field survey. This is a cautionary tale for all archaeologists, illustrating how much more can be learned about the lifeways of pre-Contact indigenous people by concentrating on a single site and its contents.

Publication Date

Summer 9-1-2021

Publisher

Bridgewater State University

City

Bridgewater, MA

Edition

1st edition

Recommended Citation

Hoffman, Curtiss. (2021). Digging in the Field of Dreams: An Archaeological Report on the Middleborough Little League Site. Bridgewater State University.