Survey Documents Earliest Evidence Of Human Habitation In Chatham

CHATHAM – A draft update of the town’s 2008 archaeological survey documents the first evidence discovered in town dating from the earliest period of human habitation in the region.

Projectiles and stone tools that date from 12,000 to 10,000 years ago were found on the Chatham Airport property and at the eroding bluff at the Morris Island headquarters of the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge.

“This is a really exciting, really important find,” Holly Herbster of Public Archaeology Lab (PAL) told members of the historical commission Dec. 5. The finds were dated to the PaleoIndian Period based on their shape and style, she said in an email. The airport site has been protected and preserved, she added, while the exact location the point was found on Morris Island is unknown.

For now, she said, “these early tool forms leave us with more questions than answers. They do tell archaeologists that the potential exists for early Native American sites to be present at the shoreline and in Chatham’s interior, and because these sites are relatively rare on the Cape, having two recently identified sites in Chatham is exciting.”

Paid for by community preservation funds, the update was overseen by the historical commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission. No excavation was involved; the consultants collected new information and revised existing data, Herbster said. It helped that PAL works with the town on its sewer project; archeological surveys were done at pump station locations and several sites were identified, she said.

“None of them stopped the project,” Herbster said at the commission meeting. “Some of them required a little bit of revision to planning.

Currently in draft form, the survey update is expected to be completed in January. A redacted version will be released publicly. Specific locations of archaeological sites are considered confidential in Massachusetts, Herbster said. “That is primarily to protect them from individuals who would try to loot them or who would go to look for artifacts at those sites,” she said.

The updated survey identified 12 new archaeological sites, bringing the town’s total to 98. Of those, 79 date from the pre-European contact period, while 19 are post-contact. Another 300 historical structures and buildings from the 17th through 20th centuries were added through the survey, bringing the total to 1,300. The high number of historical structures compared to archaeological sites “reveals a real mismatch between above-ground and below-ground historic resources in the town,” Herbster said.

Archaeological sites are found throughout town, most commonly in the form of shell middens, mounds in which Native Americans discarded food waste, shells and other material. They are often found near marshes, Herbster said. There are also “quite a number” of unmarked Native burial sites found inland and exposed by coastal erosion. There are specific protocols that are triggered when human remains are found under the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Historical Commission and the state archaeologist.

“Most of the town is still considered archaeologically sensitive,” she said.

The previous earliest known archaeological site in town dated from about 8,000 years ago, but the two finds supersede that by 2,000 to 4,000 years. The stone tool fragments found at the airport resulted from an archaeological survey required by the airport master plan update. The stone point discovered on Morris Island was found by a resident and shared with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Herbster said. Twelve thousand years ago, the shoreline of Morris Island would have been dry land extending far to the east. It’s unknown whether the point was deposited in the area through tidal action or erosion of the bluff. The discovery highlights the difficulty in identifying archaeological sites due to the shifting sands of the town’s shoreline and outer beach.

“Certainly there are areas that are submerged today that were dry land hundreds and thousands of years ago” which likely contain archaeological resources, Herbster said.

Another highlight of the updated survey is the importance of the archaeological dig at the Nickerson homestead site off Route 28 in Chathamport.

“It is at this point one of the most thoroughly documented early first-period homesites on the Cape, and even in New England,” she said. There aren’t many sites from that era that have not been significantly altered. “This is an example of a site that really was utilized, with no more activity afterwards. So the archaeological signature is really somewhat intact and pristine.”

The dig, sponsored by the Nickerson Family Association and the Chatham Conservation Foundation, uncovered hundreds of artifacts dating from the late 1600s, as well as identifying the exact location of what is believed to be the circa 1665 homestead of William and Ann Busby Nickerson, the area’s first European settlers. Finds included everyday items such as pottery and pipe stems as well as several rare coins.

Surveys of the town’s historic cemeteries recently updated by the historical commission also revealed areas of potential archaeological sensitivity, Herbster said, including sites of early meetinghouses and possible unmarked burial sites beyond cemetery boundaries.

Herbster recommended considering a local archaeological review mechanism in planning land use activities and educating both the public and contractors on the proper protocols to follow when artifacts or remains are discovered. Chatham is doing an excellent job in educating the public, and the Nickerson Family Association is a “shining example” of the benefits of involving the public in archaeology and bringing awareness to the town’s heritage, she said.

“There is a real benefit to informing the public, because community members are the real eyes and ears of what’s going on in town in areas people go walking, or around where they live,” she said.

Period updates of the survey are also important, she added.

“Chatham is the first community in Massachusetts to do an archaeological reconnaissance survey update,” she said, and the document will serve as a template for ongoing updates in other communities.

Archaeological preservation should also be one of the goals of land conservation.

“There is no better protection for archaeological sites than to leave them alone,” Herbster said. “Conserving and preserving sites for the future is the goal of archaeology today.”

Town planners and regulators will benefit from the information in the “fascinating” document, historic commission chair Frank Messina said. “It’s certainly a tool that we would hope the planning board and zoning board have in their desks,” he said.