Events

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The Sand Hill Site in Wayland

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States

Duncan Ritchie, Senior Archaeologist at The Public Archaeology Laboratory will talk about Sand Hill, a large multicomponent Middle Archaic to Late Woodland Period site on the Sudbury River in Wayland, MA. The large assemblage of chipped, ground and rough stone tools, ceramic sherds and radiocarbon dated features document pre-contact Native American activities over a 7,000-year […]

Free

Reading Between the Lines: Contextualizing New England’s Indigenous Rock Art

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States

New England’s rock art, imagery carved or painted on stone, provides a tantalizing, if often opaque, window into the region’s deep indigenous history. Drawing primarily from examples in Maine, Peter Anick, vice president of ARARA (American Rock Art Research Association), reviews various attempts to date, contextualize, and interpret figures using geology, ethnography, and comparisons with […]

Free

Acton: 4000 to 7000 Years Ago

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States

Extending a popular talk archaeologist Kimberley Connors gave last year, 4000 to 7000 Years Ago focuses specifically on Acton’s archaeological sites from the Middle Archaic period (4000-7000 years before present). The most well-known of these is the Pine Hawk site in South Acton, but there are several other sites along the Assabet River and its […]

Free

Spring Archaeology Walk

Acton, MA Acton, MA, United States

Local archaeologist Kimberley Connors will lead a two-mile hike focusing on Native American features along the Trail Though Time in North Acton. Registrants will receive an email with details a few days before the walk. Limited to first 20 people to sign up, ages 15 and up. (Rain Date, Sunday, May 19, noon-2PM). Registration is […]

Free

Archaeological Discoveries in New England

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States +1 more

Peabody award winning Smithsonian filmmaker Ted Timreck will share documentary footage from two little known discoveries that show the potential of what might be found anywhere in the New England countryside. After the viewing Ted will explain how the controversial "diffusion" discoveries of the 1970's made by amateurs in local communities evolved into the discovery […]

Free

Ancient Winters at the Flagg Swamp Rockshelter

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States +1 more

Eric Johnson, Lecturer in the University of Massachusetts – Amherst Anthropology Department will provide a retrospective on the 1980 laboratory analysis and results from the excavation of this remarkable site in Marlborough, Massachusetts. He will discuss the identification of animals now or recently extinct in Massachusetts, how the site was used as a winter home […]

Free

Adult Archaeology Walk

Acton, MA Acton, MA, United States

Bettina Abe, a long-time Acton trail volunteer and retired member of Acton’s Conservation Division, will lead a brisk hike along the Nashoba Brook Trail, with stops at the stone chamber and Native American ceremonial sites. Trail conditions can be rocky, uneven, and often wet, and thus participation is limited. Registrants will receive a detailed email […]

Free

Burying the Trowel: A History of Controversy and Innovation in New England’s Cultural Stone Features Debate

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States +1 more

Unusual stone features dot the woodlands and hillsides of New England, and their provenance has been subject to many theories and debate. Kitty O’Riordan is a cultural anthropologist who has been studying the people, methods, and literature surrounding the cultural stone features debate in New England for nearly a decade. She earned her Ph.D. from […]

Free

Changes in the Land Book Discussion

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States

Join a group discussion of this landmark environmental history by William Cronon, which offers an original and profound explanation of the effects European colonists’ sense of property and their pursuit of capitalism had upon the ecosystems of New England. Updated with John Demos, this ethno-ecological history provides a brilliant inter-disciplinary interpretation of how land and […]

Free

Trail Through Time Community Service Day

Assist with trail and site maintenance on the Nashoba Brook Conservation Land’s Trail Through Time, a multicultural heritage trail in North Acton. The focus of this annual effort will be trail and site maintenance as well as cleaning trail kiosks. Local Scout troops are also invited to join. There will be an optional brunch beforehand […]

Free

Acton Arboretum Walk

Acton Arboretum 2 Taylor Road, Acton, United States

Join Friends of the Nashobah Praying Indians members Kevin Gallant and Bettina Abe for a walk through the Acton Arboretum to observe what may be Native American Ceremonial Stone Landscapes (CSLs). According to United Southern and Eastern Tribes (USET) Resolution 2003-022, Acton and nearby towns are designated as having sacred landscapes. Many cultural structures have […]

Free

A Day in the Life of a Local Archaeologist

Acton Memorial Library 486 Main Street, Acton, MA, United States +1 more

Archaeologist David Gutbrod will share experiences and discoveries encountered in his professional life. David is a member of a local archaeological firm and serves as Chair of Westford’s Historical Commission. He also did the research for the very first application of Acton’s new Archaeological Protection bylaw, providing an extensive report on a significant site in […]

Free