SCRAP Field School 2001: A Summary of Excavations at 27-HB-1 Merrimack, New Hampshire

Sarah Ward Dunham & Richard A. Boisvert
New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources 2001

The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources is pleased to report another successful season of the State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program (SCRAP) Field School, held between June 23 and August 3 in Merrimack. Twenty-five volunteers earned SCRAP field and lab certification under the direction of Deputy State Archaeologist Dick Boisvert, Field Supervisor Ann Pilkovsky, and Lab/Field Supervisor Sarah Dunham. Four participants earned college credit for their work through Plymouth State College.

Heading to the southern part of the state for the first time in many years, this summer’s excavation focused on 27-HB-1, a Middle Archaic site first identified in the late 1980’s by Wesley Stinson. The site is situated in a growing industrial park on a privately owned 6 acre parcel that was supposed to be developed this year. Plans for the property include leveling the entire hilltop by six to eight feet and the construction of a three-story office building and parking lots. In the course of planning, the owner contacted the State about annexing a piece of adjacent state property for parking lot drainage and was notified of the presence of the site. Though the owner was under no obligation to allow the DHR to excavate, he kindly agreed to allow us to conduct a salvage operation before construction. Fortunately for the site, however, it seems as though construction plans have been abandoned for this year anyway, which may permit additional investigation this fall and next spring.

The majority of our excavation built off of a block excavated by the DHR under Wesly Stinson in 1988. Artifacts recovered mainly consist of an assortment of buff rhyolite, gray rhyolite, chert and quartz debitage. We recovered an assortment of buff rhyolite biface fragments that were broken and abandoned during manufacture, and several Middle to Late Archaic projectile points In Situ. We also sampled the broader area north and east of the block and identified several new hotspots. One of these we recovered in its entirety and another, identified late on the next to last day, we probed and left ready to excavate in the future. Each of the hotspots was a concentration of chipping debris, all composed of a single raw material, and each seems to represent a single episode of tool making. As these are small in size, barely more than two or three square meters, it is quite possible that other similar hotspots escaped detection by our 4-meter interval shovel testing. In any event, a pattern seems to be emerging that reflects a sporadic occupation by small groups. We have noted similarities to the Leveillee Site (27-RK-312) which is located less than 4 miles away in Litchfield across the Merrimack River.

Lab sessions were held two days a week at the DHR lab in Concord. Volunteers washed and cataloged all artifacts collected during field school and entered all the catalog cards into a new computer database. The quick turnaround time allowed us to begin analysis of artifact distributions during field school and print out maps of artifacts collected to assist us in the field. The preliminary findings suggest that we may be able to document a pair of discrete components, one clearly Middle to Late Archaic and another earlier component, most likely Paleoindian. A closer review is scheduled for fall and we hope to have more conclusive results by year’s end.

Unfortunately the field school endured several bouts of vandalism over the course of the summer. While no major damage was done to the site or excavations, the vandals pulled up tarps on several occasions, stole equipment, broke a shaker screen while using it as a ladder to cut down rigging for overhead tarps, scratched into the wall of a completed pit, attempted to screen sterile dirt at the bottom of a completed pit, and repeatedly rendered our Porta-let unusable by tipping it over. The Merrimack police were alerted to the problems and patrolled regularly, but the perpetrators were never apprehended.

All in all, the 2001 State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program Field School is considered a success. The field school was able to salvage a large part of the site that will be impacted by development in the coming year, and added to the understanding of Archaic occupations in southern New Hampshire.

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SCRAP extends thanks to the land owner; Mark Greenly for creating extensive maps of the site and excavations using sophisticated mapping software; Rich Moberg for tackling the DHR’s new computer system and Microsoft Accees to design a catalog card database; Michelle’s employer – xxx - for the use of their total data station, Field and Stream Travel Trailer Park and all of the participants of the 2001 field school.

If you would like more information concerning SCRAP excavations at 27-HB-1, please attend the NHAS Fall Meeting to hear Richard Boisvert speak on the subject.