11 months ago
PEMAQUID (NEWS CENTER) -- For the first time in nearly twenty-five years, archaeologists are digging into the past at the Colonial Pemaquid Historic Site.
A team from the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission has been searching a portion of the site since July 27th. Colonial Pemaquid has been heavily researched for years, but a few months ago the state acquired a small parcel of land in the middle of the site that has had only minimal stuffy up to now.
In addition, construction crews are starting to do shoreline stabilization work, and archaeologists wanted to echo part of that area before the heavy equipment came in. Why keep coming back? Ask Bureau of Parks and Lands historian Tom Desjardin:
"Colonial Pemaquid is arguably the most historic piece of property in Maine in terms of the knowledge we can get out of it."
Desjardin says the first Europeans came to Pemaquid in the late 1500's or very early 1600's, and previous research on the site has shown Native Americans lived there for centuries before the Europeans landed. Earlier digs have uncovered roughly 100,000 artifacts, ranging from small pieces of pottery to arrowheads, metal hinges and many other objects.
Besides those small artifacts, there are the excavated foundations of a number of buildings, a few dating back as early as 1630. The state team is hoping the new research will expand their knowledge and understanding of Colonial Pemaquid, and how those first settlers lived.
You can find much more information at the Maine State Parks website, and at the Friends of Colonial Pemaquid.
NEWS CENTER
