By STEVEN JUPITER
BRANDON—In popular imagination, archaeologists look like Indiana Jones and work in far-flung corners of the globe, unearthing priceless treasure that may or may not be cursed. The reality is far different. Archaeologists can work anywhere, dressed in T-shirts and jeans, and spend a lot of time carefully sifting through dirt for literal trash. Old trash, but trash nonetheless.
“This is one of my favorite things we’ve found at the Granger House,” said Ellie Moriarty, holding out a broken, bristleless toothbrush made of bone, from the mid-1800s, that was found in the dig she’s leading at an early-1800s house on the Castleton University campus. “I love finding personal items. It’s a connection to the people who lived here.”
Ellie and her husband, Matt, are both faculty at Castleton University. Matt is Director of Archaeology in the Department of Archaeology, Geography, and Applied Anthropology. Ellie is overseeing the excavation of the Granger-Moulton house on campus, where the toothbrush was found.
A 19TH-CENTURY BONE-HANDLED tooth- brush from the Granger House site on Castleton U’s campus. Personal items provide a direct link with those who came before us.
Photo by Steven Jupiter
“It’s a great way to give our students hands-on experience in the field without having to fund overseas travel,” said Matt. The Granger House was slated for renovations that would have altered the grounds around the structure. So, Matt and Ellie organized a dig to teach their students how to recover artifacts in a methodologically rigorous way. They saw an opportunity to provide professional training for their students while helping preserve and understand local history.
“Most archaeologists aren’t in academia,” said Matt. “There’s a lot of work available in cultural resource management.” Cultural resource management (CRM) is essentially exploration of a site before planned development in order to determine whether it holds any cultural or historical significance. Archaeologists carefully excavate the site to locate and identify artifacts that would be lost during development of the land.
Both Matt and Ellie have been surprised by the extensive timeline of human activity in Vermont.
Ellie grew up in Pittsford. “I thought there was nothing cool here,” she laughed.
“I’ve been impressed by the richness of Vermont history,” added Matt, who grew up in Massachusetts.
While Vermont was settled by Europeans later than coastal New England—most permanent European settlement here took place after the Revolution—there’s a very long history of pre-Contact, Native American settlement. In fact, according to the Moriartys, Lake Bomoseen was a prime locus for Native American activity for thousands of years.
“We’ve seen a [spear] point from Crystal Beach [on Bomoseen] that’s at least 12,000 years old,” said Matt. “Most people who go to Crystal Beach today would have no idea.” Both Matt and Ellie are involved in the continuing exploration of a site in West Haven that has yielded a trove of pre-Contact Native American artifacts over the years.
The artifacts recovered at the Granger House will be studied, identified, and scanned by the Innovation Lab that Matt and Ellie run at Castleton. The lab uses cutting-edge scanning technology to create 3-D digital renderings of objects. The renderings can then be fed into a 3-D printer to create an exact replica of the object, albeit in monochromatic plastic. Though the colors may be way off, the surface features are precise. The technology allows researchers to handle exact facsimiles of artifacts that would normally be too fragile.
“This is the cutting edge of archaeology,” said Matt. “We’re doing work here at Castleton that larger programs aren’t. We’ve been able to bring in a significant amount of funding.”
The Moriartys, along with several students, will be bringing that scanning technology to Brandon Town Hall for an “Artifact Roadshow” from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, April 27. Anyone who has unearthed, stumbled upon, or otherwise come into possession of relics and artifacts that they haven’t been able to identify is welcome to bring them for the Moriartys and their team to examine. *No monetary valuations will be given.* The goal is simply to provide as much information as possible about the age, origin, and purpose of the artifacts.
The Moriartys will also scan objects in order to build a database of local relics. Participants will be asked to fill out information sheets specifying where the objects were found, etc. There is no charge for this event, which is being sponsored by the Brandon Museum.
So, if you have what you believe may be Native American relics or colonial-era artifacts, bring them in and let the Castleton U. team have a look. You may be surprised by what you have and will surely be entertained by the whole experience.
