The First Peoples in New England: Discovering Their Story Through an Archaeological Lens, presented by Dr. Nathaniel Kitchel
7:00Pm - 8:00PM; Q&A following presentation.
Location: The Grafton Inn Homestead Room, 92 Main St, Grafton, VT 05146
$7 in advance, $10 at the door
Join us for an evening with archaeologist, Dr. Nathaniel Kitchel. Nathaniel is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College . Nathaniel is an anthropologically trained archaeologist whose focus is in the study of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene populations of the Americas with particular interest in New England and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. His ongoing research explores the manufacture and transport of stone tools to understand how humans come to settle previously uninhabited landscapes and cope with past climate change. He uses these same methods to investigate the development and maintenance of social networks across large geographic areas with low population densities. You can find out more about Nathaniel and his research here.
Humans first settled what is now New England more than 12,000 years ago, just as the last Ice Age came to an end. During this period, known as the Younger Dryas, the landscape so familiar to those of us who live here would appear alien. The forests that now blanket the hills had not yet returned following the retreat of glacial ice. Those trees that were present were likely stunted and clustered around watercourses such as ponds and streams. Closed canopy forests were only present as far south as what is now Connecticut. In this open environment, herds of migratory caribou traversed the landscape in numbers that far eclipse contemporary populations of white-tailed deer. Although the evidence is minimal, each year we learn more about the lives of these first peoples. We’re continuing to paint a growing picture of what Ice Age life was like here in New England. In this lecture Dr. Nathaniel Kitchel will describe the lives of these first New Englanders as pieced together through archaeological investigations and how we are trying to learn more.
7:00Pm - 8:00PM; Q&A following presentation.
Location: The Grafton Inn Homestead Room, 92 Main St, Grafton, VT 05146
$7 in advance, $10 at the door