Yarmouthport Archaeological Dig Wrapping Up

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Craig Chartier, lead archaeologist for the project, working in a trench on Tuesday.

YARMOUTHPORT – The fall archaeological dig at the Taylor-Bray Farm in Yarmouthport is coming to a close.

The dig is part of an archaeological project at the farm that began in 2009 when volunteers discovered artifacts below the floorboards of the 18th century farm house.

Volunteers for the project found two paleoindian stone points on the first day of the dig which could be from 8,000 to over 10,000 years old.

In another area of the dig, archaeologists found the first signs of Middle Woodlands period artifacts which are around 2,000 years old and pieces of Native American pottery.

Several Atlantic spear points and knife blades, which could be between 3,000 and 4,000 years old, have also been uncovered with about five or six coming from the same trench.

“The next step is going to be lots of washing, cataloging and then writing up a report,” said Craig Chartier, the lead archaeologist for the project. “And that is when things get really interesting when you are in the lab and looking at all this stuff. You don’t get to see everything when you are out in the field.”

Chariter said they will be looking at the entire site to see how people were using it in different time periods and “try to figure out if there is more evidence of early stuff and try to see if it is worthwhile for us to come back for another season.”

Jack Duggan, the archaeological coordinator for the Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association, finds a flake while sifting through soil on Tuesday.

There will also be several items sent out to be radiocarbon dated including stones, charcoal, hickory nuts and burned bone.

Jack Duggan, the archaeological coordinator for the Taylor-Bray Farm Preservation Association, said this year’s dig had more volunteer help than any in the past.

“It’s great to see the community participation. There’s a lot of people from Yarmouth who have come out and other parts of the Cape,” Duggan said. “And we had people from as far away as Worcester driving down here, not every day but every few days, to come out and participate in the dig.”

There were also volunteers from Westwood, Needham and Plymouth.

Duggan said there might have been about 1,600 hours or more of volunteer labor helping with the excavations.

“It’s a great thing for archaeological education too because I can promise you based on comments the volunteers made people learned a lot too and had fun,” he said.

Duggan also believes that many of the first time volunteers will be back in the future.

“We are always looking for new people,” Duggan said. “We have a really good, solid core of veteran volunteers but you always need new people and we always want to introduce the farm and archaeology in general to other folks.”

The dig also included an educational experience for students from the area. Students from the Dennis-Yarmouth and Nauset Regional School Districts were also involved with the dig.

“All of them get their hands dirty and get an opportunity to learn what archaeology is all about and a little bit about local history either in their town or on the Cape,” Duggan said. “It’s a lot of fun to see the kids who are really into it.”

The dig began in the middle of October and could be finished as early as the end of this week.

Workers on the dig last fall discovered post hole soil features that show the exact location of the original 17th century Taylor farm house.