What Liz Did this Summer

This week's?Musings from Main?comes from Education Director Liz Glaviano!

Bea goes to College

This summer’s biggest event by far was sending our oldest, Bea, off to her first year of college at the University of New Haven. She currently is enrolled as a Forensic Science major with a Criminal Justice minor, and we couldn’t be happier for her.  

The downside to her attending college in New Haven is, needless to say, that her Dad, Angelo, and I are well on our way to gaining the "freshman fifteen" ourselves given the frequent family trips with Bea and her sisters, Sabrina and Celeste, to Wooster Street!  

Attending Pow Wows

Some of my finest summer days were spent attending powwows in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, meeting and connecting with members of New England’s vibrant Indigenous community.  Although I’ve been attending powwows for the last 25 years, I’m still amazed at how much there is yet to learn - and appreciate - about our region’s rich and varied Indigenous cultural lifeways.

One gentleman I met this summer was David Fire Arrow, a traditional Pequot artisan who specializes in recreating Pre-Contact tools, such as stone axes. He walked me through the process of sharpening, sans modern tools, axe heads and inserting them into wooden clubs. I truly appreciate the time David spent with me, and hope to have him present on these traditional lifeways during our 2023 season at Nowashe Village.

Archaeology Dig

Lastly, the best time I had this summer by far was the time spent at the Friends of the Office of State Archaeology’s (FOSA) Hollister Site dig. I came to this 17-Century South Glastonbury farm with a cursory knowledge of archaeological field methods and was quickly brought up to speed by the dynamic excavation team there.

I’d like to give special thanks to Scott Brady, State Archaeologist Dr. Sarah Sportman, and FOSA members Ed, Joan and Claudia for their thorough instruction and training.

While there, my most favorite activity was soil screening.  And it was by doing this that I found a piece of wampum that had been buried in the ground for hundreds of years! This screening process cultivated a deeper appreciation for the tireless work archaeologists do every day, the results of which provides us with a window into the past.

Other highlights of this fieldwork were the findings of purple wampum, Indigenous pottery sherds, chert and quartz flakes, pipe fragments, Delft and Redware pottery fragments, animal skulls and bones, fish scales and projectile points. I’m so very much looking forward to next year’s fieldwork!