Under the guidance of Dr. Kevin McBride, Martin Hrynick will conduct excavations at the Devil's Head site located in Calais, Maine. The research has significance for two basic reasons. The first is that it provides insight into a poorly known aspect of US prehistory. Secondly the work has important methodological implications. While a central archaeological goal is to reconstruct as many aspects as possible of past human existence, one is constrained by the very limited nature of the archaeological record which consists largely of discarded waste materials and the spatial relationships among them. Through an analysis of the Devil's Head site and comparison with an already excavated counterpart Mr. Hrynick will explore ways to increase the amount of information which can be extracted.
Devil's Head is an eroding shell-bearing site located on the St. Croix Estuary of the Western Quoddy Region. The site includes components dating to the Middle (2200-1350 BP) and Late (1350-550 BP) Maritime Woodland periods. The transition from the Middle to Late Maritime Woodland period is not well understood, but may be marked by ethnic divergence and increasing hunter-gatherer sedentism. To date, studies of this transition have focused on economics and site structure. To approach this transition, Mr. Hrynick will excavate and analyze dwelling features at the Devil's Head site to form a comparative to a temporally and environmentally similar dataset from Port Joli Harbour, Nova Scotia. No such high-resolution view of dwelling features from two parts of the Maritime Peninsula presently exists. Both sites are within the Wabanaki homeland, which was, during the Middle and Late Woodland period, home to closely related groups of Algonquian hunter-gatherers. This offers a singular opportunity to consider ethnic divergence alongside changing mobility practices.
Broader impacts of this program will be developed via collaboration with local stakeholders, including the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the City of Calais. The project will include educational programs for youth and a public archaeology program to build capacity for future public archaeological projects in the region. The eroding nature of the Devil's Head site offers a relatable record of rising sea-level related to climate change, offering particular value for educational initiatives. Research from this project will be disseminated in both public and professional publications and conferences, including a series of public lectures in the Western Quoddy Region.
