© 2024 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WECS · WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM · WVOF
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Archaeologists found 500-year-old pottery in Vermont. They're going to keep digging

Close up of a hand holding a fragment of orange pottery - the rim is visible decorated with carvings of three circles and a rim that looks like a castle.
Lexi Krupp
/
Vermont Public
John Crock, an archeologist at the University of Vermont, holds a piece of pottery in the style of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. It was discovered at Sand Bar State Park in 2022. The past two years, lake levels have been too high to further excavate.

When the Civilian Conservation Corps cleared a swampy marshland at the mouth of the Lamoille River in Vermont in the 1930s, they brought in tons of dirt, raising the land by 3 feet or more.

The work was done to create Sand Bar State Park in Milton, but it also unintentionally preserved artifacts from Native people who lived at the site hundreds of years earlier, prior to European contact.

“They capped off the old landscape,” said Niels Rinehart, an archeologist who manages historic properties on state lands. “They essentially sealed it off.”

Beneath that layer of dirt, archeologists found remnants of stone tools from hundreds of miles away — jasper from Pennsylvania, quartzite from northern Quebec, along with pottery in the style of the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, likely made between 1450 and 1500.

“They show the wide breadth of connections that people who lived there, on the east coast of Lake Champlain, had,” Rinehart said.

The objects were discovered in 2022, when the park redid its parking lot and had to dig into the earth to update its stormwater system.

The work isn’t complete — the state is planning another dig to further explore the site as soon as lake levels are low enough. That’s been an issue for the past two years. Right now, the site is underwater.

“We’re just waiting for the lake level to cooperate to be able to do the full work,” said Emily White, who manages a dozen state parks in northwestern Vermont.

A man slides a tray of pottery into shelves covered with post it notes and hanging clipboards.
Lexi Krupp
/
Vermont Public
John Crock leads the Consulting Archeology Program at the University of Vermont, which houses pottery and stone artifacts found throughout the state.
A poster in the University of Vermont lab shows pottery in the style of St. Lawrence Iroquois.
Vermont Public
/
Lexi Krupp
A poster in the University of Vermont lab shows St. Lawrence Iroquoian style pottery.

The site is special because of the level of preservation and its location said John Crock, who leads the Consulting Archaeology Program at the University of Vermont and was part of the excavation team who worked on the project.

“To find large segments of a ceramic pot was just extraordinary,” he said.

It’s also at a place that would have been well-suited for trade — where people might have crossed Lake Champlain and at the mouth of Lamoille River. The area was likely a series of islands or a stable part of the river bank.

A fragment of white stone in a display case labeled as Mistassini Lake, Quebec.
Lexi Krupp
/
Vermont Public
Some of the artifacts found at the site were likely traded, including remnants of stone tools, made from quartzite that comes from Mistassini Lake in northern Quebec.

“The artifacts were probably left right there, right in the location we found them,” Crock said.

He hopes to return next fall, when the lake level is at its lowest, to see what else might be uncovered.

“These sites are nonrenewable,” he said. “The more we can learn from a site like this, the more we can fill in gaps in our understanding of how these 12,500 years of Native history in Vermont unfolded.”

Have questions, comments or tips? Send us a message.

_

Lexi covers science and health stories for Vermont Public.

Stand up for civility

This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Public’s Members — listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information.

We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. As a community-supported public media service, Connecticut Public has relied on donor support for more than 50 years.

Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are building a better—and more civil—Connecticut to live, work, and play.

Related Content