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Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 56, No. 2 Massachusetts Archaeological Society

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Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 56, No. 2 Massachusetts Archaeological Society Bridgewater State University Virtual Commons - Bridgewater State University Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Journals and Campus Publications Society Fall 1995 Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol. 56, No. 2 Massachusetts Archaeological Society Follow this and additional works at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/bmas Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Copyright © 1995 Massachusetts Archaeological Society This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY VOLUME 56 (2) FALL 1995 CLAMSHELL BLUFF, CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS: The Concord Shell Heap and Field at Clamshell Bluff: Introduction and History. Shirley Blancke 29 Clamshell Bluff: Artifact Analyses Shirley Blancke 35 Freshwater Bivalves of the Concord Shell Heap . Elinor F. Downs 55 Bone from Concord Shell Heap, Concord, Massachusetts Tonya Baroody Largy 64 Archaeological Turtle Bone Remains from Concord Shell Heap Anders G. J. Rhodin 71 Clamshell Bluff: Summary Notes Shirley Blancke and Elinor F. Downs 83 BriefNote to Contributors 34 Contributors 84 THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Inc. P.O.Box 700, Middleborough, Massachusetts 02346 MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY Officers: Curtiss Hoffman, 58 Hilldale Rd., Ashland MA 01721 .. .. President Betsy McGrath, 9 Oak St., Middleboro MA 02346. ... V.ice President Thomas Doyle, P.O. Box 1708, North Eastham MA 02651 .... Clerk Irma Blinderman, 31 Buckley Rd., Worcester MA 01602 . ........... Treasurer Ruth Warfield, 13 Lee St., Worcester MA 01602 ... Museum Coordinator, Past President Elizabeth A. Little, 37 Conant Rd., Lincoln MA 01773 .... Bulletin Editor Lesley H. Sage, 33 West Rd., 2B, Orleans MA 02653 ..... Corresponding Secretary Trustees (Term expires 1997[*]; 1996 [+]): Kathleen S. Anderson, 22 Winter St., Middleboro MA 02346+ Jeffrey Bendremer, 41 B Storrs Height Road, Storrs, CT 06268* Bochan, Vicki Rounke, 437 King St., Littleton, MA 01460* Marilyn Crary, P.O. Box 427, Eastham MA 02642+ R. David Drucker, 15 Conant St., Salem MA 01970* Donald Gammons, 7 Virginia Drive., Lakeville MA* Janet Griffith, 146 Wareham St., Middleboro MA 02346+ Lillian Harding, 143 Fisher St., Westborough MA 01581 + Thomas J. Johnson, 50 Dinsmore Ave., Apt. 301, Framingham MA 01701 + Jane C. Lopes, 61 Everett St., Middleboro MA 02346+ Thomas Lux, 38 Somerset Ave., Riverside RI 02915+ Jane McGahan, 239 Briar Way, Greenfield MA 01301 * Alan F. Smith, 156 Ararat St., Worcester MA 01606+ Eugene Winter, 54 Trull Lane, Lowell MA 01852+ Barbara Luedtke, Anthropology Dept., UMass, Boston MA 02125. ... MHC Representative Mabell Bates, 42 Leonard St., Bridgewater MA 02324 ........... .. Librarian The BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY is published semiannually, with each volume beginning in the spring. Institutional sub­ scriptions are $25; individual memberships in the Society are $18 and include a sub­ scription to the Bulletin. Information on special rates for family members, seniors, students, etc., and requests for back issues of the Bulletin should be addressed to the Museum Office Director, Thomas Lux, Massachusetts Archaeological Society, P. O. Box 700, Middleborough, MA 02346 (508-947-9005). Manuscripts and communications for the Bulletin may be sent to Elizabeth A. Little, 37 Conant Road, Lincoln, MA 01773 (phone: 617-259-9397; fax: 617-259-0709; e-mail: [email protected]). This journal and its contents may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, re-distribution, re-selling,loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. ©2011 Massachusetts Archaeological Society. BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VOLUME 56(2), 1995 29 CLAMSHELL BLUFF, CONCORD, MASSACHUSETIS Editor's note: In a departure from the usual format, the papers in this issue ofthe Bulletin, by Shirley Blancke, Elinor Downs, Tonya Baroody Largy, and Anders Rhodin, with contributions by Russell Barber, all focus on one ofthe most important prehistoric sites in Massachusetts - Clamshell Bluff, in Concord. THE CONCORD SHELL HEAP AND FIELD AT CLAMSHELL BLUFF: INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY Shirley Blancke INTRODUCTION type of material collected and the extent to which it was catalogued. Further, a founding An unusually large inland shell midden, member of the Massachusetts Archaeological situated on the edge of a high bank, Clamshell Society, Benjamin L. Smith, had conducted a Bluff, along the Sudbury River, has been well­ limited excavation of the midden and published known for one hundred and sixty years. De­ a report (Smith 1940). scribed by Henry David Thoreau among others, In 1983, after turtle bone had been it was frequented throughout the 19th and early identified in the Smith collection (Johnson & 20th centuries by distinguished scholars, who Mahlstedt 1984), a group of archaeologists and often referred to it as the Concord Shell Heap. faunal specialists met to consider the feasibility A midden of freshwater mussels (sometimes of reconstructing the site's past, by applying called clams), it lay at the western end of a modern techniques and insights to the old field which extended the length of the bluff -­ collected data. The reports presented in this Shell Heap Field. issue of the Bulletin examine the available arti­ About 1940 a major highway was factual and faunal evidence as a basis for site constructed across the Shell Heap field, and in interpretations. The reports demonstrate the the 1960s the Shell Heap midden was paved possibilities and limitations of retrieving infor­ over as a hospital parking lot. By the mid­ mation from old resources that have been 1980s, no remaining site profile or identifiable curated but not analyzed, and they provide fresh archaeological shell remains could be found. perspectives and a reassuring consensus about Over the years, artifacts were collected the long past history of Clamshell Bluff. from both the midden and the field. The histo­ ry of collecting at the site was of more than usual interest, not only because of the personal­ History of the Site Collections ities involved, but also because of the quality of some of the collections, both in the quantity and Large quantities of clam-shells (mus­ sels) left by Indians at Clamshell Bluff were Copyright 1995 Shirley Blancke first mentioned by Concord historian Lemuel Shattuck in 1835 (Shattuck 1835:3). Henry started in Concord by Thoreau who only occa­ David Thoreau's description of the midden's sionally recorded a provenience for his arti­ profile in his journal for 1860 still provides data facts. By contrast some who followed him unavailable from any other source (Thoreau catalogued their extensive material carefully. 1860: Aug. 22). During the 19th and early Four of these collections are now in the Con­ 20th centuries, many who visited Clamshell cord Museum and contain material from midden Bluff made collections or recorded their impres­ and field at Clamshell Bluff. Two were made sions of the midden. by Adams Tolman and Alfred Hosmer in the A distinguished early visitor was Jef­ last decade of the 19th century and first of the fries Wyman who in 1867 started the Peabody 20th century (Blancke 1978). The Foss-Barrett­ Museum at Harvard University with his collec­ Brown collection was made by three Concord tion from the Concord Shell Heap. In the same families in about the same period. year a description of the site was given to the The fourth collection at the Concord Boston Society of Natural History by Horace Museum containing Clamshell Bluff material Mann of Cambridge (Boston Society of Natural was made by Benjamin L. Smith in the 1920s History 1867:243). But Wyman's publications to 1940s (Johnson and Mahlstedt 1984:60). the next year were on coastal middens with no Smith loaned a small part of his collection, reference to Concord (Wyman 1868a; 1868b). including material from the Shell Heap, to the The Peabody Museum later acquired two more Thoreau Lyceum where it remained until that Concord Shell Heap collections from J. H. institution closed last year (Thoreau Lyceum Sears and George Frazar (Peabody Museum 1966:2). Smith, of the Massachusetts Archaeo­ 1876:17; 1884:424). All of these collections logical Society, carried out an excavation of the were catalogued with a Concord Shell Heap midden under the auspices of Warren K. provenience for individual artifacts and faunal Moorehead, who also dug there (Smith 1940; material. Moorehead 1931). An earlier archaeologist Collecting as a serious hobby had been who dug and described the midden's profile BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VOLUME 56(2), 1995 31 was Oric Bates (Bates 1912). compare them with the field material and for Two collecting contemporaries of the purposes of making a more detailed descrip­ Benjamin Smith with material from Clamshell tion. The provenience analysis established Bluff who curate their own collections are criteria drawn from eyewitness accounts of the Joseph Bartolomeo and Charles Dee (Blancke midden and its contents to rank the collections 1981). Dale Farrell was given an artifact from into four categories, which are described at the the midden by Smith. beginning of the artifact analysis. Provenience Analysis of the Collections Site Structure: The Midden and the Field Material from 11 collections was used Clamshell Bluff is a 28 ft (8.5
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