Those of you who subscribe to Gary Fogelman's Indian Artifact Magazine(IAM)will know the Nov. 2013 cover story is about the Sugarloaf Paleo Site in Deerfield, Ma. Here's the cover showing Gary holding the bottom portion of a large fluted point right after its' recovery in Sept., 2013.:
This site was excavated by Dr. Richard "Mike" Gramly, the organizer of the American Society of Amateur Archaeology(ASAA) and volunteers from that society in 1995. Here's the cover of Dr. Gramly's 1995 monograph on the earlier dig:
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of joining forum members Jay Langlais and Jeff Matteson for a trip to Norwell, Ma for the Fall meeting of the New England Chapter of the ASAA. It was an opportunity to shake hands at last with a couple of folks I have corresponded with for some time, and a chance for the 3 of us to meet Mike Gramly, one of the most knowledgable and experienced archaeologists working on Paleo studies in the United States. Several members brought great display frames for all to enjoy, including 2 large frames of Paleo material collected at the Sugarloaf site by a private collector prior to the 1995 dig, and which Dr. Gramly documented in his 1995 study. The 3 of us brought up material to show and hopefully get info on. We were all pleased to learn the stuff we had found that we thought was Paleo, was indeed Paleo, and the Early Archaic material among the earliest forms in New England. We had a blast!
I did not take notes, but a couple of interesting things we learned is that Dr. Gramly believes the fluted point tradition persisted later in New England because the caribou herds hunted by these ancient hunters persisted here later. We also learned that the Sugarloaf Paleo Site is the largest Clovis era habitation site in North Ametica.
Several of the nicer pieces found in the Sept. 2013 dig were not at the meeting, but were being cast, but here are a couple photos of the newer material found. The base that Gary Fogelman is holding on the cover of IAM was found with it's broken tip in place. It was not far beneath the surface and had been broken, not anciently, but by heavy farm equipment driving over it on the farm lane! The article in IAM shows the big fluted point in-situ. Here Dr. Gramly points to the break:
Here are both sides of the largest fluted point found in the New England states. Fogelman ID 'd the material as rhyolite in his IAM article, and it looked like rhyolite to me, but Mike said it was felsite and he was very confident the source would soon be pinned down.
No way could I pass on holding this puppy. It was never finished, but Mike said it's "very close". This is the piece from the cover of IAM above:
The large piece here was deliberately broken into 3 pieces, according to Dr. Gramly:
Jay, Jeff, and your's truly in front of a private collection from Sugarloaf:
We were very glad we attended and we were all in agreement that Mike Gramly is a great guy who shares a collector's enthusiasm and who firmly believes in sharing information with responsible amateurs.
This site was excavated by Dr. Richard "Mike" Gramly, the organizer of the American Society of Amateur Archaeology(ASAA) and volunteers from that society in 1995. Here's the cover of Dr. Gramly's 1995 monograph on the earlier dig:
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of joining forum members Jay Langlais and Jeff Matteson for a trip to Norwell, Ma for the Fall meeting of the New England Chapter of the ASAA. It was an opportunity to shake hands at last with a couple of folks I have corresponded with for some time, and a chance for the 3 of us to meet Mike Gramly, one of the most knowledgable and experienced archaeologists working on Paleo studies in the United States. Several members brought great display frames for all to enjoy, including 2 large frames of Paleo material collected at the Sugarloaf site by a private collector prior to the 1995 dig, and which Dr. Gramly documented in his 1995 study. The 3 of us brought up material to show and hopefully get info on. We were all pleased to learn the stuff we had found that we thought was Paleo, was indeed Paleo, and the Early Archaic material among the earliest forms in New England. We had a blast!
I did not take notes, but a couple of interesting things we learned is that Dr. Gramly believes the fluted point tradition persisted later in New England because the caribou herds hunted by these ancient hunters persisted here later. We also learned that the Sugarloaf Paleo Site is the largest Clovis era habitation site in North Ametica.
Several of the nicer pieces found in the Sept. 2013 dig were not at the meeting, but were being cast, but here are a couple photos of the newer material found. The base that Gary Fogelman is holding on the cover of IAM was found with it's broken tip in place. It was not far beneath the surface and had been broken, not anciently, but by heavy farm equipment driving over it on the farm lane! The article in IAM shows the big fluted point in-situ. Here Dr. Gramly points to the break:
Here are both sides of the largest fluted point found in the New England states. Fogelman ID 'd the material as rhyolite in his IAM article, and it looked like rhyolite to me, but Mike said it was felsite and he was very confident the source would soon be pinned down.
No way could I pass on holding this puppy. It was never finished, but Mike said it's "very close". This is the piece from the cover of IAM above:
The large piece here was deliberately broken into 3 pieces, according to Dr. Gramly:
Jay, Jeff, and your's truly in front of a private collection from Sugarloaf:
We were very glad we attended and we were all in agreement that Mike Gramly is a great guy who shares a collector's enthusiasm and who firmly believes in sharing information with responsible amateurs.
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