On
January 13, 2005 the
East Greenwich Seniors Club met at Mt. Zion Methodist Church. The speaker was
Paul McEachem, an archaeologist from Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc. He spoke
about
the archaeological dig that he and a team performed in 2002 and 2003 on Mantua
Road in Mount Royal, N.J., and his findings of early Native American artifacts,
and also the 1740's foundation of a Haines family house.
Under
the foundations of new homes in the Oak Ridge housing development can be found
relics and artifacts of Native Americans who lived there 3,500 years ago. This
area was an ecampment of these prehistoric people due to the availability of natural
resources in this area. (Oak Ridge is near the Mantua Creek, a tidal wetland,
and also near freshwater well springs).
By sifting soil through screens
the team found many archaelogical artifacts (see photographs below). They found
cooking hearths, storage pits, and refuse pits that contained many specialized
stone tools including arrowheads, hammer stones, anvils and whittling, skinning
and cutting blades crafted in a style typical of civilizations 2,500 to 3,000
years ago. Paul indicated that these ancient inhabitants were "probably distant
ancestors of the Lenape tribe" who occupied this area when the first white
explorers arrived.
McEachem and his team also examined the remains of a
1744 building owned by the Haines family. Following examination, the foundation
was filled with soil to stabilize it, and an easement was created to preserve
it for future excavations.
Learn
more about the East Greenwich Senior's Club
View
the February article about the archaelogy presentation from The 'New Town'
Press written by Dana Wizorek
(scanned
and presented here with permission) - JPG file, 264 kb
All photographs taken by and copyrighted by
Janice Brown
