Muttock-Pauwating Site: Introduction
The project area is located on approximately 26 acres of land bordering one of Middleboro’s principle rivers. Located within the area of impact are three previously identified Native archaeological sites, none of which had been systematically surveyed by professional archaeologists and their precise boundaries and the nature and range of archaeological resources they contained were not known.
Intensive (Locational) Survey and Site Examination testing conducted in 2004, identified extensive archaeological deposits extending across the entire project area. Data Recovery excavation was recommended for the portions of the project area to be impacted by development. This testing strategy would limit potential impacts to footprint of the house and septic system in each lot with the rest of each house lot will be left intact as open space. Testing consisted of the excavation of 50-cm-square shovel test pits at two-meter intervals on a grid pattern within each impact area to identify artifact concentrations. This was followed by further testing by means of continuous 50-cm -square shovel test pits adjacent to those that yielded >10 pieces of prehistoric cultural material in the initial testing. The plowzone was then stripped with mechanical excavator, the subsoil stripped and any anomalies exposed were mapped and subsequently excavated. Finally, the subsoil was sampled using the same testing pattern used on the plowzone.
Data Recovery excavations at the Muttock-Pauwating site recovered over 56,000 artifacts (N=56,050), over 200 anomalies, and over 1500 post molds, spanning the Early Archaic to Modern era. Early Archaic artifacts, limited to two projectile point fragments, indicated the use of the area as a hunting locale, possibly where people stopped for brief periods to refurbish their tool kit. The Middle Archaic period was better represents, especially in the L2H impact area, where excavation found a short-term Middle Archaic camp below the later Woodland occupation. Middle Archaic occupation appears to have taken the form of a small camp where knappers refurbished lithic tools and carried out a limited number of activities. The Late Archaic was well-represented across the project area, consisting of repeated occupation of the site by small bands of people for limited periods of time. The most extensive Late Archaic evidence was in L4S where a large concentration of lithic debitage was found that relates to the occupation of the area by people using Squibnocket Complex tools. Susquehanna Complex tools were well-represented across the site, including Wayland Notched, Susquehanna Broad, Mansion Inn, and Orient Fishtail points, one drill, and the beveled cobble abrader. The last two items were burned, possibly as a result of being part of a cremation associated with a human burial somewhere on site. The burial may have been subsequently disturbed by late Woodland people, resulting in the mixing of these earlier artifacts with later material and the curation, and Late Woodland alteration, of the beveled cobble abrader. Early Woodland occupation was common in the southern half of the project area where evidence for this period took the form of Rosville and Lagoon points and pieces of Vinette I pottery. It is unknown what form the early Woodland occupation took, but were extensive and possibly associated with refurbishing hunting too kits and possibly longer-term occupation. Middle Woodland occupation took much the same form as that of the Early Woodland, a few points, actually fewer points than in the Early Woodland, and pottery sherds. This occupation is also ill-defined at this time. The Late Woodland occupation was the most extensive at the site with 69 houses, representing for four different house forms, hundreds of anomalies, and extensive evidence of maize and bean horticulture.
The Muttock-Pauwating site represents a very rare type of site in New England, one that shows a range of occupation but which also has extensive evidence of Late Woodland sedentary horticultural activity, essentially a village location or at least a part of a larger village that existed in the general Muttock (Oliver’s Mills) area. The site yielded extensive evidence of house forms and associated anomalies, artifact distributions associated with refuse disposal and day-to-day activities, as well as thousands of artifacts ranging from debitage and reduction waste to projectile points and decorative artifacts.
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