Douglas S. Byers

Bull Brook — A Fluted Point Site in Ipswich, Massachusetts

The Bull Brook Site, near Ipswich, Mass., was discovered in the spring of 1951 by William C. Eldridge, of East Lynn, and Joseph Vaccaro, of Beverly, Massachusetts. Both are members of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society. A brief notice of the site appeared over their names (Eldridge and Vaccaro, 1952). The site was worked by them, with the assistance of Nicola, Frank, and Tony Vaccaro, Alfred Thibodeau, Tony Orsini, E. E. Tizzer, Howard A. Jones, and Douglas Jordan. The last named is preparing a more extensive account of the site and analysis of the collections obtained from it. The site lay on the south side of Bull Brook, and was situated on a kame terrace jutting into a salt marsh (Fig. 90, c). Its surface was approximately 40 feet above sea level. This deposit has been worked for sand and gravel, and the site is to all intents and purposes destroyed.

The Rape of Wayland

The removal of loam from the grounds of the Old Mansion Inn, Wayland, Massachusetts, exposed blackened areas which were investigated by local collectors. The site was obviously a rich and unusual burial area, probably including cremations, with good possibilities for radiocarbon dating of the entire tool assemblage. Unfortunately, the site was destroyed within a very short time by children, their parents, and friends, assisted by some local collectors. Many members of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society were shocked that the collectors who participated in the looting of the site rather than protecting it for serious study were members of the Society. This incident points up the need for state and local societies to discover some way of disciplining members who do not conform to accepted standards of archaeological work. ONE OF THE MOST TRAGIC events in the history of northeastern archaeology occurred in June, 1959. -Real estate developers removed loam from the grounds of the Old Mansion Inn in Wayland, Massachusetts and in doing so exposed blackened areas rich in charcoal. Two collectors who live in the neighborhood took note of the black areas and commenced to investigate. Within a short time it became apparent that they had uncovered something out of the ordinary, yet they continued on their own without requesting institutional assistance. They found a number of caches of large but extremely thin corner-removed blades; 174 of them were in one cache. Much charcoal blackened the soil; the collectors spoke of several fragments of burned bone. Some of the bone may have been human bone, some may have been animal bone. I saw at least one deciduous human incisor. Objects recovered, in addition to the large thin blades, include fragments of pestles, grooved axes, and what may have been gouges and adzes. One man picked up a copper adz or gouge; it bore the impressions of what may have been cording or a textile fabric. Fragments account for at least one large, shallow, soapstone bowl. A lug handle was at each end of this vessel. Other sherds suggest the possibility that additional soapstone vessels were in the loot taken from the site. Children learned of the discovery, and the news spread like wildfire. The press, radio, and even television carried accounts of the discovery. Publicity brought other collectors from Maine, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Local children, their parents, and friends, with assistance from some local collectors destroyed the site before outsiders arrived. It is difficult to say for certain just what was involved. Quite possibly a number of pits contained cremated burials; just how many will never be known. Nor will there be any evidence regarding the relationship of graves to one another or to larger pits. At the bottom of the rooted-over area were remains of two graves; one had been dug down through the other. Red ocher is said to have been found in the graves. Heavily pigmented areas which probably resulted from natural weathering of the soil were later found in areas outside the graves. The R. S. Peabody Foundation was called by one of the founders of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, shocked at the turn of events. The Foundation, with the consent of the owner, endeavored to protect the site until adequate steps could be taken to ensure salvage of remaining scraps of evidence. In this it was