Category Archives: Archaeology

Marc Banks and Lucianne Lavin

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Banks, Marc and Lucianne Lavin. Archaeological Site Sensitivity Analysis of the Town of Simsbury. Simsbury, CT: Simsbury Planning Department, 2002.

Banks and Lavin write a summary of an archaeological survey of Simsbury. Included are old maps, copies of deeds from the natives, and descriptions of finds based chronologically. What might be extremely useful are maps of Simsbury that indicate what locations had finds, and which locations might have the most finds if excavated. This source might tell us the most specifically about the Massacoes that lived here for thousands of years.

“An Archaeological Survery of the Simsbury Waste Water System”

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“An Archaeological Survey of the Simsbury Waste Water System”. New Britain: CT: Connecticut Archaeological Survey, Inc., 1977.

Largely, this report is not relevant to the Massacoes, but it does include some background history to Simsbury. The Massacoes, along with the climate, soil, fauna, flora, geology, setting, etc. of Simsbury are explored.

Lucianne Lavin

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Lavin, Lucianne. “The Morgan Site, Rocky Hill, Connecticut: A Late Woodland Farming Community in the Connecticut River Valley”. ASC 51 (1988): 7-22

Dr. Lavin does not provide information on Simsbury or the Massacoes in this essay, but does give insight into finds at a comparable site along the Connecticut River. This work is important because Lavin provides comparisons between inland finds and coastal finds.

Kenneth Feder

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Feder, Ken. “The Glazier Blade Cache: Thirty Remarkable Blades Found in Granby, Connecticut”. ASC 66 (2004): 101-113.

Feder’s essay is fascinating because he writes about a huge prehistoric find in Granby, Connecticut. Feder recounts how with assistance he unearths thirty blades made with high skill that date to around 425 AD and 450 AD.

Marc Banks and Kenneth Feder

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Banks, Marc & Kenneth Feder. “Archaeological Survey of the McLean Game Refuge, Granby and Simsbury, Connecticut”.  ASC 59 (1996): 39-52.

Written in 1996, this Archaeological Survey is very important to understanding the natives who lived in Simsbury and Granby. Banks and Feder provide details of their finds from the McLean Game Refuge, which includes conclusions that the natives used the area as a seasonal, repetitive campsite.

 

Robert J. Miller

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Miller, Robert J. “Forest Lighthouse Archaeology Gives Form to Tale of a Marginal Community.” Hartford Courant (Hartford, CT), August 16, 2003.

Miller writes this article about the Lighthouse settlement in Barkhamsted. The legend of the settlement’s history is questioned, but is then partially backed up by archaeological research by Feder.

Nicholas F. Bellantoni

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Bellantoni, Nicholas F. Nicholas F. Bellantoni to Mark Williams, March 18, 1991. Salmon Brook Historical Society, Granby, CT.

This is a letter written by the state archaeologist at the time, Bellantoni, to Mr. Williams regarding certain archaeological sites in Granby. Mr. Bellantoni writes that there are two main sites, West Point Site and Mechanics Point Site. At both sites, discoveries included stone and flint tools.

Lucianne Lavin

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Lavin, Lucianne. Connecticut’s Indigenous Peoples: What Archaeology, History, and Oral Traditions teach Us About Their Communities and Cultures. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013.

Dr. Lavin provides an important source of ancient Native American history based largely on archaeological finds. Although Simsbury is not specifically mentioned, Lavin discusses in length about finds in Farmington, Windsor, South Windsor and other surrounding towns that give clues to what life must have been like for the indigenous peoples over the course of thousands of years up until contact. Specific finds, such as food and tools, suggest what the natives in the Farmington Valley ate, and how the acquisition of complex tools through development and trade led to an evolving lifestyle.