The Connecticut Historical Commission, in coordination with the Office of
State Archaeology, is conducting a Survey of Native American Burials
and Cemeteries. The initial phase of the research will be limited to
East of the Connecticut River. The Connecticut Historical Commission and
Office of State Archaeology hope this research will produce
important information for guiding future state and local efforts to protect
and preserve these sacred sites. Archaeological Consulting Services
(Gregory Walwer) is the professional consultant who will undertake this
critical project.
The research design includes seeking relevant information from archaeologists, members of the Native American community, local historical societies, and municipal historians. Indeed, the Historical Commission and the Office of State Archaeology believe it is of particular importance that knowledgeable and concerned citizens at the local community level actively participate in the identification and conservation of Native American burials and cemeteries.
The purpose of the project is to provide preservation and management guidelines to state and municipal agencies to help them protect sensitive areas. The final report will include environmental characteristics and landscape settings that are most likely to contain culturally sensitive sites. This information will allow state and municipal planners and local developers to coordinate their projects in a manner that minimizes the risk of impacting culturally sensitive areas or, where necessary, indicate the need for testing in order to assess the possibility of Native American cultural heritage being endangered by proposed construction activities.
A secondary purpose of the project is to document the nature and distribution of Native American burials in the study area in relation to cultural adaptation through time. As past cultural developments have been shown to be associated with ecological conditions, it will be important to assess what environmental and topographical settings were important for burials as well as general site distributions. This research will assist in the development of models to guide us in determining possible locations of unrecorded Native American cemeteries and provide for preservation of sensitive areas. It is an uncontested fact that the arrival of European settlers to North America had a major impact on the population densities and cultural continuity of Native American groups in the area, a process which may be better described by the results of this project. Finally, the survival of indigenous Connecticut tribes, despite the great adversities they endured, provides the opportunity to establish continuity between the cultural systems of the past with those of today.
Gregory F. Walwer
Archaeological Consulting Services
54 Cosey Beach Road
East Haven, CT 06512
