Digitizing Plimoth Plantation’s 17th-Century Historical Archaeology Collections

FAIN: PW-259002-18

University of Massachusetts, Boston (Boston, MA 02125-3300)
Christa Beranek (Project Director: July 2017 to March 2023)

Cataloging, digitization, and creation of access to the archaeological collections connected to the early colonists of Plimoth Plantation.  Focusing on historical artifacts from four key sites, the project would encompass field notes, plans, drawings, and photos associated with the excavations that took place between 1940 and 1972.  Materials would be made accessible for the public, teachers, students, and scholars via an online database and finding aids.

In the years since The Mayflower made her iconic voyage, American cultural identity and heritage have developed a complex mythology surrounding the ship and her passengers. The approaching 400th anniversary (1620-2020) of this voyage has generated renewed public and scholarly interest in this time period and the Pilgrims’ daily lives. This project will digitize Plimoth Plantation’s key 17th-century archaeological collections connected to these early colonists: the RM/Clark Garrison site (C-1), the Winslow site (C-2), the William Bradford II site (C-6), and the Allerton-Cushman site (C-21). When finished, the data will be made accessible via an online catalog and finding aids designed for both the public and scholarly communities. As a result, anyone with internet access will be able to explore and learn from the primary source archaeological record and gain a better understanding of the early colonists in Massachusetts who captured the national imagination.

Associated Products

“WE MAY HAVE PROFITABLE COMMERCE AND TRADE TOGETHER”: AN ANALYSIS OF 17TH-CENTURY CERAMICS IN PLYMOUTH COLONY (Report)
Title: “WE MAY HAVE PROFITABLE COMMERCE AND TRADE TOGETHER”: AN ANALYSIS OF 17TH-CENTURY CERAMICS IN PLYMOUTH COLONY
Author: Elizabeth G. Tarulis
Abstract: This thesis analyzes the formation of early English colonial trade networks through an examination of three Plymouth Colony sites. Although Plymouth Colony has been studied extensively by both historians and archaeologists, materials from the original settlement have only recently been identified by University of Massachusetts, Boston archaeologists at Burial Hill in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts. This thesis compares the 17th-century ceramics from Burial Hill (1620-c. 1660) to two homesteads established later by Plymouth colonists, the Alden First Home Site and the Allerton/Prence/Cushman Site. A minimum number of vessels (MNV) was established for each site and the country of origin was established for each vessel to determine the origin of consumer goods, specifically ceramics, in Plymouth Colony. These vessels were then divided up into “English” and “foreign” categories, and a chi-square analysis was conducted to determine whether the composition of ceramics was significantly different at Burial Hill than at the later two sites. By comparing a site that likely pre-dates the implementation of most of the Navigation Acts (1651, 1660) to two sites that continue decades after their passage, it is possible to determine whether there was a significant effect on Plymouth’s trade. The results of this analysis demonstrate that the difference between Burial Hill, the Alden First Home Site, and the Allerton/Prence/Cushman Site with respect to proportions of English to Foreign vessels is not statistically significant. This suggests that the percentage of foreign vessels did not significantly change over time. In addition, there were more English and foreign ware types found at the later sites than at Burial Hill. Combined with documentary evidence, this indicates that the Plymouth colonists were skirting regulations and establishing their own personal and intercolonial trade networks, even as the English government tried to limit them.
Date: 4/30/2020
Primary URL: https://www.umb.edu/library
Primary URL Description: UMass Boston library
Access Model: Open Access MA thesis

Local Collections, Global Perspective: Ceramics and Trade in Plymouth Colony (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Local Collections, Global Perspective: Ceramics and Trade in Plymouth Colony
Abstract: A discussion of the imported ceramics found in the 17th-century Plymouth colony based on the collections from three archaeological sites.
Author: Elizabeth G. Tarulis
Date: 10/10/2019
Location: Duxbury, MA, Alden Kindred

'From Parts beyond the Seas': An analysis of trade and Plymouth colony ceramics (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: 'From Parts beyond the Seas': An analysis of trade and Plymouth colony ceramics
Author: Elizabeth G. Tarulis
Abstract: An analysis of trade and Plymouth colony (MA) ceramics using data from three 17th-century archaeological sites.
Date: 1/9/2020
Conference Name: Society for Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting

History in a New Light: Illuminating the Archaeology of Historic Patuxet and Plymouth (Exhibition)
Title: History in a New Light: Illuminating the Archaeology of Historic Patuxet and Plymouth
Curator: Jade Luiz
Abstract: History in a New Light demonstrates how the modern town of Plymouth has been shaped by the ways humans have lived along these shores for thousands of years, and how this land continues to reveal stories of a transcultural Indigenous-Colonial regional society. By using multiple lines of evidence, including archaeology, documentary research, oral history, and fine and decorative arts, the exhibition shows how each thread contributes something unique to Plimoth Plantation’s understanding, re-creation, and interpretation of the past. Rather than a traditional commemorative 400th-anniversary exhibit, History in a New Light is forward-looking and invites visitors to consider how the past serves as a foundation for the future. It is also distinctive as the first major exhibit displaying artifacts from the Wampanoag village of Patuxet and the site of the original 1620 European settlement, which were discovered in 2016 by Project 400 archaeologists, an ongoing archaeological research initiative conducted in partnership with the Andrew Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts - Boston, the Town of Plymouth, and Plimoth Plantation. In addition to finding the first evidence of these overlapping settlements, this research has forced scholars to reevaluate their understanding of daily life in early Plymouth and the nature of colonial and indigenous interactions.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://plimoth.org/learn/multimedia-reference-library/discover-collections-and-archives/collections-archaeology-plimoth#current
Primary URL Description: Plimoth Plantation's Collections and Exhibits webpage

Trade and Smuggling in Plymouth Colony (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Trade and Smuggling in Plymouth Colony
Abstract: This presentation will discuss ceramics recovered from three Plymouth Colony sites: Burial Hill, the Alden First Home Site, and the Allerton/Prence/Cushman Site. These ceramics came from a variety of countries across the globe, providing valuable insight into the trade networks colonists used to buy their goods and the global factors which may have impacted them.
Author: Elizabeth Tarulis
Date: 04/07/2021
Location: R. S. Peabody Institute for Archaeology Digital Lecture Series
Primary URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzSDCqUH-5I
Primary URL Description: Recording of the virtual talk

Deetz’s New England Legacy: Digitizing the Plimoth Patuxet Collections (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: Deetz’s New England Legacy: Digitizing the Plimoth Patuxet Collections
Abstract: DAACS Conversations with Collaborating Scholars, online talk
Author: Ana Opishinski
Author: Christa Beranek
Date: 12/10/2021
Location: Online; virtual talk
Primary URL: https://www.daacs.org/research/daacs-conversations/

Plimoth Patuxet Museums Online Collections (Web Resource)
Title: Plimoth Patuxet Museums Online Collections
Author: Plimoth Patuxet Museums
Abstract: Through this page, you can browse Plimoth Patuxet's historical and archaeological collections. We are in the process of digitizing our collections - over 400,000 objects - and are adding new information every day, which is part of our ongoing effort to make our collections more accessible.
Year: 2021
Primary URL: https://plimoth.catalogaccess.com/

You Are the Historian (Game/Simulation)
Title: You Are the Historian
Author: Plimoth Patuxet Museums
Abstract: Plimoth Patuxet Museums has reimagined and redesigned "You Are the Historian: Investigating the First Thanksgiving", its popular interactive game that has entertained school-aged children and families since 2002! In conjunction with FableVision Studios, a multimedia production company, and an Indigenous Advisory Committee, Plimoth Patuxet Museums has created a new online game that explores Wampanoag life prior to European settlement and the year leading up to the 1621 harvest feast, today known as the “First Thanksgiving." The game investigates the interactions between the Wampanoag people of Patuxet and the earliest colonists known as the Pilgrims by exposing players to archaeological artifacts from the museum’s collections, primary source documents, and oral stories told from generation to generation. "You Are The Historian" directly responds to the increased demand for nuanced and fact-based history told from both an Indigenous and Colonial perspective. The Museum has created an experience that will transport visitors to Patuxet, the pre-European homeland of the Wampanoag, and immerse them in a story of cultural change and persistence that spans 12,000 years. Students will be able to further explore the rich historical context of the Indigenous and Colonial experiences during their earliest encounters through magical time travel, an anonymous tipster, mysterious riddles, historic artifacts and archives, and plain, old-fashioned smart thinking!
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://plimoth.org/for-students/you-are-the-historian
Access Model: web access
Source Available?: No

Archaeology in A New Light: Interpreting Indigenous History in Sea of Pilgrims. (Article)
Title: Archaeology in A New Light: Interpreting Indigenous History in Sea of Pilgrims.
Author: Jade Luiz
Author: Ana C. Opishinski
Abstract: Plimoth Patuxet Museums is known for its living history sites depicting the seventeenth-century Pilgrim settlement of Plymouth and the Wampanoag settlement of Patuxet. With the 400th anniversary of Mayflower’s arrival, the museum recommitted itself to presenting archaeology. Because of the challenges of publicly interpreting archaeology, the broad swath of time covered by archaeology, and the reality that most guests know little about either Indigenous history or archaeology, integrating archaeological programming into the living history format proved challenging, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. By employing a multipronged physical and digital approach, the authors have found some success in bringing a more nuanced understanding of archaeology to the institution’s stakeholders.
Year: 2022
Primary URL: https://online.ucpress.edu/tph/article/44/4/147/194515/Archaeology-in-a-New-LightInterpreting-Indigenous
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: The Public Historian
Publisher: University of California Press

17th-Century Collections Tour at Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: 17th-Century Collections Tour at Plimoth Patuxet Museums
Author: Annie Greco
Abstract: 2.5 hour workshop at the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts (November 3-6, 2022)
Date Range: November 3-6, 2022
Location: Plymouth, MA
Primary URL: https://cneha.org/conference/CNEHA-Program-2022.pdf
Primary URL Description: Conference program

Old Collections, New Stories: Reflections on Digitizing the Legacy Collections of Plimoth Patuxet Museum (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Old Collections, New Stories: Reflections on Digitizing the Legacy Collections of Plimoth Patuxet Museum
Author: Katherine A. Albert
Author: Annie Greco
Author: Ana Opishinski
Author: Christa Beranek
Abstract: Plimoth Patuxet Museums is known for its living history exhibits of 17th-century Patuxet and Plymouth. However, the museum also houses several archaeological collections, some of which were excavated eighty years ago. Until recently, these collections were relatively inaccessible because of how they were stored and cataloged. In 2018, the museum and the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research (UMass Boston) received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to make four collections accessible to staff, descendent communities, scholars, and the general public. The museum staff, UMass Boston graduate students, and volunteers have cataloged, documented, and rehoused the collections, and made their data available online with a new public-facing database. In this paper, we reflect on the massive effort that it took to make these collections digitally accessible, what we learned through the cataloging process, and how the data will help the museum and scholars reinterpret the archaeology of 17thcentury New England.
Date: 11/5/22
Conference Name: Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology Annual Meeting

Teaching Cultural Encounters at Plimoth Patuxet Museums (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Teaching Cultural Encounters at Plimoth Patuxet Museums
Author: Plimoth Patuxet Museums
Abstract: Not available.
Date: 12/2/22
Conference Name: National Council for Social Studies Conference

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