Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History in the Monadnock Region

Wednesdays, January 15, 22 and 29, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Join Dr. Robert Goodby to explore the historical and archaeological evidence for the first 400 generations of the human story in the Monadnock Region. Using the book A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History as our guide, we’ll consider four sites in detail: the Swanzey Fish Dam, built 4,000 years ago to trap migratory fish; the Raft Bridge site in Peterborough, situated on a sandy knoll overlooking a wetland where people came for millennia to catch turtles and trap beavers; the Wantastiquet Mountain site in Hinsdale, where rattlesnakes were hunted for more than 4,000 years; and the 12,600-year-old Tenant Swamp site in Keene, where Paleoindian caribou hunters living in hide-covered tents endured frigid winters. Recent Abenaki history will also be discussed.

Robert Goodby has spent 40 years studying Native American archaeological sites in New England. He is a past president of the New Hampshire Archeological Society and a former Trustee of the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner. He has also served on the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs. His book, A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History,published with support from the Harris Center and the Historical Society of Cheshire County, was awarded the 2023 People's Choice Award for Non-Fiction by the New Hampshire Writer's Project.