Fiske Center for Archaeological Research

06/26/2026

We are excited to share that more than half of the data from the long-term Sylvester Manor Archaeological Project is now available to download. The archaeological investigation at Sylvester Manor, Shelter Island, NY began in 1998 and has involved hundreds of excavation units, mapping datums, ground penetrating radar transects, and other spatial data. With funding from the Mellon Foundation , students in the Digital Archaeology Lab have been combing through the GIS data from past field seasons and refining them into synthesized datasets (e.g., unit shapefile, STP shapefile, site datums). To preserve this data, both archivally and for use by the Manor and other researchers, we are uploading these datasets to a dedicated collection on the Fiske Center’s page on ScholarWorks, titled “The Archaeology of Sylvester Manor” (https://scholarworks.umb.edu/sylvester_manor/).

06/05/2026

101! The Fiske Center report series recently passed its 100th report. A number of grad students (and recent alums) made huge contributions to our technical report series this semester as first or contributing authors, in addition to all the work they did on their own research. We’d like to recognize the professional contributions of Katie Brauckmann, Joey Kinney, Katie Lincoln, Gary Ervin, Maggie Parfitt, Mia Armstrong, Laura Paisley, Matt Becue, Sam Side, and Claire Ross on the 6 reports that were finished this semester!

05/20/2026

Congratulations to the Marblehead Museum for the launch of their inaugural exhibit in the Brick Kitchen Visitor Center -- Resistance and Resilience: Slavery and Freedom in Marblehead. We are honored to have contributed to this exhibit and to the research on the Jeremiah Lee property. The exhibit opens to the public on June 1, and everyone should definitely go see it!

05/18/2026

Collections management in action! This semester, undergraduates Morgan, Ana, Zach, and Chloe worked on reorganizing and reboxing the Queen Anne Square collection, excavated in 1978. The material is now in standard boxes, better organized, with barcoded labels generated from our box inventory database.

05/15/2026

A huge thank you to all of the undergrads who worked in the labs this semester! Your work contributed to so many different projects. Wishing everyone a good finals week and great summer!

05/14/2026

This , we congratulate Claire Ross on defending her thesis (today!) entitled "Gendered Labor and Dairying at a Northern Plantation." Claire's research is part of new work supported by the Mellon Foundation that continued the study of Sylvester Manor into the 19th century. From Claire's thesis: In the early nineteenth century, the work of dairying was primarily done by and associated with women. Dairy products like butter and cheese were an important part of everyday life and almost all women, especially those living in the rural North, engaged in dairying. Past studies of dairying as gendered labor have focused on the role of dairying in the lives of white, middle-class women. This thesis builds on that body of work by specifically studying the dairying labor done by free Black women working at Sylvester Manor, a former northern plantation in Eastern Long Island. In the context of emancipation-era New York State, free Black women had to navigate the social and economic reforms of the nineteenth century while also being subject to marginalization based on their race and gender. This thesis uses documentary and archaeological evidence from nineteenth-century Sylvester Manor to better understand the ways in which free Black women used dairying to support themselves and their families during this transformative period. By highlighting the fact that free Black women engaged in the skilled labor of dairying, this work aims to disrupt narratives that erase their presence from rural northern landscapes and obscure their work as competent, independent farm women.
With Sylvester Manor

05/12/2026

The call for papers is out for CNEHA, to be held in Canada in mid October. Session and paper abstract deadlines are in July.

05/05/2026

An article on the Bourne presentation this Thursday evening.

In Bourne, UMASS Boston research scientist John Steinberg will publicly share results from a Burying Hill radar scan for Wampanoag graves.

05/04/2026

At the Town of Bourne Conservation Commission meeting on Thursday, John Steinberg will talk about the results of the Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey conducted on Burying Hill in Bournedale. He will discuss the basic principles of GPR and explain how it is used to identify potential unmarked burials. He will compare the Burying Hill results to nearby burial sites. The GPR survey was funded by the Town of Bourne Community Preservation Committee and conducted with the help of Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribal members.
https://www.bourne-ma.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_05072026-1205

04/30/2026

Tara's thesis is one of several that are in progress on Dr. Heather Trigg's project in New Mexico at El Rancho de las Golondrinas
The crew will be back there this June for further research!