12,000 years ago in the Granite State

The Dana Meeting House Association with generous support from New Hampshire Humanities, will host Dr. Robert Goodby’s presentation, “12,000 years ago in the Granite State” on Saturday July 16 th from 6-8 p.m. at the Dana Meeting House at 288 Dana Hill Road in New Hampton. The native Abenaki people played a central role in the history of the Monadnock region, defending it against English settlement and forcing the abandonment of Keene and other Monadnock area towns during the French and Indian Wars. Despite this, little is known about the Abenaki, and conventional histories often depict the first Europeans entering an untamed, uninhabited wilderness, rather than the homeland of people who had been there for hundreds of generations. Robert Goodby discusses how the real depth of Native history was revealed when an archaeological study prior to construction of the new Keene Middle School discovered traces of four structures dating to the end of the Ice Age. Undisturbed for 12,000 years, the site revealed information about the economy, gender roles, and household organization of the Granite State’s very first inhabitants, as well as evidence of social networks that extended for hundreds of miles across northern New England. Robert Goodby is a professor of Anthropology at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University and has spent the last thirty years studying Native American archaeological sites in New England. He is a past president of the New Hampshire Archeological Society, a former Trustee of the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner and served on the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs. This is Dr. Goodby’s second visit to the Dana Meeting House. In 2021, he spoke about the remarkable archaeological evidence that our region has hosted 12,000 years of continuous Native American presence by the Abenaki people. This year’s talk will go into the details of his work at the 12,000 year old Paleoindian dwelling at the Tenant Swamp site in Keene, also the topic of his most recent book, A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History, published in 2021 by Peter E. Randall Publisher. Dana Meeting House Association (DMHA) was founded in 2019 to protect and preserve the historic Dana Meeting House. This historic meeting house on Dana Hill Road in New Hampton, New Hampshire was built in 1800 and was opened in 1802 by the Freewill Baptist movement. The Meeting House is a fine example of 19th century architecture and the only one of its kind in New Hampshire. The building was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. Attendees are invited to bring any fun “artifacts” they have found in their gardens, woods or fields to share with Dr. Goodby. This is a family friendly presentation, free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. For more information to the Meeting House please contact Blair Folts at 603 733-7050.