Description

Stone tools play a privileged role in archaeology as they are extremely durable, and they survive through most circumstances. Palaeolithic tools have survived for hundreds of thousands of years, enduring repeated Ice Ages and being washed down rivers, but we can still pick them up, see how were made and say things about their makers. Even for more recent periods, the effects of weather and ploughing over thousands of years means more often than not stone tools are the only surviving evidence for where people were living and what they were doing.
Native American artifacts can be found throughout Massachusetts. The most common discoveries are projectile points and arrowheads left behind by indigenous peoples who lived here thousands of years ago. The state’s rivers, streams, and ancient lake beds are prime locations for finding these stone tools. Plowed fields and areas of soil erosion often reveal artifacts after heavy rains