Big Black Site facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Big Black Site
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| Nearest city | Eagle Lake, Maine |
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| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 75000090 |
| Added to NRHP | September 9, 1975 |
The Big Black Site is a special place in a far-off part of Aroostook County, Maine. It is an archaeological site, which means it's a place where scientists study human history by digging up old objects. This site is about 1 acre (0.40 ha) (or 0.4 hectares) in size.
It's located near where the Big Black River flows into another river. People lived and used this area for thousands of years, right up to more recent times. The Big Black Site is important because it's very well-preserved. Even though a small part of it was disturbed by a camp built in the 1900s, most of it is still intact.
In 1975, when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, experts believed it would teach us a lot about the history of the area before written records.
Discovering the Big Black Site
The Big Black Site is in a very remote area of western Aroostook County. It's quite hard to get to! Archaeologists thought this area might be interesting to study. This is because the rivers here had not been dammed. Dams can often destroy old archaeological sites along riverbanks.
A famous archaeologist named Warren K. Moorehead first explored this area in the 1920s. He mentioned finding places where people used to live along the Big Black River. Because the area was so remote, it was only looked at now and then for many years.
In 1973, a team from the University of Maine at Orono did a bigger survey. During this survey, they found and identified the Big Black Site.
What Makes This Site Special?
The Big Black Site covers about 1 acre (0.40 ha) of land. When the survey happened in 1973, a small part of the site was covered by a sporting camp. This camp had disturbed some of the top layers of the ground.
However, outside of the camp area, the site is in great condition. It shows signs of "deep stratification." This means there are many layers of soil and artifacts stacked on top of each other. Each layer represents a different time period.
These layers suggest that people lived here for a very long time. The oldest layers date back to the Archaic Period, which was around 4000 BCE (that's about 6,000 years ago!). The site also has evidence of people living there right up to more recent historical times.
