Carbuncle Hill Archaeological District, RI-1072-1079 facts for kids

The Carbuncle Hill Archaeological District is a special area in western Coventry, Rhode Island. It's home to several important archaeological sites, which are places where people find clues about the past. These sites are named RI-1072 to RI-1079. They help us learn how ancient people found, made, and used stone tools. This district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 because it can teach us so much more.

Discovering Ancient Tools

This district has eight different archaeological sites. They are all found near Carbuncle Hill in western Coventry, Rhode Island. Experts found these sites in 1983. They were doing a careful search of the area.

Archaeologists believe this area was a great spot for ancient people. It had lots of raw materials for making stone tools. It was also good for hunting animals for food. No old materials were found that could tell us exact dates. But the tools themselves tell a story.

What Each Site Tells Us

Each site in the district gives us clues about how ancient people lived. They show us how they made and used tools.

RI-1072: A Quartz Spot

RI-1072 is a small site. Only one piece of quartz was found here. Quartz is a hard mineral. This site is next to a place where quartz can be found naturally. Experts think people only came here to get raw quartz.

RI-1073: A Tool-Making Workshop

RI-1073 is a larger site. Many small pieces of stone, called debitage, were found here. Debitage is what's left over when you shape a stone. This means people were making and fixing tools here. There were three different spots where this work happened.

RI-1074: Heavy Stone Finds

RI-1074 is another small site. Here, archaeologists found several pieces of quartzite. Quartzite is another type of hard rock. They even found a large piece of rock, called a quarry block. It weighed about 30 to 50 pounds!

RI-1075: Preparing Raw Materials

RI-1075 is also a small site. Mostly broken stone pieces were found here. This suggests that people weren't making sharp edges here. Instead, they might have been breaking down large rocks. They would make them smaller and easier to carry.

RI-1076: A Busy Camp Site

RI-1076 is one of the biggest sites in the district. The things found here show many different activities. It might have been a short-term camp. People likely hunted for food here. They also spent time making tools.

RI-1077, RI-1078, and RI-1079: More Tool-Making Areas

These three sites seem to be like RI-1073. They were places where people made tools. But they are smaller. RI-1077 is special because it's the only site where a piece of a sea shell was found.