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The Pequot War
The Pequot War in New England from 1636 until 1638 was an other conflict between English Puritan settlers and aboriginal North Americans . The Pequot people inhabit in what is now southeasterly Connecticut before the arrival of Europeans in the area . From the 1620s , the Pequot traded valuable furs , especially beaver , with Dutch traders , in comeback for European - made goods such as cloth , metal tools , and firearms . [ Read more about the Pequot War ]
English Settlement
In the 1630s , English Puritan settler come in Connecticut River Valley and started to acquire land for their farm and herds of cattle . By 1635 , there were several English settlements in the country , let in the pocket-size Ithiel Town of Wethersfield , Windsor and Saybrook . These towns ab initio rely on trade with Native Americans to render them with food . But in 1637 , amid growing friction between the Pequots and the English , about 200 Pequot warriors attack colonist near the town of Wethersfield , obliterate nine people and taking two girls surety .
Mystic Massacre
Although the two surety were later on released , the English settlers soon accept revenge on the Pequot masses for the killings at Wethersfield . In May 1637 , an army of English colonists and their Native American allies attacked the Pequot camp near the Mystic River and killed hundreds of masses , effectively wiping out the Pequot tribe . The Pequot War live on until September 1638 , when the few subsister of the folk fly the surface area .
Museum Finds
The Webb - Deane - Stevens Museum in Wethersfield is based around three houses build in the eighteenth 100 — the old is from the 1750s . But now archaeologists have traced part of the site to the other 1630s — around the time of the Pequot War . The artifacts they have found are some of the earliest suggestion of European settlement in North America . [ take more about the dig ]
Archaeological Excavations
mining at the property have been carried out for the last three old age , ahead of the construction of an education center for the Webb - Deane - Stevens Museum . The excavations have been behave out by archaeologists from a local non - profit , the Public Archaeology Survey Team , and funded by the state of Connecticut and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America , which owns and start the museum .
Buried Treasures
The artifacts found by archaeologist at the internet site span more than 300 years , until the 1920s . Several of the point found show that the site was fill by Europeans from the 1630s — more than 100 years before the colonial houses of the museum were make after the 1750s .
17th-century windows
The finds let in diamond - shaped Lucy in the sky with diamonds of window glass from the 17th one C , along with strips of lead that were used to join the Lucy in the sky with diamonds together . The glass is badly discolored after almost 400 yr in the ground . This image also shows two plaque shroud receive in the 17th century layer of the excavation .
400 Year-Old Fastenings
The artifacts from the 17th century found at the site also include small metal items of clothing — although the apparel themselves have long since eroded off . This photograph render iron clothing hooks , metallic element buttons , and what is left of a pair of embroidery scissors grip .
Wooden Palisade
One of the most challenging finds has been the remains of a wooden fence in wall in the lowest archaeologic layer of the dig , corresponding to the 1630s , possibly during the Pequot War . Archaeologists will investigate the palisade further , to endeavor to see if it guarded just one or several houses of the resolution from wild attacks .
17th Century Coins
But the archaeologists have also found preindication that the English occupants of the internet site were trading with Native Americans . These include several little coins from the former 17thcentury . Most are farthings from the reign of King Charles I , strike after 1625 , but one farthing is from the reign of James I , and would have been mint sometime after 1603 .
Wampum Pieces
As well as coin used by English settlers , the archeologist have also found about 20 pieces of wampum — cylindrical bead made from seashell that were traditionally used by Native Americans as currency , among other uses . Wampum would have been preferred over coins by Native Americans , who ab initio switch intellectual nourishment to the settlers in restitution European - made good . But it was also used by settlers as currency , who suffered from a famine of coin .
