The Thirty-Three Year History of Cultural Resource Management at the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation

Summary

The Mashantucket Pequot Reservation is today one of the best-researched heritage landscapes in New England. Cooperation between the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe and UConn archaeologists has been positive and ongoing since the early 1980s. Initial heritage management work on the Reservation focused on ethnohistorical research and the documentation of Pequot homesteads as well as important off-reservation historical sites such as Mystic Fort. Archaeological work was largely limited to extensive reconnaissance surveys aimed at identifying undocumented sites. With the success of Foxwoods Casino and the expansion of the tribal land base in the 1990s, Reservation development increased at a rapid pace and tribal archaeology shifted to contract-based Cultural Resource Management efforts. Development resulted in a notable increase in data recovery excavations of threatened sites. With the establishment of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center, and a Tribal Historic Preservation Office, research and mitigation efforts continue under a more formalized in-house organization that includes full-time staff and relies on cooperation and communication between many Tribal departments.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Exploring 12,000 Years of Occupation, Land Use, and Conflict: Archaeological and Historical Research Sponsored by the Mashantucket and Eastern Pequot Tribes

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Spatial Coverage