Hollis Historical Society - 12,000 Years Ago in the Granite State

Event Date: 
Thursday, March 19, 2020 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm

Address

Lawrence Barn Community Center
28 Depot Road
Hollis, NH 03049
United States

12,000 Years Ago in the Granite State - Dr. Robert Goodby

The native Abenaki people played a central role in the history of the Monadnock region, defending it against English settlement and forcing the abandonment of Keene and other Monadnock area towns during the French and Indian Wars. Despite this, little is known about the Abenaki, and the conventional histories often depict the first Europeans entering an untamed, uninhabited wilderness, rather than the homeland of people who had been there for hundreds of generations.Dr. Robert Goodby discusses how the real depth of native history was revealed when an archeological study prior to construction of the new Keene Middle School discovered traces of four structures dating to the end of the Ice Age. Undisturbed for 12,0000 years, the site revealed information about the economy, gender roles, and household organization of the Granite State's very first inhabitants, as well as evidence of social networks that extended for hundreds of miles across northers New England.