McLean Game Refuge Archaeology Project

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE & RECREATION
The Mclean Game Refuge has been a site of small-scale archaeology studies since the 1990s because of the strong evidence of the land’s use by native Americans. In support of a continued effort to learn more about native American use of the game refuge’s land, LFSWS provided funding to McLean for its proposed new archaeological work.

The project was designed to be conducted in phases. The initial phase was to clean, organize, catalogue, and repackage the variety of artifacts found through previous archaeological digs including pottery shards, projectile points, cutting tools and, ancient charcoal from cookfires. In 2024, this phase of the project was completed.

Looking to the future, Mclean Game Refuge’s executive director hopes to be able to conduct research at selected sites focused along the refuge’s two primary waterways, the West Branch of the Salmon Brook and Bissell Brook. These locations are considered very likely to be valuable in terms of understanding native American use of the land. When the work is complete, the intention is to make all the findings public by posting information on the McLean website, sharing it with local historical societies, presenting at community events and making some of the artifacts available for public viewing.