The people now known as Abenaki or Wabanaki have lived in this region for more than 12,000 years.
On Tuesday, February 15, at 7PM, live via Zoom, join Cook Memorial Library and Chocorua Lake Conservancy for “Digging Into Native History in New Hampshire,” a New Hampshire Humanities program with Robert Goodby, professor of Anthropology at Franklin Pierce College. Abenaki history has been reduced to near-invisibility as a result of conquest, a conquering culture that placed little value on the Indian experience, and a strategy of self-preservation that required many Abenaki to go "underground," concealing their true identities for generations to avoid discrimination and persecution. Robert Goodby reveals archaeological evidence that shows their deep presence here, inches below the earth's surface. His presentation will include a special focus on this region. Please register in advance.
Robert Goodby.
Presenter: Robert Goodby is a professor of Anthropology at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University and has spent the last thirty years studying Native American archeological sites in New England. He is past president of the New Hampshire Archeological Society, a former Trustee of the Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, and served on the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs. In 2010, he directed the excavations of four 12,000-year-old Paleoindian dwelling sites at the Tenant Swamp site in Keene.
This program is funded by a grant from New Hampshire Humanities, a nonprofit organization that nurtures the joy of learning and inspires community engagement by bringing life-enhancing ideas from the humanities to the people of New Hampshire. They connect people with ideas. Learn more at www.nhhumanities.org.
This program is also part of “Wabanaki History, Ecology & Experiences,” a series of programs exploring Indigenous history and experiences in what is now called northern New England, a collaboration between the Cook Memorial Library in Tamworth and the Chocorua Lake Conservancy, made possible through a generous grant from The Tamworth Foundation. Please join us next for “The People of the Dawnland: The Evolution of the Abenaki and Wabanaki Peoples of the Northeast from the First European Contact up to the Present,” with Anne Jennison on Tuesday, March 1, at 7PM.
Banner image: Along the Kancamagus. Photo by Michael Browning on Unsplash