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Community Corner

Wayland Uncovered: Archaeological Evidence of Wayland's First Residents

Wayland's own archaeologist, Tonya Largy, will share her expertise as part of Wayland's 375th anniversary celebration.  Native Americans came into what is now Wayland sometime after the glacier receded, approximately 12,000 years ago.  Since 1978 five excavations of pre-contact sites have been carried out.  These excavations gathered more than 30 radiocarbon dates.  The oldest actual radiocarbon date on record is 6680+/- 170 years ago.  However artifacts recovered from these sites represent periods going back 8,000 years ago.  Some of these artifacts will be on display and discussed in this lecture.

One pre-colonial site, excavated over a 28 year period, produced radiocarbon dates indicating that Native people continued to live here for thousands of years until the arrival of Europeans.  The meeting will be held in the large hearing room in the Wayland Town Building.

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