| The Davistown Museum |
| Native American Artifacts: Special Collections |
| In addition to the numerous Native American artifacts collected by The Davistown Museum during the last three |
| decades, the museum has also been able to purchase three intact collections of Native American artifacts. The |
| first collection is the Cohasset Hoard of artifacts purchased in the early 1990s. Because the artifacts in this |
| collection come from many different locations in New England as well as from other locations, the Cohasset |
| Hoard is not listed specifically as a separate collection, but is included in our general inventory of Native |
| American artifacts. Because the other two collections, the Coffin Stream Assemblage and the Wapanucket 8 |
| Hoard were collected in a specific location, by a specific person or persons, they are listed separately as special |
| collections. |
| Coffin Stream Assemblage |
| Antonio Possante and family maintained a market garden at the end of Coffin St. in West Newbury at the |
| intersection of River Rd. across the Merrimac River from the Judy Kimble farm in the Rocks Village section of |
| East Haverhill. All of the cache of tools to be installed in The Davistown Museum was collected by family |
| members over a period of 75 years. All of the tools in the collection with two exceptions were found within a |
| small area bordering the Coffin Stream. These stone tools were often turned up during cultivation of the family's |
| market garden; newly discovered specimens were carefully collected and added to the existing collection on an |
| annual basis. Only one knife and a mortar and pestle were located further up the shore of the Merrimac River. |
| The collection eventually became the property of Maurice Burnham of Milton, NH, who has generously made |
| them available for installation and display at the Museum. Maurice also has made available to the museum a |
| large mortar found along the Salmon Falls River near Lebanon, Maine, by his father many decades ago. This |
| mortar, probably used for grinding corn, has been incorporated into the Coffin Stream Assemblage display. The |
| Davistown Museum has been the fortunate recipient of a grant from MBNA to install this assemblage in a small |
| room adjacent to the main hall of the museum. |
| Coffin Stream Assemblage essays | Status | Location |
| Native American Artifacts I - Archaic Period |
| Stone Tools |
| 071003NA33 | Adze | photo | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Stone, 11.5 cm x 4 cm, , unknown date. |
| 071003NA35 | Ax | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Stone, 16 cm x 7.5 cm, , unknown date. |
| 071003NA29 | Cores (3) | photo | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Stone, 9 cm x 11 cm; 7 cm x 6 cm; 8 cm x 7 cm, , Unknown date. |
| These stone flakes are a by product of the flaked stone tool industry. |
| 071003NA32 | Gouges (3) | photo | photo | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Stone, 8.5 cm x 3.5 cm; 21 cm x 8 cm; 12 cm x 9 cm, , archaic. |
| One gouge is a quarter-channel and another is full. |
| 071003NA30 | Hammer stones (3) | photo | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Granite, 8 cm x 7 cm; 6 cm x 5.5 cm; 6 cm x 4 cm, , Unknown date. |
| 071003NA36 | Mortar and pestle | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Stone, 48 cm x 48 cm x 14 cm, , unknown date. |
| This item is from Salmon Falls River, Lebanon, Maine. |
| 071003NA31 | Plummet | photo | DTM | CSA- | shelf 1 |
| Stone, 14 cm x 7.5 cm, , archaic. |
| Used for a net weight when fishing. |
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