Archaeology

WHAT IS ARCHAEOLOGY? 

Archaeology is a way of studying the human past through material culture and artifacts. Archaeologists may uncover history from thousands of years ago via archaeological excavations such as ones that have happened here at the Homestead, or they might look through your trash to figure out what you had for breakfast! History is made every day and it is the job of an archaeologist to document the past through research on human material culture.

HOW HAS ARCHEOLOGY TAKEN PLACE HERE AT THE HOMESTEAD?

There have been several archaeological digs here at the Homestead since the 1970’s. While some digs set out to uncover more information about the people who lived at the Homestead, others were undergone to clear the landscape before construction.

Cultural Resource Management (CRM) is a type of archaeological survey undertaken before certain types of construction to preserve potential material objects and histories that would otherwise be lost. The 1975 Vermont Historic Preservation Act requires excavations to be conducted before any federally funded construction project breaks ground. Here at the Homestead, CRM projects have been conducted by the University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Program (CAP) before building the picnic shelter (1978), constructing Route 27 (1978-79), and even adding a new septic system (1986). 

---

WHAT ARTIFACTS HAVE BEEN FOUND AT THE HOMESTEAD?

Between 1990-1993, over 60,000 artifacts were excavated by the Ethan Allen Homestead Trust (renamed the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum in 2009), primarily from the lawn west of the historic Allen House. This has been considered the “front” lawn since the early 1800s, and is therefore the likeliest place for both social congregation and waste disposal during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The majority of artifacts found are from the late 18th through mid-20th centuries, with a small amount of Indigenous artifacts from before the 1700s. The artifacts found on this site represent what everyday life was like for the people who have lived here for the past c.10,000 years.

Stone Tools

Because this site has been a working farm since the late 18th century (and is still being farmed today), many artifacts have been disturbed by farming machinery. While some historic artifacts were found in situ (an archaeology term for an artifact that has not moved from its original place), soil distribution leads archaeologists to believe that all prehistoric artifacts had been disturbed prior to their excavation.

However, the prehistoric artifacts excavated during the digs at the Homestead still provide important context for how this site was used prior to European contact. Among the artifacts that were found include two Levanna and one Lamoka projectile points, as well as several flake tools. The oldest stone point found from this site was excavated in the 1990s digs, and is dated to approximately 6,000 years ago (c. 4,000 BC).

The Levanna projectile points date from the Middle to Late Woodland period (c.500-1600 AD) and were likely attached to an arrow for hunting and/or warfare. The Lamoka point, excavated in the 1980’s, dates from the Late Archaic period (about 3,000-5,000 years ago). It was likely used as a dart for an atlatl, a spear-throwing device intended to increase a spear’s speed and force.

Flake tools that were found include a Clarendon Springs chert flake, a Cheshire quartzite flake, and two Hathaway chert flakes. All of these are made from stone found relatively locally in Vermont and had sharp edges used for cutting and scraping. Flake tools were some of the easiest stone tools to make, and therefore the most commonly found.

Animal bones

More than 5,500 animal bones from over 100 species were excavated during the 1990s digs alone! Animals represented in the collection include cow, bird, chicken, fish, sheep, goat, porcupine, rat, mouse, turtle, and mollusk. A nearly complete lynx skeleton was found on the east lawn, which may have been trapped for its fur or killed as a barnyard pest.

The animal bones show us what people were eating at the Ethan Allen Homestead over the past few hundred years. Several burnt bones were found in refuse deposits alongside charcoal, which provides evidence for cooking animals over a fire. Both domestic and wild animal bones were found in the digs — but archaeologists were surprised to find that more wild animals were consumed at the Homestead than domestic ones. This is in direct contrast with the diets of city-dwellers, whose meat intake consisted primarily of domesticated animals. The Ethan Allen Homestead is located only three miles north of Burlington’s city center, but — at least in this aspect — 19th and early 20th-century farmers at the Homestead led lives akin to rural farmers rather than their urban neighbors just a few miles away.

A winter staple on 19th century New England farm was “hog and hash”, a meal consisting of salted pork and corn. Pork is better suited to curing than beef because of its higher fat content, so the farmers at the Homestead likely relied more heavily on pork for their own consumption. Additionally, the cattle raised at the Homestead were managed for dairy production, so these animals were not often slaughtered for meat consumption. The assemblage of domestic animal remains excavated at the homestead contains largely head and feet bones, possibly because these sections were eaten at home versus the other parts that were packaged to sell in town.

There is one type of animal bone that shows the Homestead’s farmers did often shop in town for meat: the bones of Atlantic cod. Needless to say, these fish were not caught in the Winooski river nor Lake Champlain. 19th-century advertisements in the Burlington Free Press show that salted cod was often imported to Burlington and sold in town. So, although the bones found in the archaeological digs indicate that Homestead farmers were able to supply their own meat, they still liked to treat themselves by purchasing food items in town.

Ceramics

Ceramics were the largest category of artifacts excavated: 14,280 ceramic fragments were excavated between 1990 and1993 alone. The oldest type of pottery excavated at this site are creamware, a type of ceramic dating from 1762 to 1820. Within the creamware assemblage, there are transfer-printed (c.1780s), hand painted (c.1780s), and dendritic or “mocha” decorated sherds (c.1795). Another common type of ceramic found at this site is redware, which was the most commonly produced ceramic in the United States throughout the 17th-19th centuries. Redware was used for utilitarian farm purposes such as pickling, milk pans, pie pans, jugs, crocks, and jars.

Three pieces of pottery had identifiable makers marks: one from J. W. Pankhurst & Co, an English company that ran from 1850-1880; one from Knight, Elkin, and Co, an English company that ran from 1840-1847; and one from Adams & Sons, a British company in business from 1769-1966 (though this piece of pottery is likely from c.1820-1860). These imported pieces were likely the nicer dishes and fancy tea sets used for parties and guests.

Building Materials

Well

The well at the Ethan Allen Homestead was rediscovered in 1991, when a park visitor’s foot suddenly fell through the topsoil while visiting the site. Archaeologists excavated the well in 1992, determining that it dates somewhere between 1830 and 1920. 2,498 artifacts were excavated from the well, including a 1921 Lincoln penny, four bullet casings (.30-30 Winchester Super X cartridges), a kaolin smoking pipe bowl, a quartzite flake, a copper medallion, and over 230 ceramic fragments.

Well at the Ethan Allen Homestead in 1907, when it was still in use (structure in front of the horse)

---

VIDEOS

Check out these videos with more information about the Homestead’s 1990s archaeological digs and the conservation project to save the artifacts:

September 2025 update on the Ethan Allen Homestead archaeological conservation project

(start at timestamp 51:14) January 2025 update on the management of the Ethan Allen Homestead archaeological conservation project; presentation hosted by Collections Care & Conservation Alliance

April 2023 update on the Ethan Allen Homestead archaeological conservation project

---

The Ethan Allen Homestead Museum conducted a major conservation project of its archaeological collection from 2022-2025 in order to save the collection from damage from water and exposure. This project was supported with funding from Vermont Humanities and the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership, supported with consultation by the Vermont Archaeological Heritage Center, supported with research by the Northeast Archaeology Research Center, and greatly supported by time donated by over 100 volunteers. Special thanks to Ethan Allen Homestead Director Angie Grove and volunteer Niels Rinehart for overseeing the project, and to volunteers Colleen Montgomery and Kelly Bartlett for sticking with the project through its completion. Thank you Kate Malmstrom, Eliza Callahan, Liam Rinehart, and Daniel Vasquez for inventorying all of the artifacts. Thank you to the Vermont State Archives internship program and Tessa Brimblecombe for digitizing all of the photos of the archaeological digs. Thank you also to the UVM Communities of Practice internship program, the Vermont Archaeology Society, the UVM Global Connections Living & Learning Community, South Burlington High School, the Jean Garvin School, and many members of the public for donating time for data input, bagging and labeling artifacts, and more for this project.

Images on this page are from “The 1989-1993 Public Archaeology Program at the Ethan Allen Homestead (VT-CH-0136) Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont Summary and Synthesis” by NEARC, 2025.