For the January 2020 issue of this Journal, the author contributed
an article titled, “Tracing an Artifact’s History – The
Story of a Channeled Gouge from Massachusetts.” Briefly, the
article described the history of a fine New England artifact that
had passed from its original owner, William Greene, to the old-time
collection of Roland Engstrom. Both Greene and Engstrom had been
early members of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, and Engstrom
was also featured in Volume 4 of Who’s Who in Indian Relics.
The gouge was later acquired by the author at an Old Barn Auction
2008 auction sale. This artifact is especially noteworthy because
the author later discovered that it had been referenced and pictured
in an exhaustive archaeological report from 1980 by Dr. Maurice Robbins
on the important work done at the Wapanucket site on the shores of
Lake Assawompset in Middleborough, Massachusetts. In his report,
Dr. Robbins referred to earlier work at the site undertaken by William
Greene and his cohorts in 1941. And here, Robbins also pictured the
channeled gouge as part of a significant red ochre cache that contained
two other similar gouges. Robbins further noted that Greene had first
reported on his finds in the Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological
Society as early as 1942.
In the Wapanucket report, Robbins decried the fact that these artifacts
from the Greene excavations were no longer available for study because,
after Greene’s passing, his widow had sold the entire collection.
This was a primary reason that I brought this particular gouge to
the attention of readers of this Journal. Furthermore, in my 2020
article, I had noted that another gouge from this same cache had
been sold at the 2008 Old Barn Auction (and perhaps a third gouge
as well) and that I would be grateful to learn of any information
our readers might have.
Now, there is reason for a significant update. During this past
year, I noticed....
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