Prehistoric site near blasting, construction

Laconia Citizen (Fosters)
Sunday, November 6, 2005

Prehistoric site near blasting, construction

By BEA LEWIS
Northern Lakes Region Bureau

TAMWORTH — Blasting and construction for a $28 million motorsports park has been cleared to proceed even though it will be located next to an area that archaeologists call one of the state's most significant and endangered prehistoric sites.

While the Valley Motorsports Park project won't directly affect the adjacent prehistoric quarry, the project could spur other development, endangering the site later, state archaeologist Richard Boisvert said.

The motorsports park, located on Mount Whittier's north face, will offer members a 3.3 mile, 18-turn road course. It also will offer garage service, professional driver training, a pro shop and other facilities and services.

American Indians began using the Ossipee Mountain quarry, now located on privately owned land, about 9,000 years ago. It was in use until European settlers arrived.

Volcanic activity formed the mountains, and the quarry contains hornfels, a volcanic rock harder than flint. Hornfels breaks cleanly and predictably, which makes it a shapeable material prehistoric people prized for making tools, Boisvert said.

The stone was shaped into spearheads, arrowheads, knives, scrapers, cutters and other objects. Tools made from the quarry's stone have been unearthed throughout New Hampshire and in southern Maine, Boisvert said.

The Ossipee Mountains also are home to several "workshops," where Indians crafted the tools in a chipping process called "knapping." Habitation sites have been found in the region as well.

"The Lakes Region has been attractive as a good place to fish for 10,000 years," Boisvert said.

Only up to 10 other prehistoric quarries have been discovered in New Hampshire, and the hornfels quarry is especially valuable, he said.

He said he believes the site is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, but he called the process of having it included time consuming and often costly. He also warned that artifact seekers could irreparably damage the site and destroy archaeological clues important to understanding New Hampshire's prehistory.

"The problem is that we want to make people aware of these sites, but we don't want to endanger them," he said.

If future development threatens the quarry, Boisvert said he hopes the state would have the chance to explore the area and learn about it "before it's gone."

"I'd certainly like to be able to do a study to find the nature of the site and preserve it," he said.

A lack of funding and staff so far has prevented the work, he added.

"It is clear that these quarry-workshops are significant at least at a regional level, if not a national level," he said.

David Starbuck, an archaeologist and associate anthropology and sociology professor at Plymouth State University, has visited the site. He said while he had heard of the existence of prehistoric quarries of hornsfel, he didn't realize just how rich they could be.

"Unquestionably, this is an area where a very thorough archaeological survey needs to be done," he said, "to locate all of the quarry sites and to show which areas were being quarried during what time periods."

He called the area one of the state's top archaeological sites and agreed that it's eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. He also warned that measures would need to be put in place to avoid looting before the work to seek a listing began.

The Army Corps of Engineers in mid-September issued Club Motorsports Inc. a permit to proceed with the motorsports park's construction. The permit, the last of three major state and federal environmental permits, was issued to the project after more than 18 months of review. The review included several visits to verify wetland boundaries, two public comment periods and a public hearing in Tamworth in October 2004.