Bourne Conservation Commission Meeting: Burying Hill Archaeology Presentation - May 7, 2026
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Bourne Conservation Commission Meeting: Burying Hill Archaeology Presentation - May 7, 2026
The Bourne Conservation Commission convened on May 7, 2026, primarily for a presentation by archaeologist John Steinberg of the Fiske Center at UMass Boston. The presentation detailed a non-invasive ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey at Burying Hill in Bourndale, conducted over the previous year to identify unmarked Native American burials and any remnants of a colonial meeting house. The meeting opened with a call to order and a waiver of normal procedures for the presentation.
Presentation Highlights
- John Steinberg presented the methodology and results of the GPR survey, which covered approximately 12% of the lot but collected nearly 5 kilometers of linear data over one week in a highly intensive survey.
- The survey identified two groups of potential unmarked burials, all consistent with flexed (fetal) positions oriented southwest, a common pre-contact Native American burial practice. No extended burials were found. Comparisons were drawn to known cemeteries such as Titicut and West Ferry.
- No evidence of the historic meeting house was detected, which Steinberg noted is common for structures without foundations.
- Steinberg clarified that the survey was completely non-invasive; no excavation occurred or is planned, correcting false information that had circulated online.
- The project was funded through Community Preservation Act (CPA) money from the Town of Bourne, via the UMass Boston Fiske Center.
Questions and Discussion
- Asked about the motivation, Steinberg explained that initial involvement came from a request regarding a potential canoe ramp at Herring Pond, and later Jackie (likely a town official) asked for help at the Burying Hill site.
- Steinberg defined an ossuary as a collection of loose bones (primarily long bones and skulls), citing local examples in Wellfleet and on Grove Street.
- He described flexed burials as likely fetal position burials facing southwest, following the spiritual trail to the southwest, though he deferred deeper cultural interpretation to Native American knowledge keepers.
- Steinberg recommended next steps: survey areas along the historic Herring River to find remnants of the associated village, which would help date the burial ground and understand the activities of Richard Bourne and Thomas Tupper.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or decisions were taken by the commission during this agenda item; the presentation was informational.
- The survey produced new evidence of a pre-contact or contact-period Native American burial ground at Burying Hill, with flexed burials in two loose groups near the lot line with 829 Scenic Highway.
- Steinberg emphasized that this is early-stage research, with much still unknown about the constellation of meeting house, burial ground, and village.
Meeting Transcript
I'll call the meeting to order. This is the meeting of the Bourne Conservation Commission scheduled for May 7, 2026. I'll dispense with my normal thing because we have a presentation. I'll go over that at the end of the presentation for those who have matters before the board. But tonight we're welcoming members of the Planning Board Historic Commission and the Housing Partnership and Trust, as well as members of the Herring Pond Wampanoag tribe. And we're here for a presentation by John Steinberg, an archaeologist with the FIFT Center at UMass Boston, and he is going to present the information that he developed through his research in investigation at Burying Hill in Bourndale. And I assume the majority of the folks that are here are here for that presentation. So with that said, we'll welcome John to the front, and he can open things up. We can see that better. I'm just going to stand here and turn my back to you guys if that's all right. Or you can stand back there. Like five wires, just don't worry about it. I'll be careful with the wire. So I'd like to, I'm going to tell you a little bit about our research at Burring Hill. This took, this began more than a year ago. Can I have the next slide? Since we're in charge of that. I am going to describe the methods and the results. And I will, but I'm going to try and avoid, I've already given a presentation to the Bering Pond tribe folks, where I've showed them specific locations of burials, how the burials interact with each other, and they've come up to the hill where we flag the locations of burials. So unfortunately, I can't share that information. It's actually sort of illegal in the state of Massachusetts to share that information. But I am going to give you enough that you're going to appreciate what we've done and how we've done that. I am going to show you drawings of Native American burials, and I'm going to show you photographs of skeletons of Viking Age Iceland, because what we do in Viking Age Iceland is exactly what we've done here, but without the excavation. So if anybody's going to be offended, but I'll give you another warning when I'm about to show the drawings and the photographs of skeletons. If anybody's worried about that. Can I have the next slide, please? The idea was to determine if burials extended all the way down to the southwest portion of 829 Cenic Highway. And in that process, we were going to try and determine the number and distribution of burials on the hill. As well as if we could see if there was any evidence of the meeting house. Can I have the next slide? So the Herring Pond area. This is a map from 1825, superimposed on an air photo, so you see the canal, but you see how the Herring Pond River used to flow before the canal. And so we're going to talk about the area right down below. And this is one of the. Excuse me. Could you stand over there to see? No, we can all see the one. This is a real geological specialty is unmarked burials in glacial environments. I know that sounds pretty specific, but this turns out to be exactly what you've got. Can I have the next slide, please? Bourndale specifically is at the point of a giant tumoranges. So it's essentially two lobes of the Lurtyne ice sheet that have stopped and moved back and forth a little bit and then melted. And this leaves one of the more interesting geological environments. Can I have the next slide, please? Where you have a series of kettle ponds, canes, drumlins, and outwash planes. And you'll see this all because when we do ground penetrating radar, these are the kind of deposits that we see. So you see the little see the little dots? Those are really important. So those are canes. And many of the burial grounds are put on canes because they're really easy to dig in because they're all sandy.
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