In 2023, as part of the Sakonnet History Project, Kevin Smith partnered with the Little Compton Historical Society to study pre-colonial stone tools and ceramics in the Society’s collections as well as those found by Little Compton residents over the past 75 years. Nearly thirty people shared what they had found in the Little Compton area in order to gain a better understanding of their collections. In this 92-minute talk, Kevin Smith shares what he learned from working with the community and how it helps to illuminate 13,000+ years of life in the area that is today called Little Compton.

Kevin Smith (above, left) is currently a Research Associate with the Arctic Studies Center at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and with the State University of New York at Albany’s Department of Anthropology. He teaches part-time at Bridgewater State University and is a co-founder and partner at Osprey Heritage Consultants, LLC. (Above, center) He presented slides that show the time span relation between the colonial period and the 12,000 years of Indigenous occupation that preceded it. (Above, right) Another slide shows the time span of each of the archaeological periods in which belongings were found.

(Above) Smith then described the lithic reduction sequence that led to the appearance of some of the artifacts that have been found in Little Compton.

(Above) Smith worked with Museum Executive Director Marjory O’Toole to interview people who have brought in items during some of the Outreach Community Collection Assessment Days. Several maps that Smith presented show the locations of various archaic belongings that were found in Southeastern New England, including those found in Little Compton.