Documents 
Highlight for Album: July 7, 1964 Springfield Union News article on Human Remains at Wissatinnewag (Mackin sand bank).
Album: July 7, 1964 Springfield Union News article on Human Remains at Wissatinnewag (Mackin sand bank).

This article documents that complete human skeletal remains have been recoved from the Wissatinnewag site, formally known as the Mackin sand bank, on Canada Hill Road in Greenfield. The man in the article who recovered the skeleton is the same person who has come forward with a sworn affidavit, giving eye-witness testimony that he witnessed dumping and bulldozing of human skeletal remains into the 10 acre wetland known as R5-23 on French King Highway.
Last change: 05/06/04
Contains: 1 item

Highlight for Album: Tribal Letter of Support for Protection of Wissatinnewag from Abenaki Tribal Leadership of the Abenaki Reserve of Odanak, P.Q.
Album: Tribal Letter of Support for Protection of Wissatinnewag from Abenaki Tribal Leadership of the Abenaki Reserve of Odanak, P.Q.

The Abenaki Nation of Odanak was one of several Native American communities which took in the survivors of the Turner's Falls massacre at the ancient village of Wissatinnewag, also known as Peskeompskut.
Last change: 05/02/04
Contains: 1 item

Highlight for Album: United Southern and Eastern Tribes (USET) Resolution for the Protection of Wissatinnewag and its Burials.
Highlight for Album: Statement from Kevin Sweeney of Amherst College, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, regarding the Wissatinnewag site on Canada Hill Road.
Album: Statement from Kevin Sweeney of Amherst College, Associate Professor of History and American Studies, regarding the Wissatinnewag site on Canada Hill Road.

Prof. Sweeney states that the area of the Wissatinnewag site ("Canada Hill and the Mackin sand bank") was inhabited for at least 7,800 years by Native peoples; he also notes how public funds for archeology are increasingly used to finance "for hire" archeological digs that facilitate development, instead of such funds being used to actually preserve sites.
Last change: 05/13/04
Contains: 2 items

Highlight for Album: State Medical Examiner's letter acknowledging receipt of human cremated bone removed from the Wissatinnewag site (formerly Mackin sand bank) by the Greenfield Police Dept.
Album: State Medical Examiner's letter acknowledging receipt of human cremated bone removed from the Wissatinnewag site (formerly Mackin sand bank) by the Greenfield Police Dept.

In this Dec. 16th, 1999 letter to the Massachusetts Historical Commission, Dr. Ann Marie Mires, Ph.D., Forensic Anthropologist and Director of the Human Identification Unit for the State Medical Examiner's office states: "After examining all of the material from the Mackin site I am convinced that there is enough material here to suggest that prehistoric cremations are present at the Mackin Site and that they are being disturbed by current and past mechanical operations at the site."
Last change: 05/02/04
Contains: 2 items

Highlight for Album: Analysis of Human Cremated Remains from the Mackin Site (19FR-12). Dr. Richard Wilkinson and Martin Solano.
Highlight for Album: Dec. 18 1999 Springfield Union News front page article:  State Order Work at Sand Pit Halted.
Album: Dec. 18 1999 Springfield Union News front page article: State Order Work at Sand Pit Halted.

This article details how the State Historical Commission ordered a halt to the removal of sand from the Wissatinnewag site, known then as the Mackin sand bank, on Canada Hill Road, after remains at the site were determined by the State Medical Examiner's Office to be prehistoric human cremations.
Last change: 05/05/04
Contains: 2 items

Highlight for Album: March 22, 2004 letter from Suzanne Flynt, of historic Deerfield's Memorial Hall Museum.
Album: March 22, 2004 letter from Suzanne Flynt, of historic Deerfield's Memorial Hall Museum.

In this letter, Mrs. Flynt expresses her knowledge of the eyewitness account of burials being removed from Wissatinnewag and dumped in White Ash Swamp, known as R5-23.
Last change: 05/05/04
Contains: 1 item

Highlight for Album: May 2, 2000 Site Visit Summary for Wissatinnewag site from Department of Environmental Management archaeologist Dr. Thomas F. Mahlstedt.
Album: May 2, 2000 Site Visit Summary for Wissatinnewag site from Department of Environmental Management archaeologist Dr. Thomas F. Mahlstedt.

In this report, Dr. Mahlstedt adds his views on the significance of the Wissatinnewag site on Canada Hill Road, formerly known as the Mackin sand bank; he also states that "there is also evidence of burial ceremonialism" at the site.
Last change: 04/30/04
Contains: 2 items

Highlight for Album: Affidavit of George Nelson, eye-witness to dumping and bulldozing of Native American human remains into the White Ash Swamp, the 10 acre wetland now slated for big-box development on French King Highway (Rt. 2A).
Album: Affidavit of George Nelson, eye-witness to dumping and bulldozing of Native American human remains into the White Ash Swamp, the 10 acre wetland now slated for big-box development on French King Highway (Rt. 2A).

Under "the pains and penalties of perjury," Mr. Nelson recounts in detail the destruction of archeological features, the dumping and bulldozing of human skeletal remains into the White Ash Swamp, his salvage of some of these remains and donation of them to the Northfield Museum, and the salvage of an undamaged skeleton from the Mackin sand bank on Canada Hill, which is now owned by the Friends of Wissatinnewag, Inc.
Last change: 05/02/04
Contains: 3 items

Highlight for Album: May 5, 2004 Friends of Wissatinnewag Press Release - declining to appear on biased cable program.
Highlight for Album: Prof. Neil Salisbury Statement
Album: Prof. Neil Salisbury Statement

Prof. Salisbury states that burials have been found at the ancient village site in the past.
Last change: 05/06/04
Contains: 1 item

Highlight for Album: Dr. Eric Johnson, Staff Archaeologist UMASS
Album: Dr. Eric Johnson, Staff Archaeologist UMASS

Dr. Johnson advocated for protection of Wissatinnewag(a.k.a. Peskeompskut) when The Friends of Wissatinnewag were working to purchase the ancient village site.
Last change: 05/13/04
Contains: 1 item

Highlight for Album: Friend's April 30th, 2004 letter to Mayor Forgey and the Town Council
Album: Friend's April 30th, 2004 letter to Mayor Forgey and the Town Council

The Friends decline to participate in cable program controlled by Councilor Isaac Mass, and explain why; Friends also request that the 10 acre wetland be removed from the rezoning proposal.
Last change: 05/06/04
Contains: 2 items

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