For thousands of years, canoes were central to the lives of Native Americans in New England. Travel by canoe connected people within and between the major watersheds, creating social and economic alliances and distributing scarce resources to far-flung communities linked by ties of kinship and common culture. European settlers, traders, and explorers adopted Native canoe technology in the 17th and 18th centuries, and a few dozen dugout canoes have since been recovered from the bottoms of ponds and lakes across northern New England.

Join archaeologist Dr. Robert Goodby to discover what we’ve learned from these recovered canoes, including six from New Hampshire that have only recently been carbon-dated.

Robert Goodby is a Professor of Anthropology at Franklin Pierce University. He earned his PhD in anthropology from Brown University and has over thirty years of experience excavating Native American archaeological sites in New England. He is a past president of the New Hampshire Archeological Society, a former Trustee of the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, and served on the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs. His book, A Deep Presence: 13,000 Years of Native American History, was awarded the 2023 People’s Choice Award for Non-Fiction by the New Hampshire Writer’s Project.

Author and musician Larry Spotted Crow Mann of the Nipmuc tribe will perform an honor song at the beginning of the lecture. An honor song is a traditional East Woodland Native American song accompanied by a hand drum. They are used to show respect, express gratitude and welcome participants at gatherings.