Humans lived in this area for thousands of years before the European Age of Exploration. Learn about the people, places, and events that shaped this era in Natick’s past.
Pre-Contact Natick
Learn about the history of this land long before it was established as Natick and about the science behind archaeological discoveries. Our timeline of Natick’s history also details these events and discoveries.
The banner image is of Chickataubut, the sachem of the Neponset band of the Massachusett people. The painting is by artist Joshua Winer.
12,000 Years Of Local History
Archaeological Artifacts
How Archaeologists Study The Past
The Natick Historical Society would like to thank archaeologist Rebecca Sgouros for sharing her archaeological expertise and insight into our local history.
Rebecca is an environmental archaeologist and educator living seasonally in Brookline and Jackson, WY. She is a freelance archaeologist with twelve years of field and lab experience focusing on projects in the Rocky Mountains, specifically the Tetons, Gros Ventre, and Wind River Ranges in Wyoming. Current projects include investigating life and food choices at high altitudes, paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Tetons, an ice-patch archaeology survey along the Continental Divide, and an ancient food & diet study using biomolecular and experimental archaeology techniques.
Rebecca is even more passionate about community engagement and education than research. She co-directs a site at the base of the Tetons in Southeast Idaho that brings public volunteers and school children out to participate in excavation and analysis. Rebecca has worked for several nonprofits and museums in Massachusetts and Wyoming, designing and teaching place-based archaeology programs to create environmental and cultural heritage stewards in her local communities. Rebecca estimates she has taught more than 2,500 students of all ages about local history and archaeology using exciting hands-on programs and engaging digital resources.
In addition to Rocky Mountain Archaeological projects, she works on a Bronze Age site in Greece as a faunal analyst and a Roman estate in Italy as a paleobotanist.
Rebecca is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Anthropological Association, is part of the program committee for the Frozen Pasts Glacial and Icepatch Archaeology Conference, and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees for Hirundo Wildlife Refuge in Old Town, Maine.