Since 2003, the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation (EPTN) and the Anthropology Department of the University Massachusetts, (UMass) Boston have collaborated on an archaeological project to uncover EPTN artifacts located at their historic reservation (Est 1683).

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Chairwoman Katherine Sebastian Dring, J.D. and Tribal Council have worked closely with Stephen W. Silliman, Ph.D., Anthropology Department Chair and Professor at UMass Boston, to create a unique historical and educational project. The artifacts are cleaned, preserved, cataloged, analyzed and temporarily stored at the UMass Boston Anthropology Department. The project includes informative sessions and demonstrations for both tribal members and the community. Several Eastern Pequot Tribal members, including a historic preservation and cultural advisor, have worked alongside college students at the Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School.

In addition, 13 master thesis projects were completed and 10 housing sites, containing artifacts such as pottery and other household items, were recovered on the reservation. To read more about the discoveries made at the EPTN reservation please visit the thesis index page>> or click on the following links:

• Negotiating Boundaries of Colonialism: Nineteenth Century Lifeways on the Eastern Pequot Reservation, North Stonington, CT (2005 ) Cipolla, C.N.
• Potsherds and People: Considering the Connections Between Ceramics and Identity at the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Reservation, North Stonington, Connecticut (2005) McNeil, J.A.
• Constant Changes: A Study of Anthropogenic Vegetation Using Pollen and Charcoal on the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Reservation, North Stonington, Connecticut (2006) Jacobucci, S.A.
• Material Studies of Eastern Pequot Clothing in 18th and 19th Century Connecticut: Issues in Collaborative Indigenous Archaeology (2007) Patton, J.K.
• Negotiating Colonial Markets: The Navigation of 18th Century Colonial Economics by the Eastern Pequot (2007) Witt, T.A.
• Consumption and Colonialism: A Zooarchaeological Analysis of Two Eighteenth-Century Sites on the Eastern Pequot Reservation (2008) Fedore, M.A.
• Bound in Stone: A Landscape and Architectural Analysis of the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Reservation, Connecticut (2012) Hasho, S.L.
• Household Spaces: 18th and 19th-Century Spatial Practices on the Eastern Pequot Reservation (2012) Hayden, A.K.
• Architectural Debris and Construction Sequencing at an 18th-Century Rural Native American Household in Connecticut (2013) Hollis, T.D.
• Coastal Connections and Reservation Contexts: Eastern Pequot Collection and Consumption of Shellfish in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (2012) Hunter, R.
• Spatial Analysis and Subsurface Survey at a 19th-Century Eastern Pequot Site in Connecticut (2013) Lane, S.C.
• Corporeal Negotiation at the Margins of the Colonial Landscape: An Examination of Late Eighteenth-Century Embodiment of the Eastern Pequot Reservation (2014) Lewis, K.B.
• Changing Environments and Economies: A Comprehensive Zooarchaeological Study of the Eastern Pequot (2014) Williams, C.

The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation Archaeological Collection was transferred to the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Museum in 2019  at the request of the  Eastern Pequot Tribal Council and under the direction of Dr. Stephen Silliman.

The Pequot Museum will provide appropriate artifact storage and opportunities for collaborative projects and exhibits with the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation.