BIBLOPHILIA Book sheds light on Rhode Island's distant past BY MATT RUFO

Although Providence’s Capital Center appears nothing like what it was like 1000, 300, or even 20 years ago, it maintains historic significance. The train station sits at the edge of what used to be a large saltwater pond. And as land was cleared to build the transportation hub in recent decades, archaeologists found evidence of an 1100-year-old Native American settlement where paths connecting different parts of southern New England converged.

Named the Providence Covelands, the site is one of 2400 recorded by The Rhode Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, and one of about 70 listed in its recently released book, Native American Archaeology. The 64-page primer details the history, culture, and conflicts of southern New England’s earliest inhabitants, who have left behind a record made legible since the last ice age through burial grounds, small fortifications, ceremonial sites, and such trading posts as the Covelands.

State archaeologist and preservation specialist Paul Robinson hopes the book will "enable people to look at Rhode Island as more than just a place where you buy a Del’s or go to the beach. It’s a place with a deep and rich Indian history, with many different people living in it." Since names like Narragansett and Pawtucket may be more familiar to locals because of

beaches and the state’s minor league baseball team (before the recent state police-Narragansett clash, anyway), Native American Archaeology invites readers to catch up on the 10,000 years of Rhode Island history.

Unsurprisingly, the story is not pleasant one. Although Roger Williams’s status as a supporter of religious freedom offers a positive light on the state’s creation, interaction between settlers and settled could be bloody. Most notable was King Philip’s War, which occurred in 1675 when Wampanoag leader Metacom (named King Philip by colonists), motivated by the foreign invasion and his own brother’s death, organized a united front of tribes to repel English settlers. Providence, Warwick, and many Indian villages were burned to the ground, and although both sides suffered terribly, the loss of tens of thousands of Native Americans marked a tragedy from which they would not fully recover.

One of the most significant findings described in the book is a Narragansett cemetery in North Kingstown. Prior to excavation, 56 men women and children were buried on their sides in the fetal position at the mid-16th-century site, with their heads pointing to the south or southwest. The remains indicate that the people had suffered from tuberculosis and dental disease, problems that had increased following the introduction of European foods.

Aside from war and disease, the book cites slavery as another dark mark on Rhode Island’s early human rights record. Contrary to popular conceptions of the North, African-Americans and Native Americans were commonly enslaved and placed in indentured servitude at 17th-century plantations in South County, which "was pretty much the same thing as slavery," Robinson says.

Native Americans remain marginalized today, both in terms of population — some 2600 Narragansett live in Rhode Island, compared to the 40,000 prior to colonization — and their economic condition. And if nothing else, though, the recent melee between the state and the tribe has focused attention on the Narragansetts’ ongoing plight.