Gungywamp
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Gungywamp is an archaeological site in Groton, Connecticut, United States, consisting of artifacts dating from 2000-770 BC, a stone circle, and the remains of both Native American and colonial structures.[1] Among multiple structural remains, of note is a stone chamber featuring an astronomical alignment during the equinoxes.
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[edit] Overview
The 100-acre (404,700 m²) site consists of multiple elements covering a broad range of time. There are remains of houses and potential cloth and iron processing sites. There are multiple stone chambers currently believed to be root cellars, two of which are completely intact. Says Connecticut State Archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni, "The thing that's unique at Gungywamp is that there are so many of them."[2]
One of these "root cellars", also known as the "calendar chamber", has an astronomical feature where an inner alcove is illuminated during the equinoxes by the alignment of a hole in the west wall, through which the sun shines upon a lighter stone on the opposite side, radiating illumination within the smaller, beehive shaped chamber.[1]
Somewhat removed from the structures, there is a stone circle, actually consisting of two circles of stones, one within the other, over ten feet in diameter. The outermost ring is made up of twelve stones worked to be curved. It is suspected by archaeologists to have been a mill.[2][3]
Even farther away there is a row of low standing stones, lined up in a north-south facing, one of which features an etched image of a bird with outstretched wings.[1]
[edit] Artifacts
Native American artifacts include arrowheads, stone flakes and pottery fragments. Colonial artifacts include pottery, china, buttons, coins, bottle and window glass, utensils, tobacco pipes, bricks and animal bones. There have been no artifacts found associated with the stone chambers to give any indication of their purpose.[1]
[edit] Stone Chambers
The specific function and temporal origin of the stone chambers has yet to be definitively established. Colonial era root cellars constructed by Euro-Americans is currently considered to be the strongest possibility. Other possibilities include construction by slaves in colonial times, or by Native Americans such as the Pequot or Mohegan tribes.[1] It has been suggested that the site could be one of the ceremonial stone landscapes described by USET, United South and Eastern Tribes, Inc., in their resolution on sacred ceremonial stone landscapes. However, the site is most known among the general public due to the suggestion, originally made in the 1960s, that the stone chambers share similarities with structures from Medieval Ireland. This has been taken by some to indicate that Irish monks, or Culdee, were involved, and that therefore the site contains evidence of pre-Columbian European settlement of the Americas.[2]
The origin of the name "Gungywamp" is uncertain, which has led to speculative interpretation: ancient Gaelic gives, "church of the people" while Algonquin combines "all powerful" (Gunche) with "white" (wamp).[2]
