The Goddard Site is a prehistoric archaeological site in

Brooklin, Maine Brooklin is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 827 at the 2020 census. History Brooklin was originally part the larger town of Sedgwick. Brooklin broke off and formed its own town in 1849. A few weeks later, ...

. The site is notable for the large number of stone artifacts found, most of which were sourced at locations well removed from the area, and for the presence of worked copper artifacts. It is most widely known as the claimed location at which the

Maine penny The Maine penny, also referred to as the Goddard coin, is a Norwegian silver coin dating to the reign of Olaf Kyrre King of Norway (1067–1093 AD). It was claimed to be discovered in Maine in 1957, and it has been suggested as evidence of P ...

, a Norse coin dating to the reign of Olaf Kyrre (1067–1093 AD), was found. The site was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979.

Description

The Goddard Site is located on Naskeag Point, the southernmost peninsula of Brooklin, Maine, which is located on the Blue Hill Peninsula west of

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

on the central coast of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. The site offers an unobstructed view of the surrounding waters and islands, and was apparently a major summer encampment and trading site. Unlike other coastal sites in Maine, there is a marked absence of

shell midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and eco ...

s, and a large number of artifacts have been recovered from the site that originate all across the larger region. Finds include pottery remnants of a sort usually found as far off as

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. The site also included a series of post molds in length, probably the location of a

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often rep ...

. Unusual finds at the site include worked copper, including some of European origin that were found in a Late Ceramic period grave of two children, alongside clay artifacts. The most unusual find, however, is the

, a silver coin of Norse origin, dating to the reign of Olaf Kyrre (1067–1093 AD). Speculation has it that this coin would have been brought to the site by Native traders, since it post-dates the abandonment of the only known Norse settlements in North America. However, the provenance of this coin, claimed to have been found at the site by an amateur archaeologist and old coin collector, is now disputed. While there is no argument about the coin itself being authentic, serious questions have been raised about its actual discovery. Having exposed the "Viking treasure" for decades prominently displayed in the Royal Ontario Museum as a hoax, archaeologist Dr. Edmund Carpenter raised similar concerns with respect to the Norse penny and concluded: "Not proven." The site has shown no evidence of other Norse artifacts.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Geography of Hancock County, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine

Description

See also

References