GREENFIELD — Archaeologists studying the Great Falls Massacre have made progress in their pursuit to understand the 1676 battle with new musket ball and artifact discoveries near Meridian Street, Colorado Avenue, Colrain Road and Nash’s Mill Road in Greenfield.

David Brule, president of the Nolumbeka Project, an Indigenous history and culture preservation nonprofit, provided the update at an event sponsored by the Historical Society of Greenfield last week at the Episcopal Church of Saints James and Andrew.

Brule read a Sept. 4 report from Chief Archaeologist Kevin McBride, of Berlin, Connecticut-based archaeological consulting group Heritage Consultants, and Field Director David Nuamec. The report stated they have largely concluded their metal detector surveys on Meridian Street and Colorado Avenue leading south into the Deerfield River fords.

The report states, “Preliminary analysis suggests this area saw the heaviest fighting of the battle,” with around 300 musket balls located in the area — an increase from the 150 musket balls found in early August, with the report adding that these findings suggest “prolonged fighting with little movement compared to other areas of the battlefield.”

This discovery is important for understanding the nature of the battle. The report states these findings highlight two possible scenarios for the fighting between the English and Native American forces, which included members of the Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Narragansett, Pennacook and Abenaki tribes.

The first scenario would be the Native forces created defensive positions for an ambush of the English headed to the Deerfield River fords, with some trailing the English. A second scenario could be that the English had to fight the Native forces to reach the fords south, then defend the trails that led to the fords.

At this time, the archaeologists need to establish if there were two Deerfield River fords used by the English going south, but property owners in this area have not offered surveying permission to the team, and erosion since the 1676 battle has made it difficult to properly survey.

To compensate for these obstacles, the report states the archaeologists will have to use metal detectors in the North Meadows in Deerfield, located across from the suspected fords.”

The composition of the musket balls has been helpful to the team in understanding the type of battle at the Deerfield River, the report notes.

Outside of Meridian Street and Colorado Avenue, musket balls and other artifacts were discovered impacted in the hill above the Green River ford near Nash’s Mill, suggesting this was English fire. The goal now is to conduct continued surveys between the rotary and Nash’s Mill Road, north of the current site at Meridian Street and Colorado Avenue.

During last week’s talk, Brule provided context on how the Great Falls Massacre occurred as part of the larger King Philip’s War. The massacre began in Gill, where more than 300 non-combatant Natives, mainly women and children, were killed by English forces led by Capt. William Turner during a surprise pre-dawn attack.

At first, the idea prevailed that a running battle commenced between Native and English forces after this massacre, but the archaeology suggests more stationary battles took place, with soldiers being ambushed, then retreating. This information about the English retreat was not fully understood, but the work by McBride and his team has helped fill in the gaps about this portion of the battle.

“What [the archaeologists] are doing, and have been doing, is locating the battle action,” Brule said. “But also the root of retreat of the English trying to find out what happened, because they panicked.”

With the clusters of dropped musket balls on Meridian Street and Colorado Avenue, along with the personal items in the surrounding location, a picture of a Native ambush on the English has come into focus.

This fresh perspective on the battle and retreat has been a decade-long process as part of an American Battlefield Protection Program grant from the National Park Service. Brule explained this is one of the few Native American and English battles to be studied under this program, and it has been a joint effort between tribal representatives and the local Battlefield Grant Advisory Committee.

“Having the opportunity to have specialists looking at that whole area and telling a different story from a different perspective, with the Native tribes’ representatives watching over the shoulder of the archaeologists, a whole new perspective came into being,” Brule explained.

“This is basically the first American Battlefield Protection Program study of a Native American and Colonial battle,” he added. “There was the Nipsachuck and Narragansett [battles] in northern Rhode Island, and then this. So it was pretty groundbreaking and we want to do it right.”

As work continues, the Battlefield Grant Advisory Committee will hold meetings to provide updates. More information on this study can be found on the Montague town website at montague-ma.gov/g/48/Battlefield-Grant-Advisory-Committee.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.