There, a few feet down into the sandy soil of what now rims the southern edge of the new Keene Middle School’s athletic field, Goodby was to find the oldest evidence of human habitation in Northern New England and one of the most significant archaeological finds in the northeastern United States.

What he found there was a settlement of four ancient homes dating to between 12,570 and 12,660 years ago, proof that humans were living here thousands of years before conventional wisdom previously held and placing it on a list of the oldest prehistoric communities to be found in the United States. Putting this in timeline perspective, these dates were only a few thousand years after mile-high ice sat atop New England in the Great Ice Age.

Area archaeologist reflects on big Keene find, the ‘most significant’ of a long career

When it comes to giving credit or the benefit of the doubt to peoples who lived more than 300-400 years ago conventional wisdom is 3 steps shy of brain dead.