I'm particularly interested in those prisoners who reached Massachusetts. Were any of the prisoners that you traced put to work in the Saugus ironworks? If so, do we know how that process worked? Were these individuals with past experience with that sort of work?

Do we know anything about where they lived if they worked at the ironworks? That is, did they live in the area that is now Saugus or further away?

I do 11th-12th century Anglo-Norman and Angevin history (or at least I try) and feel I don't know nearly enough about the archaeology of the period. Could you recommend any reading suitable for someone who only took intro to anthropology in college?

Do we know what the cause of death was for the men you found on those burial sites ? Did they die long after the battle or right after (were they held prisoners for long ?) ? Did the bodies bear signs of injuries from during the battle ? (were they taken prisoners because they were injured and couldn't flee after the battle ?)

Do you know the extent of the mass graves? If not did you consider continuing the excavation to determine the extent of the graves? What issues are there surrounding partial skeletons found? Should they have have been left with the rest of the persons remains? Or should you have tried to excavate the rest to keep the persons remains together?

As a general question, what site have you most enjoyed working at, and what made it so special for you?

More specific question for today's topic, as your focus deals with immigration to the colonial US, it would seem to intersect heavily with David Hackett Fischer's work. Albion's Seed seems to be an eternal debate, one of those books that whether one agree with the thesis in whole, in part, or not at all, they will certainly have opinions on it. So... what are your takes on the 'four folkways'?

Tell me about an average day for these people, what did life look like, what were their luxuries (if any) and what were their punishments? Who were these people? Tell me everything, what a fascinating field to spend your life’s work on!

Hi thank you for having this chat for one.

My question bit off do we know after the prisoners who were sent to England the Few were sent to Barbados. Do we know what happened to them??? After surviving at the Church dig site. I found Ancestor who stories say was sent to Barbados then servitude was bought was sent to Maryland. I heard terms like red legs used do we know if these people were part of this. I do want to say your work in Archaeology is bringing some real questions and bringing alive my ancestor story.

Billie

Thanks for such a cool AMA! It sounds like this whole project has involved a pretty large team all chipping in together. Just how big a team was it, and what was it like working in such a large, dedicated group?

Do you know anything of the battle of Pollilur of 1780? I was reading about it last night because I have the same surname as one of the captains that led the battle. I did get too far in though, really just a story about the two Captain's Baird and Lindsay who were captured but survived. Why were they fighting India?

Hi! Thanks for doing this. Tracing the survivors who were transported to British colonies sounds like a huge job - and a lot of legwork, even once you put down the spades. Did you use a lot of digital resources, or was it old-fashioned digging through archives?

Thank you for taking the time. These days we heard a lot about not finding "organic food" easily, and I think they got it. Do they had different bones composition, like stronger than us, if we could say that?

We’re there any surviving documents to base your research off or were they lost to time? And what was the average age for a Prisoner of War?

Oh hey, I’m one of those descendants.

Anyway, how was the placement of the prisoners arranged? Did governments or companies come forward saying they needed the laborers? Did private entities, such as the Saugus Iron Works, purchase something like contract of indenture on the prisoners from the Massachusetts or English Commonwealth government?

In the case of James Adams, do we know much about his life before he came to Saugus? Do we know where he came from in Scotland or what his roll/rank was in the battle?

How did they determine which prisoners to ship to the colonies? Was it random, or was it based on criteria like those that posed the greatest risk or had a beneficial skill set?

Ive been considering archaeology as a possible career choice, so I actually have a few questions about that. I dont think these are quite the questions you expected, but you did say AMA.

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How did you get started? Did you just go to straight university, or did you work on projects before hand?

Do you spend a lot of time away from home studying sites, participating in digs etc?

How much time do you spend in the field/lab/teaching, and what does your day to day look like?

Is there job security, and are there openings in the field? How is the salary as a university professor?

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Thanks for taking the time to read my questions!

Since you said you know about medieval villages why were they so much worse than roman ones? I know the collapse of eastern roman Empire was devastating but wouldn't all the structures still be in place and some of the people know how they functioned?

You may not be answering questions anymore, if so sorry for commenting; could you share any details on how the prisoners were involved with Maryland?

Do you have an information on Scottish McGee's who were transported to America in the 17th century? I am a in a direct line from a McGee family that I find the earliest records of being in America between 1630-1695.

Edit: Grammer and time range.

A more general question, for the remains of the people who you have discovered that died in battle, what type of weapons and armor did they have/were buried with?

Not sure if you’re still following this post but I’m an 11th great granddaughter of POW Daniel Forbes (changed in America to Forbush) who ended up in Massachusetts. Was there any particular reason why certain prisoners were sent to specific places?