UMaine News - Exhibit highlights threatened shell middens containing Wabanaki, environmental history - Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

UMaine News – Exhibit highlights threatened shell middens containing Wabanaki, environmental history

January 13, 2020 News

Shell midden UMaine News Full Article

A new exhibit, “Maine’s Threatened Shell Middens: Losing a Link to Understanding our Past” is on display until spring in the Minsky Culture Lab in the Hudson Museum at the Collins Center for the Arts. The exhibit is designed to help spread the word about the critical situation of middens — heaps of shells — that sometimes contain tools, ceramic shards and bones of animals left behind by indigenous Wabanaki people.

Researchers Alice Kelley and Bonnie Newsom are in a race against time and tides to document the cultural and paleoenvironmental information contained in the shell heaps before they’re swept out to sea.

For more information on Alice and Bonnie’s research:

Solutions article: Minding Maine’s Middens
Project page: Sustainability for Maine’s Coastal Cultural Heritage: Creating a Maine Midden Minder Network and Database