SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Usually there's a negative connotation when a person says they've been stonewalled.

SOUTH BERWICK, Maine — Usually there's a negative connotation when a person says they've been stonewalled.



Not so for historian and archaeologist Neill DePaoli of Portsmouth. The wall — or, more accurately, stone foundation — was discovered at the end of last summer where, for the past year or so, DePaoli has been conducting an intermittent dig on the old Ichabod-Goodwin property, owned since 2004 by Paula and Harvey Bennett.



How he came to be sifting through the grounds of the property was a piece of luck.



The Bennetts, history buffs themselves who collect and sell historical documents and stamps, came across ceramics and ancient nails within the walls of their house as they were having work done.



The Bennetts got in touch with historian and archivist Wendy Pirsig, who is on the board of directors of the Old Berwick Historical Society. Pirsig, in turn, contacted DePaoli, whom she knew from his work as archaeologist and docent for the nearby Hamilton House.



The discovery of the stone foundation represents a step forward in DePaoli's quest to uncover the property's history. He intends to determine through artifacts and structural evidence whether the property was originally the site of a defensive garrison built to protect a small settler enclave from attacks during the bitter Anglo-Indian conflicts of the 1700s.



DePaoli's research has uncovered the bones of the property's history and gave a brief chronology. In its earliest iteration, in the mid-1600s, it was the home of Thomas and Patience Spencer.



"They lived there — or in a dwelling across the road — it is not clear from the records," DePaoli said, adding the Spencers raised a family of four boys and five girls.



Their eldest son, William Spencer, inherited the property in 1690, and it is generally believed he established the first garrison. He never married. He willed his property to Humphrey Spencer, who took possession of it in 1696.



"Humphrey is the first of the line we can link archaeology with history," DePaoli said. "He and his wife, Mary, ran a tavern there, and there is lots of evidence in the form of wine bottle fragments, clay pipe parts, crockery shards."



But as of yet, although anecdotal evidence exists and the strategic setting would make sense, no artifacts have been discovered to render those assumptions as fact.



"We've found gun flints, but no bullets," DePaoli pointed to as an example. However, the property is large, and many of the amenities would simply not have withstood the ravages of time, such as canvas tents, living hovels and stockade fences.



The discovery of the foundation will lend a measure of structure to future digging, as they now have a definitive point from which to extend out.



The process is a slow one. He and his summer apprentices are two years into it. He calls it a "low-key dig."



Since it is a residence, holes dug over the summer are filled up before the ground freezes and carefully marked.



DePaoli credits the Bennetts as being "critical" to the entire discovery. "Their willingness, their generosity has made it all possible," he said. "They have literally opened their house and hearts to my pursuit."



With the outside dig at a standstill for the winter, DePaoli has started what he calls "inside digs."



He explained that over the summer, artifacts were simply bagged and tagged so as to optimize digging time. Now, volunteers are helping out by carefully washing and drying the artifacts to prepare them for DePaoli's examination.



The "inside digs" take place on Saturdays upstairs in the Counting House Museum on Vine Street. The next session is planned for 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21. Those interested may call DePaoli at (603) 766-0561 for information.