Battle of Ridgefield Advisory Committee
The Battle of Ridgefield Archaeology Project initiative is guided by a Battle of Ridgefield Archaeology Project Advisory Committee, composed of Connecticut’s leading historians, archaeologists, tribal representatives, preservationists, and civic leaders. Members include:
- Stephen Bartkus, Ridgefield Historical Society Executive Director
- Dr. Andy Horowitz, Connecticut State Historian and Professor of History at UConn
- Ed Hynes, Battle of Ridgefield Historian
- Keith Jones, Ridgefield Historical Society Founding President, Battle of Ridgefield Historian, and Author of two books about the Battle
- Cathy Labadia, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer and Archaeologist
- Rudy Marconi, Ridgefield First Selectperson
- Dr. Anthony Martin, Central Connecticut State University Professor and Archaeologist
- Dan O’Brien, Chairman of the Ridgefield Historic District Commission
- Betsy Reid, Ridgefield Historical Society Collections Manager
- Robert Ross, CT Office of Military Affairs Executive Director
- Steven Meyers, Ridgefield Historical Society Board President
- James Segelstein, Ridgefield Historical Society Board of Directors and Chairman of the Battle of Ridgefield Project Advisory Committee
- Dr. Sarah Sportman, Connecticut State Archaeologist
- Ruth Torres, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of CT Humanities and Brown University Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative
- Dr. Tom Valluzzo, Battle of Ridgefield Historian
The Ridgefield Historical Society is once again partnering with Heritage Consultants, a Connecticut-based cultural resource management firm nationally recognized for its battlefield investigations. The project is led by a distinguished team of experts. Using advanced hi-tech archaeological methods—including metal detection, ground-penetrating radar, and precision GPS/GIS mapping—the team is documenting the battlefield’s extent and integrity. Their findings will help guide local preservation efforts and expand our understanding of the Revolutionary War in Connecticut.
Dr. Kevin McBride is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut and the former Director of Research at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. He has over 40 years of experience conducting archaeological and historical research throughout New England, Block Island, Baja Mexico, the Caribbean, and Portugal, including as the director of 15 National Park Service battlefield projects. His research interests include Indigenous and Colonial cultural and historical landscapes, maritime adaptations, historical archaeology, underwater archaeology, and battlefield archaeology. Dr. McBride is a member of the Society for American Archaeology, the American Anthropological Association, the Society for Historical Archaeology, and the Society for American Ethnohistory and is adjunct Faculty at the Institute for Exploration in Mystic. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Museum of Natural History and of the Governor’s Task Force on Indian Affairs. He has written numerous articles on Native American and Colonial archaeology, ethnohistory, archaeobotany, underwater archaeology, and battlefield archaeology.
Dr. David Naumec is a Historian, Archaeologist, & Museum Consultant. He is an Archaeology Field Director and Military Historian for Heritage Consultants and is Historic New England’s Revolution 250 Research Scholar, studying New England’s indigenous and African American Revolutionary War veterans. Dr. Naumec is a graduate of UConn, holds a Master’s Degree in History & Museum Studies from Tufts University, and a PhD in Race & Ethnicity in Early America through the Civil War from Clark University. His interests include Native American history, colonial North America, the history of Connecticut, and Battlefield Archaeology. He has published several articles on Connecticut History, Native American History, Military History, and the history of firearms. Dr. Naumec was a consultant for historian Keith Marshall Jones’s latest book “The Battle of Ridgefield: Benedict Arnold, the Patriot Militia and the Surprising 1777 Battle that Galvanized Revolutionary Connecticut.”
Dr. David Leslie is a Registered Professional Archaeologist with two decades of experience specializing in New England archaeology and geophysical investigations. He has completed more than one hundred investigations under all phases of Section 106 compliance throughout the greater Northeast. Dr. Leslie currently serves as Director of Archaeological Research at Heritage Consultants, and is also a Research Scientist in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. In addition, he is President of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut and actively serves on several archaeological boards, including the Conference on New England Archaeology, the Eastern States Archaeological Federation, and the Editorial Board of Northeast Anthropology. A leading expert in Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), magnetometry, and metal detection, Dr. Leslie has applied these technologies to significant sites such as Fort Pentagoet in Maine, Historic Jamestown in Virginia, and numerous historic cemeteries. 
David George is the Owner and Principal Investigator of Heritage Consultants, with over 34 years of experience in southern New England archaeology. A Registered Professional Archaeologist, Mr. George specializes in Connecticut’s late precontact, contact, and early historic periods, with particular expertise in Revolutionary War-era sites and War of 1812 fortifications. He holds an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Connecticut. Mr. George has led numerous high-profile projects, including a three-year investigation of Fort Decatur in Ledyard, Connecticut, where he oversaw excavations, geophysical surveys, and preservation efforts in collaboration with the SHPO and The Archaeological Conservancy. He is currently managing the National Register nomination for the fort and authoring a book on Commodore Stephen Decatur and the War of 1812’s impact on coastal Connecticut.