Archeological investigations at the Caughnawaga Castle site began in 1943 with surface searching only, followed by plowing in the spring of 1945 and a test trench opened in June 1945 within one of the evident darkened surface areas, where several post molds were found but none indicating a stockade line. In 1948, the Van Epps-Hartley Chapter of the NYS Archeological Association dug a trench 60 feet long and 5 feet wide, but the stockade lines still were not located. Beginning in 1950, Friar Thomas Grassmann, a Conventual Franciscan Friar, with help from the NYS Archeological Association, thoroughly excavated the Native American village of Caughnawaga, and the work was completed in 1956. The Turtle Clan of the Mohawk lived in this castle of Caughnawaga, with castle used as a European term meaning fortified. The settlement was surrounded by a wooden stockade 15 to 18 feet high for protection from intruders, and Caughnawaga means on the rapids or on the water, referring to the Mohawk River. It is the only completely excavated Iroquois village in the world. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha lived here for a good part of her earthly life, and here she was baptized and dedicated her life to the Lord. The site shows a doubly stockaded settlement built with 3,041 posts, a main gate in the wall, no openings in the north and east walls, and 12 elm bark-covered longhouses, with posts also marking the supports for benches or beds along the interior walls of each longhouse.