The Original Native Mainers A synopsis of the lives and times of Maine's pre-European inhabitants. By David Sanger Excavation at the Todd Site, Medomak, one of many shell middens along the coast of Maine. Although the first occupation dates to about 3500 years ago, most of the deposit was laid down after 2500 years ago. All deposits were excavated with hand tools and then screened through 1/4" mesh. The stakes mark out a grid system surveyed on the site to record artifacts and other finds locations. W hen Europeans reached Maine's native peoples lived from the excava- continual loss of sites to human altera- shores in the sixteenth century, tion of a prehistoric site and other clues tions of the landscape. And digging by they encountered Algonkian-speaking in the landscape is a difficult proposi- untrained enthusiasts who destroy sites people whose lifestyles represented tion. Even such a basic question as the without recording pertinent informa- thousands of years of adaptation and often-asked "What tribe lived here?" tion further reduces the number of via- accommodation to the land's resources. poses a problem when stone tools or ble sites. In a profound sense, that contact effec- broken bits of pottery are the only The most recent period of Maine tively altered a culture and way of life clues. Behind the professional jargon is prehistory - and the one about which which could never again be reproduced the stark truth that we are still far from we know the most - is generally called or restored. As archaeologists, our job able to answer even the most elementary the Ceramic Period. Beginning some- is to recover and interpret those native questions about the lifestyle of Maine's time around 3,000 BP (as measured by peoples' long history. Because no form pre-European inhabitants. Even if we radiocarbon dates), it was marked by of aboriginal writing existed, the history had unlimited budgets and staffs, we the development of techniques to make of Maine's original peoples must be could still hope to recover only frag- clay vessels. Differences in how Ceramic reconstructed through modern archae- ments of past cultures. Period people decorated their pottery ology, an interdisciplinary endeavor Maine is a harsh land in which to or notched their arrowheads varies some- drawing on the social sciences, humani- conduct archaeological research. Gener- what, depending on the location and ties, and natural sciences. This article ally acidic soils, eroding shorelines, exact time a particular site was occu- reviews the prehistory of Maine from freeze-thaw cycles, and biological tur- pied, but the essential aspects of their 7,000 years before the present (BP) to bidity all reduce sharply the quality and way of life during this period appear to the coming of the Europeans. quantity of archaeological evidence. be relatively homogeneous. Piecing together a picture of how Compounding these problems is the In an attempt to discern patterns of HABITAT: JOURNAL OF THE MAINE AUDUBON SOCIETY 37 January 1988 to date no complete dwellings have been excavated there. A CHRONOLOGY OF Prehistoric settlement locations usu- MAINE ARCHAEOLOGY ally reflect concerns for making a liveli- hood, SO most sites occur in reasonable proximity to food sources. Recent analy- ses, however, suggest that sites were Time (years ago) Period Culture Tradition chosen for a combination of reasons, 0 Historic including shelter from winds, good canoe launching areas, and places to 1000 Late Ceramic acquire rocks for making stone tools. Middle Ceramic Travel on foot through Maine's forests 2000 Early Ceramic and wetlands was always arduous, SO it is no accident that the majority of 3000 inland sites occur along riverbanks and 4000 Late Archaic Susquehana around lakes. Rapids were especially 5000 Maritime Archaic favored prehistoric camping sites, per- 6000 Laurentian haps because of the good fishing they provide. Unfortunately, many of the 7000 Middle Archaic state's most important sites have been 8000 destroyed because European settlers 9000 found the same areas advantageous for Early Archaic building mills. 10000 A common popular misconception is 11000 Paleo-Indian that Maine's prehistoric inhabitants lived on the coast during the summer and moved inland in winter. Research at coastal sites suggests that this tradi- tional view of seasonal migration is human behavior, archaeologists employ sea mink, which has not been found in oversimplified. Because some food spe- theoretical constructs, or models, to sites farther downeast. Mainland sites cies, such as migratory birds, are sea- help integrate their various data. Here and those on large islands usually con- sonally specific in Maine, their remains in Maine, cultural-ecological models tain large numbers of deer and some- leave clear evidence of seasonal occupa- have proven the most useful, one of times moose bones, whereas sites on tion. Other species, such as clams, go which incorporates the related concepts small, offshore islands may lack such through a shell-growth period during of subsistence and settlement systems. remains because the human inhabitants the warmer months. By examining a Except for some very late prehistoric primarily consumed fish. Interestingly, clam shell of the period, it is possible to crop cultivation in southwestern Maine, lobster shells are almost never found in get some idea of the season when the native peoples here were hunters and any of the sites. Also generally absent clam was dug up. Based on these find- gatherers, relying on those species they from the record is sufficient evidence ings, we now know that both summer found in the wild. Archaeological evi- about which vegetable foods were eaten. and winter residency occurred along the dence of consumed food is most com- Ongoing analysis of charred seeds and coast. prehensive along the coast, where heaps nuts from interior sites on the Piscata- Determining inland seasonality is of discarded shells, called middens, quis River near Milo may yet provide a complicated by a scarcity of faunal buffer the acidic soil and preserve shell- few clues about this important dietary remains. Some lines of evidence, based fish and animal bones. Inland, where component. mostly on slight variations in artifact preservation is generally less complete, The study of settlement also includes manufacture, hint at the possibility of a archaeologists get only occasional in- housing, site selection, and use of the distinct interior population of people. sights into subsistence patterns. Never- region. Ceramic Period dwellings along Linguistic evidence that points to inland theless, it is clear from the record that the coast typically were small huts, and coastal dialects of Penobscot lan- the native peoples were broad-spectrum averaging about 9 by 12 feet, and fre- guage further strengthens the hypothe- collectors, taking a wide range of spe- quently dug into existing shell deposits sis that distinct interior and coastal cies, although as might be expected, or subsoil. At one site in Penobscot populations occurred, at least during some preference is evident. The mix of Bay, near Isle au Haut, 3-foot-high shell the last few centuries of the prehistoric bones varies from site to site, depending walls were built up around the dwell- era. on season and the local availability of ings. Clean beach sand and gravel were The highly visible shell middens species. For example, archaeological often spread on the floor of these coas- found all along the Maine coast are sites in Cobscook and Passamaquoddy tal huts, and it is common to find traces mostly a product of the Ceramic Period. Bays, in eastern Maine and western New of a hearth. Huts that were occupied Perhaps the best-publicized ones are the Brunswick, contain many more beaver during the winter show evidence that a oyster-shell middens of the Damaris- remains than do sites along the central considerable amount of time inside was cotta River, which are reportedly among Maine coast, whereas the latter sites devoted to tool manufacture. Hints of the world's largest. While that claim is contain numerous bones of the extinct similar houses occur in the interior, but probably an exaggeration, the Damaris- 38 HABITAT: JOURNAL OF THE MAINE AUDUBON SOCIETY cotta middens were truly impressive tools include scrapers for working skins The Archaic Period was one of sub- before commercial mining for chicken and woodworking tools needed for stantial environmental change in Maine. scratch and lime greatly reduced their making canoes, snowshoes, and other Pollen analysis has shown that about volume a hundred years ago. One essential items. 5,000 years ago, hemlock, which had "heap" was at least 30 feet high and was While archaeologists know far more reached maximum densities in the re- begun about 2,400 years ago. Natural- about the Ceramic Period than preced- gion, began a rapid decline. In its place ists writing about the middens a century ing ones, much more remains to be came the northern hardwoods, species ago were struck by the large size of some learned. We understand virtually noth- that were more attractive to browsing of the oysters and by the fact that the ing about the cosmology of the people, animals, such as deer, and eventually species was no longer found in the river. nor do we have any idea how they dis- humans. If we employ a carrying capa- Although many theories have been put posed of their dead. There are indica- city model for the period, we might forward to explain the oyster's demise tions that some subtle artifact differen- expect - and do, in fact, find - more along the Maine coast, recent investiga- ces occur along the coast from Casco sites after 5,000 BP than before. tions have pinpointed the arrival of the Bay to Washington County. Are these The late Archaic is a complex period oyster drill (a gastropod that preys on differences attributable to ethnicity, because various cultural traditions, oysters and which probably arrived in consciously distinct societies, or are representing influences from outside response to increased salinity brought they a product of localized adaptation the state, overlap. Subsistence patterns on by sea-level rise) as the most likely to the environment? vary little from the Ceramic Period, culprit. Once the oyster was extirpated, The period preceding the Ceramic is except that there was less emphasis on probably about five or more centuries termed the Archaic, and it is tradition- shellfish and a greater focus on sword- before Europeans arrived, native peo- ally divided into early, middle, and late fish, a Gulf Stream species which rarely ples abandoned the area. It is an inter- stages. During the late Archaic, which frequents inshore waters today. Several testing example of how people responded ran from 6,000 to 3,000 the inhab- lines of evidence suggest that the Gulf of to the ecosystem's abundant but rela- itants' overall lifestyle probably was not Maine was warmer 5,000 years ago than tively short-lived local carrying capacity. significantly different from that of the today, which may explain the proximity In addition to ceramic vessel shards, Ceramic Period. Archaic sites are scarce, of swordfish to the marine-adapted archaeologists have found chipped pro- not SO much because there were fewer hunter-gatherers of the Maritime jectile points, probably arrowheads, people at the time but because remains Archaic tradition. Artifacts from this made of flint-like rock. During the were not as well preserved. As a result period suggest contacts with people Ceramic Period, these points tended to of sea-level rise, many coastal Archaic both in southern New England and be smaller and of different shapes than sites were probably submerged or en- north to the Atlantic provinces of those made in earlier periods. Other tirely washed away. Canada. 1 2 4 1145+50 G1 5 7 G2 8 11 12 13 A schematic view of one wall at the Todd Site (photographed some small clam and mussel, loosely packed. Maybe a house at left). A column sample of the midden was removed for floor dated at about 1150 years ago. Shell free layer G-1. intensive analysis of physical and chemical characteristics of Level 6) Olive-brown, silty sand. Level 7) Clam deposit with the deposit. The number 145+ 50 refers to a radiocarbon some small mussel, moderately packed. Level 8) Clam date based on charcoal from this site. Level 1) The forest soil deposit, densely packed medium to large pieces. Some mussel. horizon formed after site abandonment about 600 years ago. Levels 9, 10) Not present in this seciton. Level I I ) Dark, Level 2) Clam and mussel shells, broken and loosely-packed. organic level; a little crushed shell. Shell-free layer G-2 dated Probable root disturbance. Level 3) Olive-brown, silty sand to about 2200 years ago. Another possible house floor. Level with small shell fragments. Level 4) Densely packed clam and 12) A thick soil horizon of a buried forest soil. Level 13) The mussel deposit of various sizes. Level 5) Dark, organic level; buried soil horizon. HABITAT: JOURNAL OF THE MAINE AUDUBON SOCIETY 39 ferent focus on their environment. For example, at the Turner Farm site on North Haven Island, a Maine State Museum research group found that whereas the Maritime Archaic peoples apparently caught a lot of swordfish, b d a C the Susquehanna peoples apparently avoided the species altogether. The process of taking over a territory is debatable and remains one of the major unanswered questions in Maine prehistory, but outright warfare seems very unlikely among people at the hunt- ing and gathering level of subsistence. The descendants of the Susquehanna tradition may have stayed on in Maine to become the Ceramic Period peoples and eventually the Algonkian speakers of historic times. If such is the case, then archaeology can trace the ancestors of Maine's modern native peoples back to at least 3,800 years. The middle and early Archaic period, from 6,000 to 10,000 BP, is poorly understood in Maine because SO few sites exist on which to base conclusions. Some artifacts are reminiscent of those found in southern New England, and on g the basis of these similarities archaeolo- gists have assumed a common culture. Chipped Projectile Points from various Maine Sites. a-c) Late Archaic Period, Most of the artifacts are picked up as Maritime Archaic Tradition, from the Eddington Bend Site, Penobscot River. surface finds from west of the Kennebec Estimated age 4,000 years. d-f) Late Archaic Period, Laurentian Tradition, River drainage. Important new discov- from the Hirundo Site, Pushaw Stream. Estimated age 5,000-6,000 years. g-h) eries from the Penobscot and Piscata- Middle Archaic Period from the Hirundo Site, Pushaw Stream. Estimated age quis rivers are currently undergoing 6,000-8,000 years. analysis. On the banks of both rivers, 7,000- to 10,000-year-old campsites A common link at that time between rentian tradition, brought with them are buried under 3 to 6 feet of silt de- people of New England and the Atlantic distinctive artifacts and, apparently, less posits from river floods. To date, none provinces was the practice of burying of a fascination with red ochre as a bur- of these radiocarbon-dated deposits their dead with quantities of red ochre, ial accompaniment. Their habitations contain diagnostic artifacts similar or crushed hematite. These interments are found around lakes and along major enough to those from southern New of the so-called "Red Paint people" had river systems, such as the Hirundo England to warrant definitive state- long mystified local antiquarians until Game Preserve site on Pushaw Stream ments regarding cultural relationships. archaeologists discovered that the graves in Alton and in stratified sites on the The links, if any, between these Archaic did not represent an isolated group but Piscataquis River near Milo, which is cultures and the Paleoindian period were actually the cemeteries of the Mari- currently being researched by teams have yet to be shown. time Archaic tradition. Unfortunately, from the University of Maine at Far- After more than a century of interest interest generated by these spectacular mington. in the prehistory of Maine's native peo- burial sites resulted in their destruction A final late Archaic tradition of sig- ples, archaeologists are finally making by curio collectors and early archaeolo- nificance in Maine is the Susquehanna progress for three main reasons. First, gists in the nineteenth century; many tradition, thought by most specialists to until the late 1960s, there were no fully details regarding disposal of the dead represent a migration of people up the qualified, professional archaeologists are lost. Nevertheless, the "Red Paint coastal plain, from a homeland in the resident in Maine. Now, archaeologists -people" remain firmly entrenched in mid-Atlantic states region, about 3,800 teach in several Maine universities, the minds of many Maine residents as years ago. Their distinctive spearheads curate and do research in museums, and the typical pre-European culture. and other artifacts are markedly differ- work for state agencies. Curriculum ent from those of the Maritime Archaic packages are being developed for Inland, the territory was inhabited by and Laurentian traditions, as is their schools. Students can get undergradu- people whose ancestors came to Maine practice of cremating their dead. While ate instruction in archaeology at several from the forests and lakes of the St. they selected many of the same sites to universities and graduate training in Lawrence and Champlain lowlands. occupy as their predecessors did, they both historic and prehistoric archaeol- These people, whom we call the Lau- appear to have developed a slightly dif- ogy at the University of Maine. 40 HABITAT: JOURNAL OF THE MAINE AUDUBON SOCIETY Second, today's archaeologists are trained differently from their predeces- sors. Once purely an offshoot of the humanities, modern archaeology now involves collaborative research with scientists in several fields, as well as the application of the principles of scien- tific method in analyses. Finally, environmental protection legislation is now applied to archaeo- logical remains SO that important sites are now accorded some of the same pro- tection accorded to endangered plant and animal species. We can never regain all the information that has been lost to carelessness and vandalism, but new discoveries will be better protected. There is much still to learn from the human experience of the past. Rim shard of a dentate stamp decorated vessel from the Eddington Bend site. David Sanger is a professor of anthro- Estimated age 2000 years (Middle Ceramic Period). pology at the University of Maine. Dating the Past Archaeologists, geologists, and contain the same proportions of car- stem from measuring the small other scientists have long sought the bon-14 and carbon-12 found in the amount of carbon-14 that remains most accurate method to determine atmosphere at the time of the tissue's against normal background radia- the age of remains and artifacts from formation. However, the propor- tion, as well as from the need for the past. In recent decades, refine- tions change over time, because once large sample sizes (carbon-14 dating ments in the study of radioactivity incorporated into living tissue, car- repires up to 100 grams of sample have led to the development of a bon-14 begins to decay radioactively, material for accurate analysis, and powerful new technique called radio- whereas carbon-12 remains stable. many artifacts are simply not that metric dating. The radiometric Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 large). Recently, a new technique method most widely used over the years, meaning that half the carbon- called accelerated mass spectroscopy past 35 years is carbon-14 dating. 14 present in a tissue sample will has been developed, allowing scien- Atoms of different elements, such decay over that half-life. By compar- tists to analyze samples from 1 to 5 as hydrogen, helium, and carbon, ing the proportion of carbon-14 in a grams in weight and up to 30,000 include nuclear particles called pro- sample from an archaeological dig or (perhaps 40,000 with pure samples) tons and neutrons. The number of lake-bottom sediment to that now years old. These small sample require- protons defines an atom's identity: present in the atmosphere or in fresh ments now allow dating of materials, hydrogen, for example, has one pro- tissue samples, scientists can deter- especially human remains, formerly ton; helium, two; and carbon, six. mine the age of an ancient tree, bone, thought to be too small or too valu- The number of neutrons determines or other organic artifact. able to sacrifice. which isotope, or variant, of an ele- As with any technique, carbon-14 For dates beyond the limits of ment is present. While nearly 99 dating has its limitations. Scientists carbon-14 dating, scientists have percent of naturally occurring car- have worked to verify carbon-14 measured the decay of several other bon atoms also contain six neutrons dates on samples less than 7,000 radioactive isotopes. The potas- (carbon-12), a few contain seven years old by carbon-dating tree rings sium/argon method has been widely (carbon-13) or even eight (carbon- on live, ancient bristlecone pines. used to date materials older than 14). Those isotopes with excess neu- With this technique and others, maxi- 10,000 years, and dates are obtain- trons tend to be unstable and subject mum margins of error for dates have able, at least in theory, for samples as to radioactive decay. The measure- been established, sometimes on the old as the Earth. Practical limits on ment of this decay lies at the heart of order of several hundred years. this method are determined by sam- carbon-14 dating. These discrepancies can be due to a ple purity - scientists need to be Carbon-14 is continuously pro- number of factors, including fluctua- sure they are measuring the age of the duced in the upper atmosphere and tions in the levels of atmospheric sample and not that of some impur- is, along with the far more abundant carbon-14. ity introduced in the dating process. carbon-12, continuously being incor- Problems remain with accurate porated into newly formed tissues of Jan E. Pierson carbon-dating of samples over plants and animals. These new tissues 40,000 years old. These difficulties HABITAT: JOURNAL OF THE MAINE AUDUBON SOCIETY 41