Powerful History - Vermont Agency of Commerce and ...

1 Powerful History : The Archaeology of Native People in the Champlain Lowlands Native American archaeological sites along the VELCO Northwest Reliability Project corridor in Chittenden, Addison and Rutland Counties. Ta b l e o f C o n t e n t s Acknowledgements .. ii The Late Archaic Chapter 1: VELCO NRP Late Archaic Chapter 2: Vermont 's Archaeological The Woodland Periods: Early, Middle and Chapter 3: What is Archaeology?..5 The Early Woodland How Sites are VELCO NRP Early Woodland What is Context?..9 The Middle Woodland Preserving Information for the VELCO NRP Middle Woodland Chapter 4: The Story of the The Late Woodland The Early Paleoindian Periods Early and VELCO NRP Late Woodland VELCO NRP Early Paleoindian Native Americans after European VELCO NRP Late Paleoindian Chapter 5: Why is Archaeology Important?

2 33. The Archaic Periods: Early, Middle and Resources: Native Americans Living in Vermont The Early Archaic Resources: Archaeology in Vermont and VELCO NRP Early Archaic Glossary ..35. The Middle Archaic i Acknowledgements This handbook describes the archaeological studies undertaken by the University of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Program (UVM CAP). and the Archaeological Services at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in advance of the Vermont Electric Power Company's (VELCO) Northwest Reliability Project the NRP in Rutland, Addison, and Chittenden Counties, 2005-2007. All of the studies fea- tured in this volume were funded by VELCO. Francis W. Robinson IV wrote and designed the handbook, which was edited by John G. Crock. Giovanna Peebles, State Historic Preservation Officer and State Archaeologist, and Michael Adams, US Army Corps of Engineers, provided guidance throughout the project and help- ful comments on earlier drafts.

3 Deena Frankel of VELCO completed editing, layout and design. Shana Duval, Howard Bergendahl, Brian Connaughton, and Kerrick Johnson of VELCO also provided help- ful comments. Jim Railey, Martha Hull, Francis Robinson, and Kate Kenny created the illustrations, with photographs by various UVM. CAP and UMASS Archaeological Services employees. Certain illustra- tions were first produced by the UVM CAP for the Vermont Agency of Transportation's Chittenden County Circumferential Highway public outreach handbook. The UVM CAP and UMASS Archaeological Services thank the numer- ous individuals who contributed to the completion of the handbook and the archaeological studies on which it was based. These individuals include: Meg Barros, Howard Bergendahl, Brian Connaughton, Tom Dunn, Shana Duval, John Stamatov, Giovanna Peebles, R.

4 Scott Dillon and the Division of Historic Preservation, and the 2005-2007 UVM. CAP and UMASS Archaeological Services field and laboratory crews, and all of the landowners along the VELCO Northwest Reliability Project power line. ii Chapter 1. Introduction T. he Vermont Electric Power Company (VELCO) was formed in and learning from the important cultural Important Note 1956 when local utilities created the nation's first statewide, trans- remains of the past preserved in the ground mission only company to share access to power across the region and to protect them or study them before The words in bold italics and maintain the state's electricity transmission grid. VELCO recently com- the construction starts. This is the science of have definitions in the pleted its Northwest Reliability Project, which connects portions of Rutland, archaeology.

5 This is what archaeologists do. glossary at the back of this Addison and Chittenden Counties via a new high-power transmission line, handbook. These defini- Who were these groups of people that bringing reliable power to the state and the region. tions will provide more lived in Vermont in the past and what was It's a big job to create and maintain a power placement of the their culture like? Vermont became a state information to help you poles, lines and substations is a huge task by itself, however, it also takes years in 1791 , but, even years earlier, European understand these impor- of planning to design a power line that will suit the needs of the communi- settlers came into this area to start new lives. tant terms. ties and people it touches.

6 Planners work very hard to protect the environ- Revolutionary War battles were fought on this ment in the area of the power line. Part of that planning involves identifying land and naval battles were waged on Lake Champlain. Earlier still, other people were living in the areas that we now call the State of Vermont . You may have heard stories about Indians, or Native Americans, once living in Vermont . Well, they certainly did. In fact, many still live here today. For thousands of years, Native Americans have been making the land of this state their home, including the areas that are now Rutland, Addison and Chittenden Counties. They were the original Vermonters. More than 12,000 years ago, after the last great Ice Age, Native Americans that archaeologists call Paleoindians lived and moved around in the Champlain Basin, where the VELCO NRP was built.

7 Soon after the first people arrived, they uncovered the secrets of the environment around them, and invented special skills to survive in this new land. Over time, Native Americans learned to make good use of Lake Champlain, the ponds, the rivers, the streams, the forests, the fish, the game (hunted animals) and the many other natural resources that people in Vermont still need and enjoy today. 1. They hunted, trapped, and fished. They gathered wild plant foods, and, later in time, they grew crops for harvest. They built shelters, raised families and belonged to communities. They also stayed connected to other Native com- munities nearby and far away, exchanging news and materials such as stone, shell and copper. Throughout this book, you will learn about these ancient Vermonters.

8 We will show you many interesting things about the people who were living in the Champlain Basin and in other areas of Vermont . You will learn about how Vermont 's environment changed through time. We will show you how archae- ologists, like detectives, find clues to the past, and how they interpret these clues. You will learn about some of the important Native American campsites and other ancient settlements discov- ered during the planning of the VELCO NRP. More impor- tantly, you will learn what these sites tell us about the unwritten chapters of Vermont 's History . Finally, this book will show you why archaeology and the careful preservation of archaeological sites is important for us all and for people in the future. Map of Vermont showing the location of counties and the The Charlotte Whale, above, was discovered during VELCO Northwest Reliability Project corridor.

9 The construction of a railroad line in 1849. 2. C h a p t e r 2 . Ve r m o n t ' s A r c h a e o l o g i c a l Pa s t A. round thirteen thousand years ago, North America looked and felt other trees eventually very different than it does today. The world was still in the midst whole forests of trees! In of a great Ice Age. Much of the continent, including Vermont , was order to survive, the origi- covered in huge sheets of ice called glaciers. These glaciers were more than a nal Vermonters learned to mile high in some places! Obviously, it was very cold, and the frigid climate adapt to the changing made food for all living creatures hard to come by. environment. They invented At that time, groups of hardy people called Paleoindians lived in areas special skills to collect resources south of the glaciers.

10 Though they gathered and ate wild plant foods, and and to live safely. They built hunted smaller animals, these people are best known as big game hunters, and, warm, dry shelters and discovered in this case, that means really big game! They used spears, their wits, and the new tricks for hunting and foraging. cooperation of other hunters to bring down and kill large animals like caribou, Over the 12,000 years or so after buffalo, and extinct creatures such as mammoths and mastodons. Hunting that time, the environment of the land these huge animals was challenging and dangerous. Think about this: animals we now call Vermont continued to change, like the mammoth were bigger than modern day elephants! and change again. With every major envi- These early Ice Age hunters were nomadic, meaning that they had no per- ronmental change, Native Americans had to manent home.