Food Acquisition
For thousands of years, the Wampanoag and other Indigenous cultures were hunter-gatherers. They were quite mobile as they hunted animals, fished, collected plants, and harvested shellfish. When the climate warmed during the Early Archaic Period (10,000-7,000 B.P.), new animal and plant species were available for hunting and gathering, as well as fish and shellfish in new waterways and shorelines. The Wampanoag utilized these new resources, such as small mammals or acorns, for food. Later, during the Woodland Period, food acquisition techniques changed drastically as bows and arrows replaced spears as the preferred hunting weapon and as plant gathering was supplanted by farming with the introduction of maize (corn). The artifacts here reflect different methods the Wampanoag used to acquire food over time.
Items
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Pig Mandible
Pig Mandible
Right pig mandible with three baby premolar teeth (dP1, dP2, and dP3) emerging Click to Learn More→ -
Fish Hook
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Hoe
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Madison Point
Madison Point
Grey rhyolite Madison point (1,100 - 300 B.P.) with straight sides and a concave base. Click to Learn More→ -
Levanna Point
Levanna Point
Dark grey quartzite Levanna point (1,300 - 600 B.P.) with concave sides and base. Click to Learn More→ -
Abrader
Abrader
Oblong stone cobble likely used as an abrader (sharpening stone) with long scratches on the surfaces running parallel to the length of the stone and a chipped appearance on one end. Click to Learn More→ -
Hardaway-Dalton Point
Hardaway-Dalton Point
Triangular Hardaway-Dalton point (10,500 - 9,000 B.P.) made of grey rhyolite with a deeply concave base and a lot of retouching on the blade and tip. Click to Learn More→ -
Net Weight
Net Weight
Oblong granite cobble with an off-centered pecked groove running the full circumference of the stone for use as a net weight. Click to Learn More→