25,000 years ago, a mile-thick glacier covered the Battenkill Valley. As the planet warmed, the glacier began retreating North, leaving behind it scoured out bodies of water. 11,000 years later, most glaciers fully retreated from the Northeast. The tundra and expansive grasslands supported herds of elk, mammoths, and caribou. Small nomadic bands of hunters returned to follow the herds north into the Battenkill Valley. These groups of Paleoindians are the forebears of the Mohicans (“River-Folk”) and Abenaki (“Dawn People”).
On view in the nearby case are items from the collection of James Watt , who found indigenous cultural artifacts, made between 12,000 to 14,000 years ago, in North Bennington near the hunting camps established along the Walloomsac River during the Paleoindian Period. The soil in the Valley is very acidic, so organic material like bones decompose very quickly. Most of the cultural objects came from the north side of the river along the highlands, away from the thicker layers of soil in the floodplain. They usually appear within the first twelve inches. This soil is thousands of years old even at this shallow depth.
As the Valley climate continued to change, the environment evolved. Plants and animals that we might find today, such as deciduous forests with deer, moose, and fish, began to appear. During this era, about 8,000 years ago, larger groups of people developed more complex social and political systems. Pottery making begins during this time, evidence of which exists north of the Ira Allen House in the Sunderland area. In addition to hunting and gathering, farming activities and long-distance trading increase. The discovery of cultural objects from this period at intersections of tributaries and rivers—such as where the Green River joins the Battenkill in West Arlington—indicates that indigenous peoples often established camps in locations like this.
While there is evidence of indigenous peoples living in the region throughout the last 12,000-14000 years, more evidence of their lives and culture comes from the period between 3,500 to 2,700 years ago. During this time, the Mohicans and Abenaki created more permanent settlements, cultivating crops while continuing to hunt and fish. Maps from the 1800s indicate the location of sacrosanct grounds in Manchester where the Abenaki constructed burial mounds, likely for containing human remains and sacred cultural items. Today, there is evidence of twelve mounds, each of which was 10 feet long, 2.5 feet tall, and 2.5 feet wide.
Abenaki Couple, an 18th-century watercolor by an unknown artist. Courtesy of the City of Montreal Records Management & Archives, Montreal, Canada.
Later, they began using atlatl (say: at-lat-ul) to throw spears at prey. Atlatl are usually carved out of wood with stone weights that slide back and forth on the device to provide leverage when launching a spear. Indigenous people throughout North America, Central America, and South America used these tools. This method of hunting was the predecessor of the bow and arrow hunting, which archeologists believe started around 1,500 to 2,000 years ago.
80 percent of the spear and arrowhead points in the Watts collection use distinctively colored cretaceous chert, a very fine-grained quartz rock with minor impurities, from the Willard Mountain in Easton, NY. For thousands of years, indigenous people used chert from mountains throughout the north- and southeast, indicating long distance trading during this period. The earliest projectile points feature a concave base (called Levanna style) before the emergence of a point with a straighter base (Madison style). Steel points emerged following contact with the Europeans.
First the Dutch, starting in the 1500s, then the English, forced the displacement of the Abenaki and Mohicans further north. Scholars estimate that 90 percent of indigenous people in the area and across the country died from smallpox, measles, or flu spread by Europeans. US government assimilation policies during the 1800s and 1900s forcefully attempted to destroy traditional Indian cultural identities, such as the forced attendance of thousands of indigenous children at residential schools where it was forbidden to speak native languages, use native names, and continue native practices and beliefs. The US government further relocated many indigenous people to urban centers to become indentured servants to white families.
In the end, Native Americans’ desire to retain their own culture outlasted attempts of forced assimilation. Today, cultural rituals and traditions continue to flourish despite the long-lasting negative effects of government policies. For example, the native-led First Americans Museum that opened in 2021 is the largest single-building tribal cultural center in the country. FAM honors the 39 tribal nations removed from their homelands throughout North America during forced relocations to Oklahoma. More locally, the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association is a professional organization that connects, supports, and promotes Abenaki artists, writers, and performers.
Collecting Practices Today
The ethics of collecting cultural artifacts is complicated. Scholars and students alike can glean a good deal of educational value from items found by amateur collectors. In some cases, their finds might provide some of the only cultural objects detailing past settlements or activity.
Archaeologists would prefer that a more scientific methodology be followed in the documentation and collection of the cultural objects so that the sites are more fully investigated. Unfortunately, this can be an expensive undertaking and limits the amount of research done in an area.
Native Americans differ in their opinion about the educational value of some of these finds. Some are concerned by the removal of cultural objects from sacred locations. In these cases, they would prefer that sites remain undisturbed.
Etowaucum, Roi de la Nation de la Rivière, Mohican by John Verselst , 1710