Archaeology and Native Americans

The Bay regions earliest residents, Native Americans, didn't leave a written account of their occupation here. But they did leave records, in the form of stone tools, discarded shells and animal bones, soapstone bowls and ceramic pots. Without a written history, artifacts are the only means we have to learn about the day-to-day lives of the Native Americans who once dominated the Chesapeake watershed.

Pre-European Settlement Tribes and Artifacts

The first inhabitants of the Chesapeake region are known as Paleo-Indians.

• Archeologists recognize their culture by a stone tool called the Clovis point: an elongated, fluted spear head.
• Living in a climate much colder than that of the present-day Chesapeake, these Native Americans roamed the coniferous forests that dominated this area, probably hunting large game like mammoths and mastodons.

The Archaic Indians lived from 9,000 to 3,000 years ago.

• They had to adapt to a rapidly changing Chesapeake environment, learning to take advantage of foods brought in from rising waters and utilize warmer climate plants that were colonizing the region.
• Archaic Indians established trades with other groups to acquire soapstone, which was fashioned into pipes, beads and cooking utensils.
• Although the Archaic Indians lived away from Bay shores, they made seasonal visits to fish, hunt, gather roots and harvest oysters.
• Archeologists discovered Archaic-period stone tools while excavating for the White House swimming pool.

Woodland Indians predominated until European settlers arrived to the Chesapeake region.

• This group is characterized by the advent of ceramic pottery, horticulture and, later, the bow and arrow.
• Woodland Indians were more “sedentary” than previous groups, building small villages as agriculture became progressively more important in their culture.
• They still established small hunting camps to take advantage of the Bay's bounty.

Recorded Native American History

Recorded history of Chesapeake Native Americans began just prior to the year 1600, when newly arrived European settlers began keeping records.

• Captain John Smith, who explored the Bay in 1607, found primarily Algonquin-speaking Native Americans inhabiting the shores.
• At the north end of the Bay lived the Susquehannocks, members of the feared Iroquois Nation.
• Many distinct tribes with their own wiroance, or chief, lived around the Bay, but they often grouped into one confederation. One of the most powerful of the time was the Powhatan Confederation in Virginia, named for its leader (who was also the father of Pocahontas).

Despite their strength and savvy, however, the Chesapeake region's Native American population dropped catastrophically after the arrival of European settlers due to murder, disease and migration.

Native American Archaeological Sites

Scientists estimate that there are at least 100,000 archeological sites scattered around the Bay watershed, just a small percentage of which are documented. Most are susceptible to a variety of destructive factors, both natural and man-made.

• With development snatching up land around the Bay at a rapid pace, undocumented sites may be bulldozed before their valuable information comes to light.
• When farmers plow their fields, they can inadvertently destroy artifacts from a Native American tribe long gone.
• As sea level rises, as it has for many thousands of years, shoreline erosion will continue to destroy many sites.

Fortunately, preserving archeological sites goes hand-in-hand with efforts to clean up the Bay.

• The Critical Areas Law in Maryland and the Bay Preservation Act in Virginia help preserve the shoreline zone where Native American archaeological sites are most likely to exist.

• Minimal till practices encouraged for agricultural conservation minimize the likelihood of artifact destruction during crop tilling.

• Shoreline stabilization projects help protect sites from wave erosion.