Archaic Period Overview

Study Notes

Archaic people were more sedentary than their predecessors. This allowed for a deeper understanding of the environment and the life-systems that exist in the region across seasons and over time.
Early Archaic period (9000-8000 BP): tools included adzes, drills, axes, chisels, bone fish hooks and lines, harpoons, nets, needles for sewing clothes, baskets, traps, snares.
Middle Archaic period (8,000-6,000 BP): characterized by warming temperatures, greater opportunity for fishing up rivers, and more deciduous trees.
Late Archaic period (6000-3,7000 BP): continued warming trend led to the great expansion of diverse life (deer, small game, fish) as well as humans in the New England region.
Three cultures emerged during this period: Lake Forest, Mast Forest, and Maritime Archaic.

Relied on sea coastal environments, from Nova Scotia through Maine, and down the coast.
Hunted large mammals like Caribou and deer, but also aquatic mammals, like porpoises, dolphins, walruses, seals, and killer whales.
Consumed shellfish and sea birds for sustenance - a diverse and adaptable diet.

Inhabited the lowlands between the mountains and the coast, the western boundary of the Great Lakes.
Hunted deer, elk, moose, beaver, bear, small animals, and freshwater fish.

Inhabited regions where mast bearing trees (i.e., nut bearing trees) were common, like oak trees.
Employed small stemmed hunting tools and processing tools (mortars and pestles) for nut bearing trees.

Established in New England from the south following anadromous fish, nut bearing deciduous trees, and deer as they spread northward.
Used distinct tools different from those of previous cultures.
During this period, a cooling trend occurred and archaeological evidence of the Susquehanna disappeared.

Two critical environmental changes lead to migration and adaptation:
- Boreal Forests forced human migration to the coast.
- Change in the coastal plain ecosystem, creation of estuaries, marshes, and barrier beaches.
Fresh and saltwater mix created environments for abundant and diverse lifeforms with several ecological zones.
Woodland people built settlements in the “ecotones”.
Two important adaptations:
- Use of clay
- Bark canoes

Reasons for cultivating agricultural food growth in New England:
- Population pressure
- Interaction with other cultures who were farming
- Greater understanding of the land

Temperate ecosystems, like those in New England, are tied to overlapping cycles of light and dark, high and low tides, waxing and waning moons, and especially the long and short days which mean hot and cold seasons.
Each plant and animal species makes its adjustments to these various cycles, so that the flowing of sap in trees, the migration of birds, the spawning of fish, the rutting of deer, and the fruiting of plants all have their special times of the year.
Plant and animal lifecycles dictate the ways people obtain food. For example: a fox's summer diet of fruit and insects shifts to rodents and birds during the winter, and so did the New England Indians seek to obtain their food wherever it was available throughout the year.