Archaeologists typically spend the
winter months processing and cataloging collections. Along with this comes
research which will result in presentations, papers and publications. Current research
of the Susquehannock culture period has provided the subject of this week’s
blog in which we explore early Indian-European trade in the mid-Atlantic.
Although the Vikings first
established their settlement at L’ Anse aux Meadows on the northern tip of
Newfoundland around 1000 AD, it was another 500 years before regular contact
between Indians and Europeans occurred. By the late 1400s, Basques and English fishermen
began harvesting cod and whales from the coastal waters around Newfoundland and
Labrador (Kraft 2001: 355-357).
Exploitation of these maritime resources
required a land base of operations for processing the fish and rendering oil in
large cauldrons for later transport back to Europe. It was probably during
these times that they began to trade European-made goods for meat and animal
furs. One of these places was Red Bay, Labrador located at the north end of the
Straight of Belle Isle (Tuck and Grenier 1989).
Red Bay, Labrador Canada
Interaction with foreigners, who,
to the local native groups, dressed differently and spoke a strange language, would
eventually culminate in the exchange of trinkets such as glass beads, colorfully
woven cloth and metal objects for beaver skins. Initially, these commodities were
traded face-to-face. Eventually, as trade
relations developed, native traders began acting as middlemen between Europeans
and other native groups. Some of these objects would survive for centuries to
be rediscovered by archaeologists.
In northern Pennsylvania, the
earliest European derived trade goods are attributed to the Susquehannocks who,
by the mid-16th century were living in small communities around the
confluence of the Chemung and the Susquehanna’s North Branch rivers. At these
places, trade items are extremely rare, consisting principally of metal
ornaments crafted from copper and brass. Among these items are spirals and
tubular beads made by annealing ,
then rolling, these metals into shape. A few glass beads of greenish-blue color,
an occasional fragment of wrought iron and plaited textiles have been found
that indicate some level of variety in the trader’s trade inventory.
By the late 16th century
and into the early 17th century, the Susquehannocks were receiving a
wider variety of European manufactured goods that suggests these interactions
with traders was on the rise as the result of the Susquehannock’s participation
in the beaver skin trade .
By then, Europe had depleted their supply of beaver for the hatting industry.
This was also the period in history
when the Susquehannocks began adopting the pattern of communal life in large fortified
villages with many houses. A major shift of their settlements to the lower
Susquehanna valley around Washington Boro, Pennsylvania occurs where the
environmental setting is more conducive to a longer, frost free growing season
for crops, access to a more direct migratory fowl route as well as a more
strategic position for trade with the English on Chesapeake Bay. With these
advantages then, it comes as no surprise to us that the quantity and quality of
trade goods grew by leaps and bounds.
Although the Susquehannocks
continued trading beaver skins and other furs for many different varieties of glass
beads and copper/brass ornaments they also were successful in obtaining axes,
hoes, knives, harpoons, chisels and other useful tools of iron from European
sources and this is reflected in the archaeological record of their settlements. Around 1630 the
Susquehannocks began obtaining guns. Although guns and gun parts are present
they are by no means common until the 1640’s when flint lock fowling pieces show up as important
trade items on their sites.
Bastion mounted swivel cannon were also desirable
weapons of warfare for the Susquehannocks. In fact, iron and stone cannon balls
were discovered at the Strickler site which was one of their villages of the
1640-1660 period (Kent 1984). One explanation frequently cited is the hostility that developed between
the Susquehannocks and other northern Iroquoians for control of the beaver skin
trade. Another is that small munitions were more effective in taking more beaver
in less time than would have been possible with trap sets alone.
Trade between native groups and
Europeans began once the New World was recognized as a valuable source for beaver
skins and other commodities that previously had been exhausted in Europe. The
gold, silver and emerald resources of Central and South America were never to
be found along the northeast coast of North America. Instead, in a sense the fur
trade made up the difference. In both cases, however, it was the Europeans who
benefitted most.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this
examination of early contact amongst Europeans and Indians in the Susquehanna
valley. It was a complex period of culture change and an important period in
the development of our Commonwealth. If you’d like to learn more about the
Susquehannocks we encourage you to refer to the references below and visit the
Anthropology and Archaeology gallery of The State Museum of Pennsylvania.
Visitors to our museum can view some of the spectacular trade objects
referenced in this blog and gain a sense of the importance of preserving our past for the future.
Bibliography
Kent, Barry C.
1984 Susquehanna’s Indians. Anthropology Series Number 6.
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Harrisburg.
Kraft, Herbert
C.
2001 The Lenape-Delaware Heritage: 10,000 BC
to AD 2000. Lenape Books
Tuck, James A.
and Robert Grenier
1989 Red
Bay, Labrador: World Whaling Capital A.D. 1550-1600. Atlantic Archaeology
Ltd. St. John’s Newfoundland.
For more information, visit PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania .
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