Invited presentation at the Vermont Quadricentennial Indigenous Conference, Saint Michael's College, 2009.

1. 16 and 17 Century
th th
Sokwakik
Matthew T. Boulanger
Department of Anthropology • University of Missouri
Vermont Quadricentennial
Indigenous Conference
Saint Michael’s College
May 2–3, 2009

2. Identity
Identity
1. The quality or condition of being the same in
substance, composition, nature, properties or in
particular qualities under consideration; absolute or
essential sameness; oneness
2. The sameness of a person or thing at all times
or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a
person or thing is itself and not something else;
individuality, personality
Definitions from the 1998 Oxford English Dictionary, emphasis added

3. Sokwakik ca. A.D. 1600–1700
Missisquois
Missisquois
Lake
Champlain
Canibas (Norridgewocks)
Canibas (Norridgewocks)
Cowasucks
Cowasucks
Pigwackets
R.
cut
ecti
Winnipesaukees
Winnipesaukees
Sacos
n
Atlantic
Con Ocean
Penacooks
Sokwakik Merrimack R.
s
ican
M ah
Pocomtucks
Nipmucks
R.
Woronocos
Woronocos
n
dso
s
ngers
Hu
pinger
Narragansetts Wampanoags
Mohegan
Wappi
Wap
Pequots
Quiripis
Quiripis
Adapted from Foster and Cowan (1998)

4. Pottery Type as Index Fossil
“The analysis and interpretation of
archaeological data reveal a number of
cultural complexes which have definable
spatial and temporal distributions”
(Smith 1950: 99, emphasis added)
“[I] was able to distinguish two ceramic
Time
styles, and to make several tentative
suggestions as to chronology”
(Rouse 1947: 10, emphasis added)
“[S]uch an analysis...would prove useful in
obtaining a more minute chronological
differentiation”
(Ritchie and MacNeish 1949: 97, emphasis added)
Modified from O’Brien and Lyman (1999)

5. Pottery Type as Identity Marker?
“It was hoped that our survey might reveal significant
areal subdivisions which eventually might be referred to
historic tribal units.”
(Ritchie and MacNeish 1949: 99, emphasis added)
"Important fields for future research lie in the
documentation of more...historic sites so that the
distributions of the three archaeological culture
complexes, Windsor, East River, and Shantok may be
correlated with all the known historic tribes."
(Smith 1950: 156, emphasis added)

6. MacNeish’s ‘Iroquois’ Types
Pottery Types
Onondaga Mohawk
Rice Woods
Younger
Pompey Center
Archaeological Sites
Martin
Roebuck Wagoner Hollow
Durfee Otstungo
Caen Garoga
Swarthout Cayadutta
A.D. 1350 A.D. 1687 Lanorie Chance
Ivey Goodyear Lake
Older Calkins Bainbridge
Pillar Point Castle Creek
Images and text modified from MacNeish (1952)
Wickham

7. MacNeish’s ‘Iroquois’ Types
“The presence of the Mohawk types...in the pottery of
sites thought to be ancestral to, or which have been
identified as historic sites of [Algonquin Indians]
suggests relationships...I believe we may have a
Mohawk influence on the Algonkins, though it just as
conceivably could the converse.”
(MacNeish 1952: 73)
“It appears that, for much of [New England], the
Algonquins in historic times had pottery styles more
similar to the Iroquois than to the Owasco”
(MacNeish 1952: 88)

8. Stylistic traits are often
particularly good indicators of Hypothetical transmission of
stylistic elements and
knowledge through traditional
space/time relationships means from individuals A and
B, to their descendants. Note
that change operates in
A3 stochastic fashion.
Traditions of ceramic
knowledge are inherited and
Time
A2 B2
modified across and between
generations
A1 B1
Style changes stochastically
through time
A B
Similarity of style suggests Space
similarity of history

9. Native Communities at Contact
Missisquois
Missisquois
Lake
Champlain
Canibas (Norridgewocks)
Canibas (Norridgewocks)
Cowasucks
Cowasucks
Pigwackets
R.
cut
ecti
Winnipesaukees
Winnipesaukees
Sacos
n
Atlantic
Con Ocean
Penacooks
Sokwakik
s
ican
Merrimack R.
M ah
Pocomtucks
Pocomtucks
Nipmucks
R.
Woronocos
Woronocos
n
dso
s
ngers
Hu
pinger
Narragansetts Wampanoags
Mohegan
Wappi
Wap
Pequots
Quiripis
Quiripis
Adapted from Foster and Cowan (1998), and Grumet (1995)

10. “Melted down by disease”
Disease Dates Extent
Smallpox 1520–1524 Unknown
Influenza? ca. 1535 St. Lawrence Valley
Unidentified 1564–1570 St. Lawrence Valley & New England
Unidentified 1574 Southern New England
Typhus? 1586 Southern New England
Smallpox? 1592–1593 Southern New England
Unidentified 1612–1613 New England
Hepatitis? 1616–1619 Coastal New England
Smallpox 1633 Merrimack River Valley
Measles/Smallp St. Lawrence & Hudson Valleys, New
1637
ox England
Scarlet Fever? 1633 New England–Great Lakes
Smallpox 1639 Northeastern North America
Influenza 1646 New England
Smallpox 1649 Quebec, Ontario
Known and suspected (italicized) epidemics in
Diptheria 1659 New England northeastern North America prior to A.D. 1663

11. Social boundaries were fluid and open
Disease and warfare began as early as
the 1520s, but were definitely prevalent
by the early 1600s
Native response to social upheaval
involved dispersal as a survival
mechanism

12. “For so we are all Indians as the English are, and say
brother to one another; so must we be one as they are,
otherwise we shall all be gone shortly, for you know our
fathers had plenty of deer and skins, our plains were full of
deer, as also our woods, and of turkies, and our coves full
of fish and fowl...”
Miantonomi (1642)

14. Sewalls Falls, Merrimack River, NH
Drawing by Ellen Pawelczak from Starbuck (2005, Fig. 3.18)
Bark Wigwams, Northampton, MA
Photograph by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society,
see also Johnson and Bradley (1987, Fig. 8)

15. Fort Shantok, Connecticut
modified from Johnson (1993, Fig. 6e, 6g)
Site 86-2, Connecticut
modified from Lizee (1994, Fig. 58, 67)

16. Griswold, Lower Connecticut Valley
from McBride (1984, Fig. 4.27)
Site 86-2, Connecticut
modified from Lizee (1994, Fig. 66

19. Fort Hill
Guida Farm
Pine Hill

21. Identity
Identity
1. The quality or condition of being the same in
substance, composition, nature, properties or in
particular qualities under consideration; absolute or
essential sameness; oneness
2. The sameness of a person or thing at all times
or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a
person or thing is itself and not something else;
individuality, personality
Definitions from the 1998 Oxford English Dictionary, emphasis added

22. Acknowledgments
My thanks to Donna and John Moody for their invitation to present,
and my apologies for not being able to do so in person.
Peter Thomas provided insightful and helpful comments on an earlier
draft, and he has been supportive of the analysis of the Fort Hill
material since day one.
Special thanks and best wishes to old friends in Vermont.
Questions and comments may be addressed to me at
boulangerm@missouri.edu
Additional information on this research may be found at:
http://missouri.academia.edu/MatthewBoulanger