Transcript
of Indians of Eastern Long Island Lecture
Delivered by John Strong
Friday November 8, 2002
The Ancestors: An overview of Montaukett Prehistory
Archaeologists divide the evolution of Native American cultures into the following
approximate time periods: the Paleo-Indian Period (12,500-8,000 years ago) the
Archaic Period (8,000-3,000 years ago), the Woodland Period (3,000-1,000 years
ago) the Late Woodland Period (1,000 years ago-1600AD) and the Early Contact
Period (1600AD-1700AD). These periods are marked by specific changes in the
material culture that has been revealed in the archaeological sites.
PALEO-INDIAN PERIOD
The earliest evidence of human activity in what is now the town of East Hampton
is a fluted spear point left behind near three mile Harbor by one of the Native
American hunters. The distinctive flutes were chipped from the base of the point,
perhaps to accommodate the haft of the spear. This style is named Clovis for
the site near Clovis, New Mexico where fluted points were found among the bones
of a mammoth. Such points have become an important time marker because the mammoth
were extinct about 10,000 years ago. Unfortunately, we know very little about
these people, who were probably traveling through following the game animals.
The archaeological data suggests that the Clovis hunters lived in small bands
of 25-50 people.
With the gradual melting of the glaciers, a number of climatic changes began
occurring between 10,000 and 5,000 years ago throughout the Northeast. The warming
climate encouraged the northward growth of deciduous trees bearing a bountiful
variety of protein rich black walnuts, butternuts, and chestnuts. A rich supply
of fruits, seeds and nutritious roots expanded the food base. These changes
in the environment stimulated cultural changes which mark the transition to
the Archaic Period.
THE ARCHAIC PERIOD
The Archaic Period settlements were usually located near tidal bays where
they could harvest shellfish. In the winter months some of the households probably
moved into sheltered areas where trees or low hills protected them from the
cold winter winds. Artifacts from this period have been found near Little Northwest
Creek and Lake Montauk. These villagers developed a fishing technology well
suited to the shallow bays, small streams, and kettle whole ponds. They harvested
sea sturgeon, rock fish, bluefish, flounder, shad, and striped bass. The bays
abounded with oyster, bay scallops, periwinkles, channeled whelk, and hard and
soft shelled clams, which provided a year round source of protein. Water fowl
migrations brought flocks of birds to the bays on a seasonal round. The forests
behind the bays were full of many varieties of seeds, berries, nuts and game.
Deer, of course, was a favorite source of protein, but archaeological sites
indicate that the people also ate wild turkeys, raccoons, box turtles, woodchucks,
and squirrels. The meager material culture of the Paleo-Indian Period was expanded
to include dug-out canoes, and tools and utensils from stone, bone and fiber.
The women used wooden bowls, grinding stones, mats, bone drills, and awls in
their daily domestic routine.
The social structure was essentially egalitarian. The mobile lifeways of the
Paleo-Indian Period evolved into a more sedentary pattern which exploited the
local ecosystem on a seasonal round. The size and number of settlements on Long
Island increased as the people took advantage of the rich flora and fauna resources
produced by the gradually warming climate. The village bands were probably organized
into extended family groups, which had kinship connections with bands on Long
Island and southern New England. Marriage rules differ, but nearly all cultures
require that spouses be selected from outside their family lineage or clan and
often from outside the village as well. Generally, but not always, the woman
will go to live in her husband's household and become a member of that community.
The villagers on the east end of Long Island's south fork, therefore, were part
of a kinship network which sent marriage partners back and forth in the system,
creating a complex, dynamic, and social interaction sphere.
The decision making process in these small bands was democratic. Generally,
a village headman was looked to for guidance, but only after he had demonstrated
his capacity to lead and to have sound judgment. There were few hereditary social
positions, although the son of a successful leader might have an advantage after
the death of his father. Leadership was "situational" in nature. The
man best able to deal effectively with a crisis or a particular challenge became
the acknowledged leader for the duration of the situation: the best hunter led
the hunting party; the best fisherman led the fishing expedition; the best orator
represented the group in its diplomatic relations with other bands. This rather
amorphous political institution was later to pose problems with the Europeans
when they attempted to impose a system of treaties and contracts on the Montauketts.
These European legal concepts presumed a political hierarchy which did not exist
among the Long Island bands. An Individual Native American might identify more
strongly with a lineage or with a clan than with the particular "tribal"
names (place names ) which were imposed by the Europeans in the decades after
their arrival.
Evidence of religious ceremonialism has been found in a fascinating site at
Lake Montauk; unfortunately, it was located by state archaeologist William Ritchie
in the 1950s after it had been partially destroyed by pot hunters. He discovered
two human cremation burials embedded in red ocher and honored with a bird bone
flute, shell beads, and eight spear points. The use of red ocher and cremation
in funerary rites was well established in the Northeast during this period.
Four major sites have been excavated: two at Orient Point on the eastern tip
of the north fork of Long Island, one about twenty miles to the west at Jamesport,
and a fourth on the south fork near the Shinnecock Reservation. It is possible
that the flute was a part of a shaman's paraphernalia used in religious ceremonies.
In many northern Indian communities, people who were believed to have special
powers such as shamans were cremated.
THE WOODLAND PERIOD
Few sites which can clearly be identified with this period have been scientifically
excavated in the Town of East Hampton, but several have been identified and
partially explored by local amateurs. Local baymen have found sites when they
worked on the bays harvesting shellfish. The major cultural changes which mark
the transition from the Archaic Period are the development of ceramic pottery
and a more efficient exploitation of the ecosystem. These villagers began to
experiment with rudimentary forms of plant husbandry. Some edible seed plants
such as chenopodium (lambs quarters), polygonum (smartweed), phytolacca Americana
(pokeweed), Cucurita pepo (gourd), Amaranthus (pigweed), and Helianthus annus
(sunflower) were cultivated nearly two thousand years before the introduction
of corn, beans and squash into North America.
Pottery appeared in the Northeast about 3,000 years ago. In 1927 archaeologist
Foster Sayville excavated some vessels from this period in a site on Three Mile
Harbor. Sayville worked with a crew of local volunteers, including Roy Latham,
a young farmer from Southold, and Selah Lester, an East Hampton carpenter. These
two enthusiastic amateur archaeologists made a significant contribution over
the years to our understanding of prehistoric peoples on Long Island. They were
avid naturalists who devoted much of their leisure time to the study of local
flora and fauna.
THE LATE WOODLAND PERIOD
The transition to the Late Woodland Period is marked by the introduction of
such domesticated plants as corn, (maize) beans, squash, and tobacco. These
plants were first domesticated in Central America and gradually found their
way into the Northeast. Plant domestication, as we have seen, had been practiced
widely long before these more familiar plants arrived. In spite of their understanding
of plant domestication, the people on Long Island were slow to adopt corn horticulture.
They were doing fine without it. In fact, there has been no evidence of maize
cultivation found in any of the sites excavated in the Town of East Hampton.
We do know, however, that by 1648 when the Montauketts negotiated the first
deed to land in East Hampton, the Indians were growing corn because they asked
for twenty-four hoes, among the other goods, in exchange for the land.
Roy Latham and Selah Lester's nephew Thomas identified thirteen sites from this
period around Three Mile Harbor. Several of these sites were located on Ashawag
meadows. The Ashawag villagers were quite innovative. They protected their fresh
water supply by placing hollow logs upright into the ground around the spring.
Lester and Latham found two of these prehistoric wells. They also found the
remains of domestic activities. There were hearths filled with ash, animal bones,
a large sandstone mortar weighing about 50 pounds and a nine pound pestle.
Along with these materials, they discovered the remains of pottery vessels.
The pots were decorated in a variety of ways, including scallop shell stamping,
cord marking, and punctated designs made with a sharp implement. Two of the
pots were large enough to hold several gallons of liquid. The rims of two of
these communal pots were decorated with four human faces looking out at the
four cardinal points of the compass. Each face has a shell stamped diamond design
around it. The size of the pots suggests that they were used to prepare communal
meals.
Near the end of the Late Woodland Period, perhaps a century or so before the
arrival of the first Europeans, the Native peoples here began to build stockade
forts. The earliest one mentioned in the colonial records stood on the western
crest of the Nominick hills overlooking Napeague Bay. No excavation was done
there, so the exact site is not known. A second fort, which may have been in
use at the time the English arrived, stood on top of Fort hill, overlooking
Fort Pond near the present-day village of Montauk. This site was examined by
William Wallace Tooker, who reported finding 134 graves there. Unfortunately
the site has been vandalized over the years. Several graves were robbed and
there were reports that one person was seen carrying a bushel basket full of
human bones from Fort hill. In 1983, Edward Johannemann, an archaeologist from
The State University at Stony Brook, excavated the site and confirmed Tooker's
description of a stockade enclosing an area 180 feet square.
Johannemann also found evidence of tool making, several stone artifacts, and
some broken pottery. Along with these materials, he found remains of clams,
oysters, whelks, bluefish, and sturgeon. Johannemann noted with some surprise
that there was no wampum and no evidence of wampum manufacture anywhere on the
site. He was surprised because Fort Corchaug, a contemporary Late Woodland site
on the North Fork, contained broken whelk and quahog shells along with drilling
tools, indicating that wampum manufacturing was a major activity there. The
early colonial records are full of references to the abundance of wampum on
the east end of Long Island. The absence of any such evidence at Montauk is
puzzling.
THE EARLY CONTACT PERIOD (1600 AD- 1700 AD)
The early stages of interaction between the Native Americans and the English
settlers on Long Island were distinguished by a pattern of equal status trade
and voluntary adaptation. This pattern gradually shifted to one of directed
acculturation wherein the English imposed their values and customs on the Indians.
The archaeological reports from several contact sites provides some insights
into these patterns. In 1914 a large cemetery was found on the top of Pantigo
Hill in Amagansett. Frank Nelson, an Amagansett farmer, was digging a foundation
for his chicken coop when he discovered three human burials. Several projectile
points and some shell beads accompanied the burials. The discovery did not deter
Nelson from continuing his work on the coop. Nelson expanded his chicken house
to a length of 130 feet, cutting a path 16 feet wide through the center of a
cemetery. By the winter of 1916, he had uncovered 17 more burials. Harry O'Brien,
a Brooklyn doctor, learned of Nelson's discoveries and came out to investigate.
O'Brien, an avid amateur archaeologist, excavated two more burials before he
reported the news to Foster Saville, a professional archaeologist at the Museum
of the American Indian in New York. Saville worked on the site until November
1917, excavating a total of 58 burials.
The burials here appear to represent a transitional period when the Montaukett
were becoming increasingly dependent on European goods while still practicing
ancient mortuary customs. Twenty-one of the burials were wrapped in blankets,
skins, woven mats, or bark. The blankets were European, but the other materials
were similar to those used before the Europeans arrived. One burial contained
the remains of an adult and a child covered by a blanket and accompanied by
several European trade goods. The adult had a necklace of large blue glass beads
and the child wore a string of amber glass beads. Near the skeletons were a
pewter dish, pottery, and a piece of textile. Under the two skeletons were several
white, black, blue, green, and red beads.
Studies of seventeenth century contact burial sites in Rhode Island and Massachusetts
have revealed a number of significant patterns and insights into this important
transitional period. The Native American communities were under considerable
stress as their primary economic, political, and social institutions were being
challenged and altered by their English neighbors. Their hunting grounds were
gradually shrinking as the English settlements expanded. Native economies were
becoming increasingly dependent on the English market system. More and more
Montauketts sought employment for themselves and their children in English households.
The desire for manufactured goods gradually drew more Montauketts into the English
economy. Some were recruited as whalers, provided with boats and iron harpoons,
and sent out to kill the whales that migrated each year along the south shore
of Long Island. Others engaged in less skilled work as indentured servants,
slaves and free laborers. They were viewed by the English as a part of a permanent
underclass. Although the Indians became dependent on the outside economy and
were given little chance to advance in status, they did maintain a separate
culture that continues to distinguish them from other ethnic groups.
THE MONTAUKETTS TODAY
Soon after the American Revolution, several Montaukett families followed Samson
Occom, the Mohegan missionary, to join his Christian Indian community at Brothertown
in central New York State. The rest remained at Montauk until Arthur Benson,
a wealthy developer from Brooklyn, conspired to evict them from their homeland.
He negotiated individual sales of tribal residence rights from the few families
who were still living on Montauk. Most Montauketts had moved to places on Long
Island and southern New England where they could find work. When news reached
the Montaukett diaspora, many were outraged that there had been no negotiations
with the tribe as an entity, so they organized their resources to initiate a
lawsuit. They sued Arthur Benson and the Long Island Railroad in a series of
court battles from 1896 to 1918. Judge Abel Blackmar dismissed the case, ruling
that the tribe, as an organization, had ceased to exist.
The decision was heavily influenced by racial and cultural prejudices of the
times. The official government policy at the turn of the century was based on
the premise that the Native Americans would be better off if they abandoned
their traditional Indian identity and assimilated into the mainstream population.
Indians were pressured to divide up their reservations into individual homesteads
and live like their white neighbors. The mood of the times was clearly against
any move to regain a tribal homeland. Whites expected that the Indians would
gradually vanish into the cultural mainstream. The Montauketts, however, never
lost their sense of an Indian identity. They continued to meet in small family
gatherings and kept in touch through a kinship network.
In the 1990s the Montaukett tribe went through a revitalization process. Members
from East Hampton, Sag Harbor, Amityville and other communities came together
to hold meetings and ceremonies. Robert Pharaoh and Robert Cooper lead two factions
of Montauketts who are working to obtain state and federal recognition. They
organized Powwows at Montauk and on the Stony Brook campus to celebrate the
revival of the tribe. As we move into the new century, however, the tribe has
withdrawn from the public eye to focus on strategies designed to strengthen
their tribal structure.