Prehistoric Cultures: 9500 B.C. to 1600 A.D.
Prehistoric human occupation of Vermont can be divided into three major time
periods: Paleoindian (approximately 9500-7000 B.C, or 11,500-9,000 B.P.),1 Archaic
(approximately 7000-1000 B.C, or 9,000-3,000 B.P.),2 and Woodland (approximately
1000 B.C. to 1600 A.D., or 3,000-400 B.P.).3 Subdivisions of these three periods are
based on broad cultural changes linked directly to climatic changes over thousands of
years.
Archaeology in South Hero
Very little is known about the prehistory of South Hero; few archaeological
studies have been conducted and the few sites that are recorded in the state site inventory
are primarily isolated finds. One of these sites, designated VT-GI-15, is located on the
Round Pond property at the southern edge of a flat ridge of land overlooking Round Pond
and the large wetlands complex.4 This site is an isolated find of a Jack’s Reef cornernotched projectile point, dating between ca. A.D. 500 and 700.5 The location of this find
has not been investigated; it is not known whether this projectile point represents an
isolated hunting loss or indicates the presence of a larger site.
Paleoindian Period (7000-1000 B.C.)
Because of the high level of the Champlain Sea during the Paleoindian period,
much of the Champlain Islands would have been underwater. It is possible that humans
occupied or otherwise utilized the land at South Hero as early as the late Paleoindian
period, but it is more likely that the earliest sites date from the early Archaic period,
around 9,000 years ago.6 The only existing indication of Paleoindian activity in Grand
Isle County is a fluted projectile point found in Grand Isle. However, this projectile point
is not necessarily an indication of a Paleoindian presence on the island: the artifact was
recovered from a location that contained fill trucked in from another area.7
Archaic Period (7000-1000 B.C.)
The Archaic period encompassed a time of dramatic change in the climate of
Vermont. The end of the glacial period brought with it higher temperatures and drier
climates. With these climatic changes, the plant and animal populations of Vermont’s
Paleoindian period shifted; by the beginning of the Archaic in 7000 B.C., over 100
species of megafauna such as mastodons and moose-elk were extinct. Other species such
as caribou moved north with the retreating tundra. Over the course of the Archaic period
the plant species in Vermont shifted dramatically; by around 2300 B.C. the alpine tundra
of the early post-glacial period had given way to nearly solid forest cover.
With these climatic changes came cultural changes: heavy reliance on herds of
caribou and mastodon for food necessarily shifted to other sources. Plant foods were
more readily available than previously, and alternative sources of meat were sought in
fish as well as smaller mammals such as deer and bear. New, highly mobile hunting and
1
Consulting Archaeology Program, 20, 27.
Consulting Archaeology Program, 29, 35.
3
Consulting Archaeology Program, 41, 44.
4
Vermont Division for Historic Preservation
5
Thomas, 12.
6
John Crock, personal communication.
7
Haviland, 25.
2
gathering cultures now known as the Archaic tradition developed with these shifts in the
ecology of Vermont.8
At this time there is no known direct evidence of Archaic period activity at the
Round Pond site. However, excavations at the Grand Isle Fish Hatchery revealed a late
Archaic hunting camp (VT-GI-18). This provides direct evidence of human activity on
the island at least as early as 2800 to 2400 B.C. 9
Woodland Period (1000 B.C.-1600 A.D.)
This period of time covers the shift from the hunting and gathering cultures of the
Archaic period to the more sedentary horticulture-based Abenakis that lived what is now
the Champlain Valley at the time of the first European contact in the 17th century. This
period is characterized by increasing cultivation of native plants and increasing trade that
brought in exotic materials such as copper or different varieties of chert from hundreds of
miles away.10
The Jack’s Reef corner-notched projectile point found at site VT-GI-15 on the
Round Pond property dates between approximately 500 and 700 A.D., putting it squarely
in the Middle Woodland period. No other direct evidence for Woodland period activity
at this site is known to exist.
Early Contact (1600-1779 A.D.)
Prior to any extensive contact with European traders or settlers, the Abenaki
societies in Vermont already felt their presence through wave after wave of plague that
decimated populations throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.
Increasing trade with Europeans introduced and iron products and cloth, inciting further
broad cultural change, as did opportunities with the newly developing fur industry.11
These changes led to increasing shifts in settlement patterns. While the Abenaki people
lived in other areas surrounding Lake Champlain, South Hero was apparently sparsely
inhabited or even uninhabited by non-Europeans by 1779.
Recommendations
The property at Round Pond State Park should be considered highly sensitive; the
wetlands and location on the shore of Lake Champlain provided the same attractions for
animals in the past as they do today, thereby making this location an excellent site for
human activity. Prior to any ground disturbance, a professional archaeologist should
make a site visit to conduct preliminary testing and provide recommendations.
8
Haviland, 38.
Sloma, 7.
10
Haviland, 153-4.
11
Haviland, 208-213.
9