Connecticut’s First Fishermen: The LeBeau Fishing Camp

Summary

Located on the Quinebaug River, the LeBeau fishing camp and weir is the oldest known weir in Connecticut. Approximately 8,700 artifacts were recovered from the site, primarily lithic tools made from locally sourced materials such as quartzite. These tools indicate the specific activity of fishing and processing. Diagnostic artifacts recovered from the site indicate that it was utilized by indigenous people over the course of thousands of years, from the Middle Archaic to the Early Woodland.

Among the site’s notable features is the presence of the diagonal weir, which is particularly useful compared to the traditional V shaped weir. This pattern allows for trapping activities to take place at lower water levels along the shore, whereas the V pattern concentrates the actions on the deeper, center portions of the waterway.

This presentation will explore not only how the LeBeau site differs from other fishing sites found throughout Southern New England, but also how its artifacts provide a unique window into the past and how Native American people utilized the Quinebaug River as part of their seasonal subsistence strategy. And why these unique features included it to be listed as a State Archaeological Preserve.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20410