Strategies for Exploring the Protohistoric Period on the Southern Maine Coast

Summary

As investigations of the Protohistoric period move away from a reliance on the reliable material culture recovery found in burial contexts, our basis for investigation of protohistoric sites and landscapes in the Far Northeast often begins with European historical records. Recent excavations in the area described in 1607 by Champlain as the village of Chouacoet in Saco Bay, Maine highlight the fact that many of the equivalencies drawn between the archaeological record of the protohistoric and European accounts can be tenuous. This demonstrates that archaeologists must be wary of focusing on seeking the sites, or the types of sites, described by Europeans.

We should acknowledge that European visitors did not experience the same sensory or cultural landscapes as the indigenous populations. A fuller understanding of the experiences, cultural transitions and tragedies of the Protohistoric period can be gained by shifting focus to the way the indigenous inhabitants experienced and inhabited sites and landscapes. This requires a move away from European sources for exploring protohistoric archaeology, more detailed radiocarbon dating of potential protohistoric sites and components (with or without demonstrable European material culture), and an integration of the Protohistoric into wider understandings of the prehistoric Northeast.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22195