thumbscraper site idea

[will dawes]

Well ill be posting the pics after work today but i believe i have come to an assumption on my stream site where i find all kinds of thumbscrapers a few of you are familiar with my finds from said site . Ive found several glass trade beads at this site now and also a good amount of bone wich appears to have come from small mammals such as beaver along with a couple beaver incisorors as well over a hundred small scrapers this leads me to believe that there is a contact period fur trade site wich is very well preserved in my mind as well as ceramic period and a possible archaic and paleo influence as well as i said i will post pics of the entire assemblage aftr work tonite for those who are interested in this topic if im rite it is a stratified site of a scale almost unheard of in my area hope you folks enjoy the assemblage later

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Will, I'm always interested in seeing your finds; especially the artifacts from the secret site.  :woohoo: My take on a multi cultural site: If it was a good place to make a home 10,000 years ago then it would probably be a good place to make a home 300 years ago.

[OnewiththewilD]

sounds like a great spot! maybe if you've got a metal detector you can scan the area and maybe find historic era artifacts too?

[will dawes]

Thanks alot ron it means alot to me that you have such an interest in my finds i rather like most of those finds you post as well and yoyr thoughts are my thoughts on the occupation of this site thanks again and ill be posting more in a bit

[Hoss]

Looking forward to seeing the finds and reading more about this.

[will dawes]

Hoss old boy how are ya been awhile since we spoke last my thought. On this being a fur trade site is mainly spurred by the very limited amount of glass beads ive found but in my mind what truly backs my theory is the absolute vollume of thumbscrapers i find there it just seems to make sence that if a group of people are prepping furs for trade than you would need a wealth of scrapers to do the job at hand .even to this day there are beaver muscrat and otter on said stream. And good deer and coon hunting woods all around thay stream also so as ron said its probably always been a a good place to be .but my question for u hoss is how much do you know about our fur trade here in the northeast i cant find much solid info to back my theory here any help from an old pro would be much appreciated thanks

[dirt kicker]

Can't wait to see these artifacts. I love scrapers, I think even if I had the choice of steel knives or a flint scraper to choose from it would be flint. The shape of a scraper and the sharp edge it can hold is a superior tool for cleaning hide.

[will dawes]

Dirt kicker i agree i started fleshing a deer skin last year with a knife ended up making a scraper out of some local rhyolite way more effective tool

[OnewiththewilD]

i agree, a stone scraper has more "bite" on the flesh side than a knife does.

[Hoss]

This is an awesome book from a CT author who was a Col in the civil war and wrote many books one of which is "History of the Indians of Connecticut from the Earliest Known Period to 1850" I know it does not cover Maine and to get early history on Maine you may want to search some Massachusetts archives because Maine was part of the Masschusetts Bay Colony and did not become a state until the 1820's  Attempts to settle there were difficult at best. The French Settled in the St Lawerence R and the English worked from Down East working northward. A lot of settlements failed in those early days. It may be difficult to find information on this stuff.
The early book about CT is now available online for free.

https://archive.org/stream/historyindiansc00darlgoog#page/n14/mode/2up

[Hoss]

Just a side note that era was so brief in the span of time that the artifacts are probably extremely rare. For that reason maybe not much is available to read about. The reason is the first settlements were coastal trading posts Prime Real estate the first thing to be crushed under the whitemans foot all along the eastern seaboard. Once Europeans owned it they just tore it down and built it back up the way they wanted. So much history was lost in the brief period along the eastern seaboard in my honest opinion.
I found this quote on Wiki the Histroy of Vermont page.
  "The end of the war brought new settlers to Vermont. The first settler of the grants was Samuel Robinson, who began clearing land in Bennington in 1761.[6]
In the 28 years from 1763 to 1791, the non-Indian population of Vermont rose from 300 to 85,000.[7]"

[will dawes]

Well here they are boys this site has given a pile of artifacts some very old some very young so here is the assemblage and a few pics of some cooler arts ive found there



  quite an assemblage for a tiny atea and all wre surface picked no digging has bbeen done YET! Haha

[will dawes]

Thanks hoss i thought these contact period artifacts were rare for just that reason as well and thanks for the refferance material as well i hope to increase this collection before winter theres so much more there im just so glad i put the effort into finding the spot almost 8 years of searching tjat stream and it paid off ill say it to everyone dont give up on a stream if you think its there and cant find it just keep looking its there  B)

[Hoss]

Nice assemblage there Information is probably available on the furtrade but more Hudson Bay area and then of course our western Mountain Men Far as the east coast goes these sites are few and far between. as the best real estate was taken first. Like say New Haven or Milford CT Both at te mouth of rivers. easy access for shipping. Unload wares from Europe and load up furs, timber and other resources to take back over the pond.
I am pretty sure that book has copy of some old land deeds with information on how many kettles and blades beads and cloth was given for huge tracts of land.
I really encourage anyone to read that book by Deforest I pulled a cool excerpt out of it here.
"In February, 1639, Ansantawae, sachem of the Pau-
gussetts or Wepawaugs, sold the English a considerable
tract near the center of the present township of Milford.
The purchasers laid down before the sachem six coats,
ten blankets, one kettle and a quantity of hoes, knives,
hatchets and looking-glasses. A twig and a piece of turf
were handed to Ansantawae by one of his followers. He
stuck the twig into the turf and gave both into the hands
of the English. By this ceremony, he considered him-
self to have passed over to them the soil, and all which
the soil sustained. An instrument of sale was likewise
drawn up, which was signed on the part of the Indians
by Ansantawae, Anshuta, Arracowset, Manamatque and
several others.f The Wepawaugs were considered so
numerous at this time that the colonists deemed it neces-
sary for their own safety to enclose the whole town plot
of a mile square with a palisade. "
Deforest came from Seymour CT that is 12 mile from where I grew up. There is so much history in that area which is very dear to me. Reading the book again just makes me miss it more now that IO have moved to TN. At one place in this book it shows actual deeds with the Sachems mark as these people had no alphabet and could not spell they made a mark

[Hoss]

There are some very nice scrapers in that lot. Love the deep red Munsungan Chert too.