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1645 Unus Americanus ex Virginia (An American from Virginia) Wenceslaus Hollar
Natives on the Mount Vernon Landscape for Centuries before Europe "Discovered" The Americas
Mount Vernon explains that archaeologists uncover artifacts used & left by mankind in the deep past. Generally the kinds of tools, manufacturing techniques, & the styles of many Native artifacts changed over time in patterns, that archaeologists & scientists can often identify by region; after they have recovered enough to see a pattern emerge. In the Mount Vernon area date ranges might span thousands of years that can often serve as benchmarks in attempting to create a timeline of mankind in the area from the ancient past.
Early/Middle Archaic Period 10,000–4,500 years ago
Earth's Changing Environment
While human occupation in North America dates back to at least 17,000 years ago (the Paleoindian Period), the 1st occupation identified at Mount Vernon dates to the Archaic period, which saw significant ecological shifts brought about by climatic change.
Over thousands of years, regional forests became dominated by deciduous & nut bearing trees. The formation of the Chesapeake Bay caused rivers to slow creating more diverse ecological environments for marine & plant species. Game animals such as deer, elk, rabbit, & turkey became common.
In this changing landscape, Native populations began to grow & thrive. Societies consisted of small groups, or bands, of people who moved frequently throughout the year to exploit seasonal resources. Towards the end of this period, groups began to move less frequently or widely, as local resources became more plentiful & predictable.
Early archaic projectile points recovered from the South Grove Midden. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
Earliest Period of Human Occupation
Evidence suggest that this is the earliest period of mankind in the area of Mount Vernon. Stone spear & javelin heads, often mistakenly called arrowheads, dating to the Early & Middle Archaic have been recovered close to the Mansion. Initial research on artifacts recovered archaeologically at the Slave Memorials & early burial ground suggests that this site was 1st visited at the end of this period.
Rather than a permanent settlement or village, the site seems to have been continually revisited by communities over the succeeding several thousand years on a seasonal or temporary basis.
Late Archaic Period 4,500-3,200 years ago
A fragment of the rim of a steatite bowl. Note the quarrying marks, or grooves, on the surface. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
Population Growth
The environmental changes of the Early & Middle Archaic periods seem to encourage continued population growth among groups during the Late Archaic period. River resources played an important role to the communities of this period. Migratory fish species, such as shad & herring, as well as shellfish, became increasingly important to regional diets.
The appearance of steatite or soapstone bowls also helps define sites from this period. Such stone bowls were carved or hollowed out by hand from blocks of steatite which were quarried from local sources. These bowls could be directly heated on a hearth unlike vessels fashioned from animal hides or plant fiber. These factors encouraged the Native inhabitants toward a more sedentary lifestyle, moving less frequently & staying in a single location for longer periods of time.
A flaked, pecked, & ground stone ax. Such tools were used from the Middle Archaic through the Woodland periods. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
Stone Tools
At Mount Vernon, archaeologists have recovered evidence of Late Archaic communities living throughout the property. The burial site, however, was clearly most heavily occupied throughout this period based on the artifacts recovered from excavations. For example, stone “axes” used to cut wood for fueling fires & building; as well as, stone pestles used to grind nuts, grains, or plant fibers were recovered.
These tools invented & used in the Middle Archaic continued to be essential for Native peoples in the following periods as well. Archaeologists also recovered large numbers of steatite fragments from the cemetery, in addition to numerous examples of distinctive broad bladed “spear” points usually indictive of Late Archaic traditions.
Early/Middle Woodland Period 3,200-1,000 years ago
Clay Container Pottery
The transition from the Archaic to the Woodland Period is often defined by the invention & production of clay container pottery by Native communities. These vessels played a key role in the cooking & preservation of foods & medicinal plants
Increasing the cultivation of edible & medicinal plant species & the exploitation of diverse local food resources, such as fish & small game, led to greater population growth & sedentism. Indeed, as this period progressed, communities moved towards settlement into larger villages often supplemented with small seasonal camps for additional resource gathering.
A fragment from the rim of a ceramic storage vessel that has been tempered with sand. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
Pottery Fragments
Native communities continued to occupy Mount Vernon in the transition from the Late Archaic to the Woodland periods based on the presence of early ceramics on the property. We can tell these are early ceramics by examining the inclusions, or temper, in the ceramic. Temper is a term archaeologists use to refer to material Native potters mixed into the clay while making pots.
These additions made the pots less susceptible to breaking from the thermal expansion & contraction of cooking. Importantly, for archaeologists, the kind of temper Native groups used varied over time. Some of the earliest temper regionally was crushed steatite. Later ceramics were tempered with sand or crushed oyster shell, & were often decorated.
At Mount Vernon’s burial site archaeologists have recovered examples of pottery that suggest groups continued to exploit the riverine resources here into the beginning of the Woodland period. Fragments of pottery have also been recovered from excavations at other locations in Mount Vernon's historic core, including in the South Grove & Upper Garden.
Late Woodland Period
A Late Woodland projectile point which would have tipped an arrow. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
Agricultural Societies
Regionally, the Late Woodland period saw a transition into fully agricultural lifestyles among the local Native communities. With more intensive farming came the rise of centralized political power & larger villages often served as the seats of chiefdoms, with rules & enforcement.
Tobacco, beans, native copper, & other trade goods arrived in the area throughout this period via expanding networks of interregional trade with other Native tribes..
The growing, more stationary, agricultural lifestyle was supplemented with hunting & foraging. The prevalence of the bow & arrow for hunting, which seems to become prevalent in this area was 1st used in the Middle Woodland period, meant a general shift towards the small, triangular-shaped arrowheads & away from larger projectile points.
Colonial European arrival disrupted these societies as disease, conflict & colonial policy destabilized traditional Native social & political structures, & land rights within many established Native communities.
Throughout the Late Woodland, Native communities would have hunted & foraged for resources, as well as, farmed throughout the landscape of the area surrounding Mount Vernon. Current evidence, suggests that Mount Vernon was not directly occupied on a permanent basis during the period of contact with Europeans in the early 1600s.
A variety of Late Woodland ceramics recovered from sites at Mount Vernon. (Mount Vernon Ladies Association)
Instead, Native groups such as the Dogue, who had a major settlement on Mason’s Neck, artifacts associated with the Late Woodland have been found at sites located both inside & outside the core of Mount Vernon.
For detailed discussion see:
Christopher Egghart
Cliff Boyd
Michael B. Barber
Carole Nash
Bernard K. Means
Elizabeth A. Moore
Christopher J. Shephard
Martin D. Gallivan
Keith Egloff
