American Centuries

Pocumtuck Valley
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American Centuries > Lessons > Curriculum: Everyday Life in a New England Town > Early Indigenous Inhabitants of Deerfield

Early Indigenous Inhabitants of Deerfield

Details

Author
Mary Gene Devlin, Bette Schmitt
Topic/Subject Area
Native American
Historical Era
Early Indigenous and European contact, 1565–1619
Grade Level
Elementary (K–5), Middle School (6–8)
Creation Date
2000
Last Revision Date
2024

Related items

About This Lesson

Summary and Objective

Unit Central Questions:

What do primary and secondary sources teach us about the characteristics of “everyday life” of individuals living in Deerfield at the three turns of the centuries? What do these characteristics reveal about changes in the town since its beginning as an English settlement?

Key Content Ideas Taught in this Lesson and Teacher Background

Indigenous peoples lived in the Deerfield area for thousands of years prior to the arrival of the English settlers. Some objects they made and/or used survive, particularly those made of more durable materials. By examining the objects that remain we can learn something about the lives of the Indigenous peoples. 

As the seasons changed, early Native American nations moved around within their homelands, seeking the best food and other resources. Later, as food cultivation and storage techniques advanced, their seasonal camps became semi-permanent villages. 

The Native American concept of land ownership was significantly different from that of the English settlers. Indigneous peoples used the land in common, believing that all people coexisted on it with equal rights. They were stewards of the land and did not believe, as the English did, that it could be purchased and individually owned. This difference contributed significantly to conflicts between the Indigenous peoples and Western European settlers in the new world. 

For more information, read:

Native Peoples in New England

Intended Learning Outcomes

Understandings

Students will understand:

  1. That Indigenous peoples inhabited New England as far back as 10,000 years ago.
  2. That the Pocumtucks and related Algonkian peoples lived in the Deerfield area before the English settlers arrived (pre-1600). 
  3. Some basic characteristics of the lifeways of Northeast Woodlands peoples from pre-historic times to the 18th century. 
  4. That for early Indigenous groups in New England, climate had the most important influence on life choices. 
  5. That the Pocumtuck people moved around within their homeland, seeking the best food and other resources, as the seasons changed. 
  6. That as food cultivation and storage techniques advanced, Northeast Woodlands seasonal camps became semi-permanent villages. 
  7. That at the time of European contact, Indigenous peoples did not believe in land ownership as the English did. 
  8. That Indigenous peoples used the land in common, believing that all people coexisted on the land with equal rights. They were stewards of their homelands.
  9. That primary sources (objects in this case) can be “read” to learn about history.
Skills
  1. Students will be able to analyze and extract information from extant objects left behind by early inhabitants.

Materials & Resources

Primary and Secondary Sources:

1. Essay: Native Peoples in New England

2.  Artifacts 

a. Steatite vessel
b. Steatite vessel (soapstone bowl)
c. Mortar and pestle 
d. Projectile point
e. Bifacial blade with haft (scraper)
f. Perforators (Awl) 
g. Beaver skin

3. Selected material from:

Robinson, Barbara. Native American Sourcebook: A Teacher’s Resource on New England Native Peoples. Concord, Mass: Concord Museum, 1988.
a. Background Sheet: A Lifeways Time Line
b. p. 35 “Worksheet for Tools – Form and Function”
c. pp. 36-38 “Background Sheet: Native American Tools (Late Archaic Period)”

Other:
  1. For local students- transportation – bus to and from Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, MA
  2. Student notebooks
  3. Drawing paper
  4. Roll of paper to be used for time line

Teaching Plan

In Preparation for Teaching
  1. Review Key Content Ideas and the essay.
  2. Optional- organize fieldtrip
  3. Review and make copies of materials from the Native American Sourcebook.
Activities

Activity 1: Examining Pocumtuck artifacts

  1. Instruct students examine the 7 artifacts listed in “Primary and Secondary Sources” above. They should draw the objects and note what they are made of and how they were used.
  2. Optional- for those schools near Deerfield, MA-Travel by bus to Memorial Hall Museum along Routes 5 &10, noting significant landscape elements and views en route, such as the Pocumtuck Range, the Berkshire hills, the farmland on the flood plains, the wetlands at the north end of town that form what was the oxbow lake beneath the terrace of Main Street. Drive down Old Albany Road to see the evidence of the terrace at the end of the road. Mention that this was used by Northeast Indigenous peoples and extended as far as Albany, New York.
  3. Optional- for those schools near Deerfield, MA- Arrange for a fieldtrip to Memorial Hall Museum to do the museum teacher-led activity in the Indigenous Gallery. Students can view and sometimes handle the stone tools they studied in Step #1 above, discuss how stone artifacts were made, and try napping flint. They can also view pottery fragments, agricultural tools, and trade items.
  4. Optional- for those schools near Deerfield, MA- Return to school, driving along Main Street, down the hill to Mill Village Road to note the southern end of the terrace, the twenty foot drop to the flood plain, and the farms along the route, relating this to the lesson titled Topography and Geology of Deerfield.
  5. Lead a discussion about what these objects “say” about the lives of the Pocumtuck people. What role did these objects play? What information do they give about work, food, and natural resources? In addition, note the following:
    1. Many of these objects were found through archaeological research (the study of evidence in the ground.)
    2. Much of what we know about early Indigenous peoples comes from archaeological evidence.
    3. Only durable objects survive the passage of time so what can be learned from archaeological finds is limited.
    4. Early Indigenous peoples left no written record to help us understand their lives. However, they had, and still have, a rich oral tradition which researchers study to gain a fuller understanding of Indigenous lifeways.

Activity 2: Learning About Northeast Woodlands Indigenous Peoples

  1. Distribute “Background Sheet: A Lifeways Time Line.”
    1. Note that “B.P.” means “before present,” and that “contact” means the time when Indigenous peoples and Europeans made contact, approximately 500 years B.P.
    2. Instruct students to examine these sheets, noting the various categories (date, people, social patterns, climate, vegetation, food, weapons, tools).
    3. Ask which one of these categories determines everything else. (Climate is the most significant category on which everything else depends.) Discuss why.
    4. Ask students to notice the social patterns. How did they change and why? Be certain to include the following points:
      1. As the climate changed and evolved, food sources changed.
      2. Food sources also varied seasonally.
      3. Social patterns evolved. People moved around as necessary to find food sources, water, and shelter, and adapted their eating habits to accommodate the food supply.
      4. Increased farming and storage techniques influenced social patterns by making it less necessary to move around.
    5. Note that in the Deerfield area is evidence of Native American life starting with the Late Archaic and especially the Woodland Periods.
    6. Ask students to use what they have learned to make some educated guesses about early Indigenous ideas about land ownership. [See Key Content Ideas and essay.] Explain or expand if necessary. Ask students to compare with our modern-day beliefs and practices.
    7. Notice the weapons and tools listed in the periods of the “late settlers” and the “farmers.” Compare these to the artifacts studied in this lesson and those seen at Memorial Hall Museum, if a fieldtrip was possible.
  2. Native American Tools
    1. Distribute “Background Sheet: Native American Tools: Late Archaic Period” (pp. 36-38 of the Native American Sourcebook), and instruct students to examine the pages.
    2. Paraphrase the first three paragraphs for students, clarifying such terms as radio-carbon dating.
    3. Ask students to match any tools they studied earlier in this lesson with examples on the Background Sheet, using their drawings and descriptions of as a guide.
    4. Notice any other tools on the Background Sheet and note the time period in which they were used.
  3. Homework – complete the worksheet on page 35 of the Native American Sourcebook.

Activity 3: Re-constructing a life

  1. Instruct students to write a narrative, using their notes and drawings, from the point of view of a person living during the stone age. Ask students to incorporate into their stories artifacts studied in this lesson. The narrative should include a description of the person’s life and surroundings. This work will be continued for homework. [Note: We suggest that teachers create a rubric explaining all the elements which should be included in the narrative. Share the rubric with students before they begin work on the project.]
  2. Form a committee to construct a timeline from 4000 B.P. to the present.
  3. Instruct students to make a drawing of their person and artifacts and attach them to the timeline. (This may be done during general work time or for homework).
Assessment

Use: