Google Earth. USDA Farm Service Agency.

Sorrento is a modest New England town in

Hancock County, Maine. It is home to the

Waterside excavation. As its name suggests,

shells are prominent and it is a coastal location

reaching up to 12 meters above sea level. The

land is bounded by ten islands in Frenchman

Bay. Prior to historic colonization, this area was

home to palaeolithic residents dating back to

the Moorehead Phase.

The shell heap dates from 2,500 to 1,800 BCE.

Excavations began in 1892 for the Peabody

Museum at Harvard under the expertise of

Charles Willoughby. His work provided a

detailed record of discoveries found at “Red

Paint” sites. In the early 1900’s, Warren K.

Moorehead continued research, though it brought

controversy with his interpretations. During 1940,

John Howland Rowe, a Maine native and

Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, excavated the

heap. His research revealed multiple levels from

pre-pottery to additional periods of occupation.

The lower layer containing artifacts, identified as

‘Waukeag’, included “bayonets of slate and

swordfish rostrum, beaver incisor knives, gouges,

and plummets in early levels of the Waterside

site…” Beyond these artifacts, the discovery

formed a network with other related places.

Since this discovery, Waterside provided

valuable revelations. It enabled archaeologists

to establish a more accurate time period of

habitation by identifying its various layers of

occupation. Through John Rowe’s work, the

belief that “Red Paint People” were a lost tribe

has been abandoned. The excavation has

provided valuable resources for reconstructing

the life of these early settlers and continues to

be used for research purposes. Brian S.

Robinson conducted the most recent excavation

which yielded even more faunal remains that

are crucial to studying prehistoric environments.

In 1998, Rowe donated the site to the Archaeological Conservancy, becoming

their third preserve in Maine. A waterfront location places it at high risk for

erosion and storm damage. Managing vegetation is a beneficial measure for

preserving integrity. The heap provides continued educational studies and is not

publicly accessible. Faunal remains are housed at the Robert Abbe Museum in

Bar Harbor, Maine under the curation of Julia Clark.

Research by Pauline LaBelle, University of Southern Maine, Public Anthropology. Professor: Nathan Hamilton, Ph.D.

References: Academic Senate, University of California at Berkeley, Archaeological Conservancy, Bruce J. Bourque, Rebeccal Cole-Will, Diane Kopek, Julia Clark, Benjamin L. Smith, Samantha Colt,

Warren K. Moorhead, and the Maine Public Broadcasting Network

Slope Model of Land Elevation of Sorrento

and Surrounding Areas

Maine Office of GIS Orthographic Maps

Zoomorphic Sculptures

This image illustrates a collection of artifacts

attributed to the Moorehead culture as identified

by Bob Doyle, a knapping specialist.

Indigenous people engaged in maritime activities

including hunting swordfish. These stone carvings

are symbolic representations of those practices. The

item in the bottom-right resembles a shark head and

may have been worn as a pendant.

Image from Archaeology of Maine (1922)

by Warren K. Moorhead

Various Pendants from Graves

The Swordfish Hunter: The History and Ecology of an

Ancient American Sea People (2012)

By Bruce J. Bourque