Pre-Contact Pottery and the Woodland Occupations of Vermontand the Northeast: a Closer Look at the Significance of

the McNeil Site (VT-CH-93).

Laurence M. Wolf

The Burlington Intervale is home to several pre-Contact archaeological sites, including Site VT-CH-93,first identified nearthe Winooski River in 1978 by Peter Thomas and the University of Vermont in advance of the construction of the McNeilGenerating Power Plant. During the summer of 2010, a University of Vermont field school conducted a block excavationon a portion Site VT-CH-93. This program gave undergraduate students an invaluable opportunity to take part in anarchaeological excavation and analyze their findings, and increase their knowledge of the region's indigenous inhabitants.Among the artifacts recovered were fragments of pre-Contact grit-tempered ceramics dating to the Middle and LateWoodland periods (2150 BP to 400 BP). During these periods, the design motifs people used to decorate the ceramicvessels varied according to temporal phase and the local traditions within a regional social system. By studying thesevariations within and between sites, it is possible to determine band and regional identities among people living in theNortheast prior to European contact and then use this information to trace population movements and trade relationshipsbetween different groups.

Introduction

This paper investigates ceramic decorationexhibited within a sample of pre-Contact ceramicsexcavated from Site VT-CH-93 in the Burlington,Vermont Intervale. The materials studied wereexcavated during a University of Vermont (UVM)archaeological field school in 2010. In addition todating Middle and Late Woodland periodoccupations at the site, this work also demonstratesthat the inhabitants of northeastern North Americadesigned and produced ceramic vessels thatfunctioned not only as cooking and storage vessels,but also as a means of communication used toestablish group identity and maintain trade relationswith neighboring bands. By impressing anddragging special tools over the surface of an unfiredceramic vessel, native people produced designpatterns that may have been unique to the variouscommunities of family bands living in the differentregions of the Northeast. Based on the distributionof these design motifs, it is possible to distinguishthe extent of pre-Contact trade networks in portionsof northeastern North America as well as achieve abetter understanding of northeastern NativeAmerican identities.

The people living throughout the Early toLate Woodland periods (3050 BP to 400 BP) in theNortheast were primarily family bands ofegalitarian hunter-gatherers, seasonally occupyingsites near bodies of water within the region (Fitting1965; Ritchie 1969; Thomas and Bourassa 1978;Petersen and Power 1983; Heckenberger and

Petersen 1988; Heckenberger et al. 1990; Crock andRobinson 2011). With the advent of pottery around3000 BP and the use of distinctive decoration after2100 BP, it is possible that these family bands mayhave used design motifs on ceramic vessel surfacesto distinguish themselves from other groupsdispersed throughout New England and theMaritime Provinces. By contemplating whether thedesigns on ceramic vessels contain a deeper socialand individual meaning (i.e. a preferred design by asocial group or a single potter), archaeologists cantrace the routes people took. Throughout theirtravels they were not only exchanging the ceramicsthey produced, but also exchanging methods andtechniques for ceramic design. Once a band adoptedcertain design motifs, these motifs could have beenutilized to exemplify a group identity and perhaps,unite the band with others using the samedecorative techniques.

Ceramic Periods

The ceramic sequence compiled byPetersen and Sanger (1991) is used here tocategorize and designate the ceramics recoveredduring the 2010 UVM field school at the Intervaleportion of Site VT-CH-93. Petersen and Sanger(1991) established "Ceramic Periods" (CP)numbered one through seven to classify the period aceramic vessel was made, based on their research ofpre-Contact pottery throughout much of NewEngland and the Maritime Provinces (Tables 1 and2).

1

Table 1; Chronology of Woodland Era Ceramic Periods 1 through 7 (from Petersen andSanger 1991; Haviland and Power1994).

Era Ceramic Daw(BP) Phase Sub-phasePeriod

Early 1 3050~2150 -- .;0"",

Woodland

2 215.0-1650 early Middle Early WinooskiWoodland (1850•.165.0BP)

MiddleWoodland 3 1650~1350 middle Middle :ii!i';:'

Woodland

4 135.0-95.0 late Middle Late WinooskiWoodland (l350~ 115.0BP)

Colchester (11500;950BP)

Late 5 950~650 early Late --Woodland Woodland

6 650~400 late Late ~...Woodland

Contact 7 400~200 ...""'" ~-Period

2

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Of particular interest to this study is thepottery dating to CPs 4, 5, and the beginning of CP6 (Petersen 1980; Petersen and Power 1983;Haviland and Power 1994) that Petersen (1980)defines as belonging to a complex unique to theChamplain Valley: the Winooski Ceramic Complex(Petersen and Power 1983; Haviland and Power1994). The Winooski series itself is split into theEarly Winooski (1850-1650 BP) and Late Winooskiperiods (1350-1150BP), followed by the ColchesterPhase (1150-950 BP). An intermediate stage spansthe time between the Early and Late Winooskiperiods, though very little is known about this stagein Vermont (Petersen 1980; Haviland and Power1994). Early Winooski pottery is similar to theassemblages of other early Middle Woodlandceramics seen throughout the Northeast, includingsites on Martha's Vineyard (Petersen 1980; Ritchie1969). These vessels usually consist of:

Pseudo scallop shell decoration applied withcombinations of simple vertical, drag and rockerstamping techniques; smooth exterior andchanneled interior surfaces; everted square orpointed lip forms; small vessel size and generallythin walled rims and the possible association ofdentate stamped decoration (Petersen 1980: 37).

Late Winooski ceramics, on the other hand, signifya change in uniform ceramic design. Ceramicassemblages from this period exhibit greatervariation (Petersen 1980: 41), possibly indicatingthe existence of more distinct, regional identitieswithin the Champlain Basin.

A combination of cord, dentate, trailed or inciseddecoration in conjunction with a unifying trait ofcircular punctate decoration. Smooth interiorsurfaces, smooth or smooth cord paddledexteriors, and square or rounded lip forms onstraight walled vessels (1980: 41).

Archaeologists have found Late Winooskiceramics in association with artifacts diagnostic ofthe late Middle Woodland Period throughout theChamplain Basin and beyond, including thenorthern areas of the greater St. Lawrence Riverdrainage (Haviland and Power 1994, Petersen 1980,1996; Petersen and Sanger 1991; Thomas andBourassa 1978). However, regional variation withinthis series is also present. For instance, dentatestamping had essentially disappeared elsewhereduring the late Middle Woodland, yet it persisted

4

within the S1. Lawrence River drainage and theChamplain Valley (Petersen and Sanger 1991),.including the occupation sites along the WinooskiRiver (Thomas and Bourassa 1978; Petersen 1980;Petersen and Power 1983; Crock and Robinson2011).

Variation in ceramic decoration and vesselsize (Haviland and Power 1994) continued into theColchester Phase (1150-950 BP) of the MiddleWoodland Period. The use of a cord-wrapped stickbecame the dominant decorative motif, though thetwist of the cordage (S-twist or Z-twist) is believedto relate to the region in which the pottery wasbeing manufactured (Petersen 1980; Petersen andSanger 1991; Haviland and Power 1994; Petersen1996). Because of the introduction of thesedistinctions in vessel designs, some havehypothesized that "interaction between groups inthe Northeast was coming to an end" (Haviland andPower 1994: 121). Evidence of continuedinteraction seems to exist, however, at sites in theNortheast, including within the ceramic assemblagefrom the 2010 block excavation at the Intervale thathas yielded, for example, ceramic artifacts bearingdesigns similar to those used in Owasco- Iroquoianpottery (Ritchie 1973; Petersen 1980; Petersen andPower 1983; Denny 2001). If interaction betweengroups occupying the Maritime Provinces and NewEngland was waning, then it appears that interactionbetween inland Vermont groups and their Iroquoianneighbors was increasing.

The Western Abenaki

One way to better understand the lifestylesof the hunter-gatherers inhabiting the pre-ContactNortheast and their relationships with one another isto look at the ethnohistorical records of the nativesencountered by Europeans exploring and settlingthe New World. The Abenaki, or Wobanakiimeaning "Ordinary People" (Day 1978; Havilandand Power 1994), are part of a larger Algonquianlanguage group spread throughout most ofnortheastern North America south of the S1.Lawrence River and east of Lake Champlain to theAtlantic coast. By 1600, it is believed that theWestern Abenaki inhabited an area of New Englandranging from the Champlain Valley to the GreenMountains and the Connecticut River Valley on tothe White Mountains and as far south as the present

day towns of Deerfield and Northfield,Massachusetts (Day 1978; Haviland and Power1994; Petersen 1980; Petersen and Power 1983;Calloway 1990).

Using ethnohistorical data dating to theContact Period, it is possible to construct a modelfor the social system of the people living during theWoodland periods (Haviland and Power 1994).Europeans settling in the Northeast during the 17thcentury described the Western Abenaki aspracticing an ambilocal residence pattern, meaningthe cohabitation of several generations, includingspouses, within one residence or a dwelling group.Assuming, therefore, that the ancestors of theWestern Abenaki also were ambilocal we might beable to, through ceramic analysis, reconstruct afamily or larger kin group with which a newlywedcouple most closely identified. As groups dispersedthroughout the region, so too did the design motifsthey used to decorate ceramic vessels, providingarchaeologists with an opportunity to betterunderstand the pre-Contact people of the Northeast.

2010 Block Excavation at the McNeil Site in theBurlington Intervale (VT -CH -93)

Past and Present Environment and Topography

The Intervale is located 1.5 kilometerssouth of where the Winooski River flows into LakeChamplain in the northeast comer of Burlington(Figure 1). The Winooski River flows along thesite's east border, Route 127 on its west, and theCentral Vermont Railroad tracks to the south. PeterThomas and Marie Bourassa (1978: 9) noted duringthe excavations in advance of the construction ofthe McNeil Generating Plant that the "presentvegetation in the project area was dominated byopen pasture species - grasses, thistles, nettles, etc."The present study area, a part of the greater VT-CH-93 site that included the McNeil GeneratingPlant excavations, lies across the Intervale roadfrom the McNeil Plant in an area presently coveredby a grassy lawn and gardens maintained by theGardner's Supply Company (GSC) and theIntervale Center (IC), as well as a man-made pondroughly three meters to the north of the excavationsite (Figure 2). About the same distance to the eastis the beginning of the pre-Contact riverbank thatnow abuts a younger terrace adjacent to the presentday Winooski River. Note that Site VT-CH-93 is

located approximately 3.6 kilometers west of theWinooski Site (VT-CH-46) on the opposite bank ofthe Winooski River (Petersen and Power 1983)(Figure 3).

The site itself, which covers a broad area,lies on a floodplain and an older terraced landformthat is dominated by loamy and well drainedWinooski and Hadley soils (Thomas and Bourassa:1978; Crock and Robinson 2011). These soils tendto remain dryer after flooding than the Limericksoils that occur further west towards the McNeilGenerating Plant (Thomas and Bourassa 1978). Onthe southernmost portion of the site is the beginningof a terrace that primarily consists of gravellyColton soil, though it too is well drained andcontains loamy sands (Thomas and Bourassa 1978;Crock and Robinson 2011).

Petersen and Power (1983: 27) note that theenvironmental conditions of the Winooski Rivervalley in Vermont a millennium ago were probablysimilar to what they are today. If this were the case,then the occupants along the Winooski River wouldhave experienced winters and lake effect snowconditions akin to those seen in present dayVermont (Laird and Desrochers 2008). Excavationslike those at the Cunningham Site in Martha'sVineyard (Ritchie 1969) and the Skitchewaug Sitesituated near Springfield, Vermont (Heckenbergerand Petersen 1988) provide evidence that seasonalmovement occurred in different areas of NewEngland. Similarly, the groups living within theChamplain Valley could have also retreated fromtheir lowland, warm-weather habitation sites toupland sites further into the interior of the state toavoid the less hospitable conditions of the LakeChamplain basin in the winter.

The flora found at the Intervale, including"white pine, red maple, sugar maple, Americanbeech, red and white oak, birch, eastern hemlock,northern white cedar, and eastern red cedar" (Crockand Robinson 2011: 23), are typical of mostfloodplain forests in the Northeast (Hughes andCass 1997). Paleobotanical remains recovered at theVT-CH-96 and the McNeil portions of Site VT-CH-93 suggest the presence of a plethora of floralresources used for foods, medicine, and fabric dyesby the native occupants of the sites (Petersen andPower 1983; Hughes and Cass 1997; Haviland and

5

Figure 1: Aerial view of the Intervale where the 2010field school took place. To the left is a map indicatingthe project area in reference to its location betweenBurlington and the Winooski River (source: Crockand Robinson 2011: 13)

Figure 2: View from the south looking northward of the excavation site at VT-CH-93. To the east is new growthforest on the banks of the Winooski River. The rest of the site consisted of lawn and the man-made pond directlyto the north.

Figure 3: Map of the Winooski River and location of the Winooski site (VT-CH-46) (source: Petersen 1980: 6).

6

Power 1994). Food remains recovered from theseWoodland Period sites also correspond with theanimal species that are still present in theChamplain Lowlands today. Besides availablewaterfowl and aquatic species from the WinooskiRiver (the "Salmon Hole" is located a little over akilometer upstream from the site, near the WinooskiFalls [Petersen and Power 1983]) and LakeChamplain, moose, white-tailed deer, black bearand smaller mammal species would have beenhunted by those inhabiting the Intervale.

Methods

Students from the 20 I0 UVM field schoolexcavated a total of seven square meters in theeastern portion of Site VT -CH -93. The studentsexcavated each one-by-one meter excavation unit atthe Intervale in ten-centimeter levels within naturalor cultural strata. Once removed, they sifted allmatrix through quarter-inch screens, storingartifacts in labeled plastic artifact bags to bebrought back to the DVM Consulting ArchaeologyProgram laboratory for future cleaning andprocessing. Where features were identified, theycollected soil samples for finer-grained waterscreening and flotation in the laboratory. Thelaboratory processing took place betweenSeptember 2010 and April 2011.

Feature 1

The majority of the floral and faunalremains unearthed from the field school excavationswere located in a discontinuous stratum designatedas Feature 1 (Figures 4, 5, and 6). Feature 1 waslikely a living surface and included a hearth area,based on the presence of significant quantities offire-cracked (FCR) and fire-affected rocks in somesections, as well as an area of charcoal enriched soilthat consisted of a black, silty loam. Found about61cm (Level 43) to 90cm (Level 45) below theground surface, the UVM students exposed a two-meter square portion of Feature 1 within theexcavation unit. They excavated Feature 1 inarbitrary levels and 100 percent of Feature 1 soilwas collected by unit, level, and stratum forsubsequent laboratory analysis.

Students processed each bag of feature fillseparately and its provenience within the feature aswell as the volume of soil it contained before any

analysis began. After measuring the volume of eachsample, two liters of the feature fill were separatedfor fine-grained flotation. Flotation of featuresubsamples enabled the collection of seeds andvegetation that would have otherwise been lost inthe other stages of processing. Once studentscompleted the float of light and heavy samples, thelarger portion of each soil sample was poured ontoa series of nested eighth-inch and single-millimetermesh screens. This process enabled the analyst togently spray the screens of fill with a hose until allartifacts from the feature were clean and no soilremained. Next, the contents of each screen wereset on individual trays and put aside to dry. Oncedry, the artifacts were sorted according to their typeand recorded and stored for any further analysis.

The paleobotanical remains recovered fromFeature 1 supports the interpretation that Feature 1was indeed a living surface (Table 3). The sampletaken from the excavation block consisted of 28.31grams of floral material from Level 44 and 3.89grams from Level 45. The carbonized remains oftree species recovered from the sample consist ofbeech, ash, pitch pine, red oak, and white oak(Sidell 2011). Out of the 1,782 carbonized plantremains analyzed, 100 fragments of wood wereidentified, of which 71 % (n=71) were pitch pine.While there is some evidence of charred hardwoods(beech, ash and oak) in the sample, perhapsindicating the use of such woods in hearth fires,pitch pine is the dominant tree species identified.

The floral sample also contained foodremains. An analyst identified a total of 229nutshell remains in the paleobotanical sample,approximately 65% (n=148) of which was fromshagbark hickory. Butternut and acorn were alsopresent (Sidell 2011). The presence of thesematerials suggests that people used the area duringthe summer and autumn months, though it ispossible that such food sources were storedthroughout the winter and into the spring.

Besides the abundance of charcoal andcarbonized floral remains, Feature 1 also yieldedlarge concentrations of FCR (Figure 7). A lithicbiface was recovered from another unit to thesouthwest of the site along with a large sample ofpottery sherds. The close association of theseartifacts with the FCR concentration suggests that

7

Figure 4: View of the western walls of units NI054IE838 and NI055IE838. Note the darkened soil of Feature 1and how it continues beyond the wall.

Figure 5: View of the north wall of unit NI056IE839. Note the darkened soil of Feature 1 and the large amountsof fire-cracked rocks.

Figure 6: Overview of 2010 VT-CH-93 excavation with all units. The base of Feature 1 is indicated in unitNI055IE838, though it slopes into a lower level in the adjacent unit NI054IE838.

8

Table 3: VT ..CH ..93 Site: Carbonized Plant Remains (Sidell 2011)

FealureUnrtLe~'QuadSampla no.Sampla t!me

1 1 1 1 1N1055,1039' H1054.£DI N1055,&638 N10Sa.Ee39 N1056S39« ~ ~ ~ ~

NW HE NW iNW NW~8 e34 (134 1037 10381il8"' 1tI" 1Ir ?IF 118'"

SAMPLE WEIGHT (9)>4mm2·4mm14mrnO,5.~ mm

TotalSAMPLe COMPOSITION f:>2 mm cl)Nu~n~11

Cmya cliDln. shagbatk hlckCtyJUDlsn~dniima. butternulQ!i(j/tllS tpp.; I acarn

WoadBarkPitQllCone 6i:sls?TUDer?Rl1lmmeGallUnknownTotal >2 mm

WOOD !DENTtFICATIONS,.Fagus gftlndiloJfo, beechFroxmus spp., ti.ShPinus r/gJda, pltdl plneQjl8'fC~BPP" QakRed oak glroopWhl!aoak groLJProta' 20,

6.638.2'8,0.1:.tl.Oti

'ti5,.11 1i

1lllt22l'

668

"141:

171

1i9

1.611:2.550.05Q.tU4.1:3

."..•••• "W

1019816131

"

7

:8

1<4

:w

1.031,,720.03

0.OD43..&9

211

Ul64

1&'1t1"

19

1

20

2.60 '1.842.53 1.990.13 0.050.02 0.015..28 3.119

:2 ..37 10

240 2454 2

35 14

1262

17

Nole: Some of the beech (ragmen!s were,queslioli\abfe..

9

Figure 7: Excavation of VT-CH-93 during the 2010 field school. Note the large assemblage of fire-cracked rocks inthe middle of the excavation that may indicate the presence of a fire hearth.

10

people at the site engaged in stone tool productionand cooking around the same hearth.

In addition to the numerous flakes of lithicdebitage excavated throughout the feature, the stonetools and ceramics are indicative of an area of highhuman activity. The presence of FCR, pottery,animal bones and the charcoal infused soil alsoindicates that the portion of Feature 1 that wasstudied was most likely an area for cooking.Whether or not the actual processing of foodstuffsalso occurred in this area is unclear. No grindingtools were recovered, but several stone scraperswere found in the feature soil taken for analysis,suggesting the possibility that the people occupyingthe study area were processing animal hides and/orusing the tools to process certain types ofvegetation.

Feature 1 produced a large quantity of dataabout the indigenous population that lived in thissection of the Intervale, leaving several issues to beaddressed. First, parts of the feature are incomplete,evidenced by abrupt interruptions in the presence ofthe charcoal layer at the top of the feature in Level43. These interruptions may be due to disturbancesfrom historic plowing as well as the construction ofthe man-made pond to the north of the site. Becausethe fill from its construction was apparentlydumped within the vicinity of the 2010 excavation,overburden in the locus of the field schoolexcavation contains artifactual material thatoriginated in the adjacent pond area. One means ofdetermining the extent of this impact is toinvestigate the mixture of historic and pre-Contactartifacts within the upper levels of the excavationunits. Excavations uncovered some historic objectsat the top of Level 43, only several centimetersabove the onset of Feature 1. Although pre-Contactartifacts found in Feature 1 appeared to be in situwhereas artifacts recovered from levels on top ofFeature 1 were likely impacted by the modernactivities previously noted, these inconsistenciesshould be noted and kept in mind.

Results a/the Ceramic Analysis

This study covers the ceramic assemblagesfrom the 2010 UVM field school excavation at VT-CH-93. In all, the 2010 excavation produced 2,068ceramic fragments or sherds, 126 of which werelarger than two centimeters and therefore judged fit

to analyze for the purposes of this study. Theanalysis consisted of a study of the presence orabsence of certain design motifs on each sherd. Thisinformation was then used to characterize theceramic sherds and to place each within a ceramicperiod and, if possible, a vessel designation. Basedon this analysis, the ceramic assemblage representsa maximum of 50 ceramic vessels, their usespanning from CP2 (the early Middle WoodlandPeriod) until CP 6, around the time of Europeancontact.

Ceramic Periods 2/3. Out of the sherds studied,32% (n=16) were designated as CP 2, while 30%(n=15) were placed into the category of CP 3.Following Petersen and Sanger (1991), it wasdecided to group these two ceramic periods togetherbecause of the similarities in decorative motifsbetween the two making it somewhat difficult todistinguish between the two periods. Petersen andSanger (1991) indicate that besides a decrease in theuse of pseudo scallop shell and an increase in vesselthickness, there is no great change in the designmotifs used between the periods (1991: 137). In the2010 VT-CH-93 block excavation sample analyzed,45% (n=14) of the CP 2/3 sherds exhibits achanneled interior that is said to be common in CP2 and continue during CP 3. A temporal overlap ofdecorative motifs is clearly evident when looking atthe presence of the wavy line and linear rockerdesigns on 39% (n=12) of the sample designated asCP 2/3. Interestingly, during CP 2 this particulardesign technique was most popular in Maine andthe Maritime Provinces, while drag stamping wasmore commonly utilized in the St. Lawrence RiverValley and Vermont (Petersen and Sanger 1991).

Within the sample studied, three sherdspossess a mixture of pseudo scallop shell anddentate dragging, most likely placing them withinthe early Middle Woodland and the vicinity of CP2, c.a. 2150 BP to 1650 BP. What is surprising isthat this pattern is not seen in pieces recovered fromthe field school excavation that date to later periods.Instead, rocker stamping seems to become the morepopular choice of design. The Champlain Basin islocated in an ideal spot within the Northeast and theIntervale itself is part of a number of importantinterconnected watersheds (Crock and Robinson2010). Speculatively, trade was taking place amongthe indigenous populations of the region. If so, the

11

occurrence of ceramics contammg design motifspopular in other regions of the Northeast is furtherindication of these trade networks.

Pottery recovered from the Winooski Site(Petersen 1980) located across the river alsoexhibits similar design motifs, though the presenceof rocker stamping is less cornmon than at the studyarea. Whether the difference in the presence ofrocker stamping is because of different samples isan open question. However, the similarities betweenthe two ceramic assemblages are numerous. Forexample, both sites contained pre-Contact potterybearing characteristics of the Early Winooski Phase(c.a. 1850 BP to 1650 BP), including channeledinteriors, pseudo scallop shell designs, and rockerstamping (Petersen 1980; Petersen and Sanger1991). Vessel rims of this era are primarily squareor pointed, though the field school assemblageseems to have some variation. For instance, one rimsherd is rounded, but also contains pseudo scallopshell designs and a channeled interior. Petersen(1980: 37) mentions that research on such ceramicattributes in the Lake Champlain drainage has beenlimited and may account for the discontinuity of thecurrent sample. Nevertheless, the similaritiesbetween the Middle Woodland ceramics discoveredin Vermont and the rest of the Northeast (Fitting1965; Ritchie 1969; Deal et aI. 1991; Petersen andSanger 1991) are sufficient to support a hypothesisof the existence of long distance trade among theregion's inhabitants. Furthermore, it is possible thatthe small differences between design motifs presenton CP 2/3 ceramics are representative of familyband identities. When the cultural groups of oneregion traded their pottery with another, the distinctcharacteristics of the vessels were introduced into adifferent design tradition. Naturally, a largerresearch sample is needed to further such a study.

Ceramic Periods 4/5. Like the previous twoceramic periods, CP 4 and CP 5 also have verysimilar attributes, making it, at times, difficult todistinguish between the two. Twenty percent of thesample (n=lO) taken from the field school ceramicassemblage consists of vessels assignable to CP 4,while it is possible to assign only 12% (n=6) of theassemblage to CP 5. The design motifs popular inthese two ceramic periods such as cord-wrappedstick, punctations, and incision (Petersen andSanger 1991) are all found on the pre-Contact

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pottery of the Intervale sample studied. Inparticular, cord-wrapped stick is a predominantdesign used during this period, with 22% (n=l1) ofthe ceramic assemblage exhibiting some form ofcord stamping.

One distinction between CP 4 and CP 5 istheir placement within the Winooski ceramic series.As mentioned previously, an intermediate phasebetween the Early Winooski and Late Winooski hasnot been well documented in Vermont. However,there is speculation that ceramics recovered fromthe Skitchewaug Site (Heckenberger and Petersen1988) may fit intermediate characteristics such as"dentate, rocker dentate, simple cord, rocker cord,net, incised, circular punctate, and plain decoration"(Petersen 1980: 40). Although the Intervaleceramics do not contain all such characteristics, itcould be suggested that some of the 2010 fieldschool assemblage pieces attributed to CP 5 may infact represent a transition between the intermediatephase and the Late Winooski ceramic series. Forinstance, only four out of the 126 sherds (3%)studied show any sign of circular punctation, threeof which are categorized as CP 5. Similarly, all ofthe CP 5 pieces studied exhibit some form ofincision, while the CP 4 pottery studied lacks thistype of decoration.

Conversely, CP 5 ceramics are alsorepresentative of the Late Winooski series, c.a.1350 BP to 1150 BP. Petersen (1980: 41) notes thatpieces from this phase saw an increase in"variability within assemblages in both decorationand form." Looking at the CP 5 vessel sherds in theIntervale sample studied, there is a sudden declinein the use of dentate stamping and an increase ofcord-wrapped stick decoration. However, ceramicsfrom the Winooski Site and the McNeil GeneratingPlant portion of VT-CH-93 continue to displaysome combination of dentate with other designs(Petersen 1980; Petersen and Power 1983; Thomasand Bourassa: 1978). The differences andsimilarities between pre-Contact pottery dating toCPs 4 and 5 may illustrate the individuality ofdifferent groups of people living in various regionsthroughout the Northeast and perhaps even withinthe same site.

Ceramic Period 6. Unlike the previous ceramicperiods, it is not hard to identify CP sherds from the

2010 field school sample. Cord wrapped stickremained a popular decorative technique during theCP 6 phase, but potters also began to place chevronpatterns along a more collard rim (Petersen andSanger 1991). The ceramic assemblage from the2010 field block excavation at VT-CH-93 consistsof, at the most, three different vessels possessingthese patterns attributable to CP 6. Each of thepieces related to these three vessels is a rim sherdwith a smooth exterior and interior and incisionscreating chevron patterns. Two of the sherds arewell-fired and seem to have belonged to a smallervessel, while a third piece has a grittier temper andis more fragile. These differences may exist becausethe third rim sherd is associated with a later portionof CP 6 or even during CP 7, around the time ofEuropean contact, when pottery manufacture wentinto decline and vessel construction became lessthorough (Petersen and Sanger 1991). Although theidentification of additional sherds similar to themore fragile sherd with the grittier temper might beused to provide additional support for the dating ofthese sherds to CP 7, the more delicate sherd wasrecovered from a level above two other CP 6 pieces,suggesting its younger age.

When comparing the CP 6 vessels from theIntervale, as well as other ceramics from sitesfurther to the east (Fitting 1965; Petersen and Power1983; Heckenberger and Petersen 1988; Deal at al.1991) to those recovered from upstate New YorkIroquoian sites, the similarities are indisputable. Itis not surprising that trade would have occurredbetween the populations on either side of LakeChamplain, which is known at Bitanbogoko, or"Between Lakes" in Abenaki (Haviland and Power1994). In addition to similarities found betweenceramics recovered at sites around Lake Champlain,similarities between ceramics also suggest tradeconnections between people living at sites like VT-CH-93 and a small St. Lawrence Iroquoianpopulation along the Richelieu River insouthernmost Quebec that ran into northeasternVermont (Petersen et al. 2004). Ceramicassemblages recovered at the Lake Woodland sitesof Getman and Garoga (Ritchie and Funk 1973)north of the Mohawk River in New York Statepossess almost identical rim sherds to thoseanalyzed in the 2010 field school sample, eventhough the two regions are about 260 kilometersapart from one another. Again, it is important to

note that the Northeast is interconnected by a seriesof lakes and rivers and that the Champlain Basin isa major feature in this system. These waterwaysprovided people with the ability to migrate as wellas trade and communicate with other groupshundreds of miles away, a possible means ofuniting people living in Vermont and New Yorkduring CP 6.

Significance of the Intervale

The portion of the site students excavatedduring the 2010 field school at the BurlingtonIntervale may be small in size, but it has yielded agreat depth of information. Not only is it ofsignificance for the region's pre-Contactarchaeological record, but the site provided, andcontinues to provide, training for students whilemaking the Intervale a meaningful place within theDVM community. After an analysis of the artifactassemblage it appears that the excavated portion ofVT-CH-93 closest to the Winooski River was anarea of high activity for pre-Contact peoples of theLake Champlain Lowlands. Feature 1 providesevidence that the site may have served manydifferent functions including tool manufacture, asindicated by the sizable quantity of lithic flakesfound within the feature and around the rest of thesite, as well as food processing. Concentrations offire-cracked rock and carbonized food remains onthe inside of several ceramic vessels within Feature1 are suggestive of cooking and perhaps foodstorage.

The variation in pottery over what could bea period of 1,750 years (the start of CP 2 until theend of CP 6) is suggestive of recurring occupations.The pre-Contact populations living in this regionremained hunter-gatherers for much of theWoodland (Snow 1980; Petersen and Power 1983·Heckenberger and Petersen 1988; Haviland andPower 1994). Based on evidence derived from othersites throughout the Northeast (Fitting 1965; Ritchie1969; Petersen 1980; Petersen and Power 1983;Heckenberger and Petersen 1988; Deal et al. 1991;Thomas 1997) and the paleobotanical analysis ofcarbonized floral remains recovered from Feature 1(Sidell 2011), people likely occupied the studiedportion of VT-CH-93 in seasonal semi-permanentsettlements. Pottery analysis suggests that thelargest episode of occupation occurred throughout

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the Middle Woodland over a period ofapproximately 1,200 years. People also inhabitedthe Winooski Site (VT-CH-46) over the sameperiod of time. It could be that so much pottery ispresent in the material record of this era becausepeople at both sites were manufacturing and tradingceramics amongst one another. Once the WinooskiSite occupation ends, there is a direct correlationwith the decrease in the quantity of potteryrecovered from the Intervale on the other side of theriver.

The excavation of the Burlington Intervaleprovides a valuable insight into what the everydaylife of native Vermonters was like and the rolepottery played in it. With ceramic vessels, thesepeople not only had a new way of cooking andstoring their food, as opposed to the bark vesselsand stone bowls of the Archaic, they also had a newresource with which to build trade relations withother groups throughout the region. It is nocoincidence that the pre-Contact pottery of theIntervale can be easily compared to that ofWoodland Period sites around the Northeast(Thomas and Bourassa 1978; Fitting 1965; Ritchie1969; Petersen and Power 1983; Heckenberger andPetersen 1988; Heckenberger et al. 1990).

Discussion and Conclusions

Based on the information thus farpresented, it is arguable that the Woodland Periodceramic vessels produced and designed by the pre-Contact inhabitants of northeastern North America,including Vermont, were not only cooking tools,but also an active means of maintaining traderelations with neighboring bands and establishingan individual group identity. As the WoodlandPeriod progressed so too did the intricacies ofpottery manufacture and design. By using Petersenand Sanger's (1991) ceramic sequence, it is possibleto chronologically categorize the types of vesselsbeing produced during the Woodland as well asnote the frequencies of particular design motifsused within different regions of the Northeast.

Similarities between the decorationsimpressed on ceramic vessels recovered from sitesdistant to VT-CH-93 like Cunningham (Ritchie1969) in Martha's Vineyard along with a sample ofVermont sites (Thomas and Bourassa 1978;Petersen and Power 1983; Heckenberger and

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Petersen 1988; Heckenberger et al. 1990; Crock andRobinson 2011), are convincing evidence that thebeliefs and traditions of Woodland-era peoples werefairly integrated throughout the geography of themajority of the Northeast. That said, a comparisonof ceramics also reveals a great amount of variationbetween different groups (Ritchie 1969; Thomasand Bourassa 1978; Petersen and Power 1983;Heckenberger and Petersen 1988; Heckenberger etal. 1990; Haviland and Power 1994). It is true thatpeople across the Northeast tended to utilize similardesign motifs for their ceramic vessels, but, within asignal band, certain motifs could have become morepopular than others providing pre-Contact potterswith a means of demonstrating their group orregional identities.

Associating the use of distinct designmotifs with a particular group is similar to JamesSackett's (1990) concept of isochrestism. Thedifferent ceramic decoration techniques, such as thedesigns found on Woodland-era ceramics in theNortheast, can be "expressed at several differentlevels of ethnic resolution ranging" from anindividual, to a kin group, to an entire society(Sackett 1990: 33). Such a pattern is visible amongthe Middle Woodland Period ceramics recoveredfrom the site of the 2010 block excavation at theIntervale. For instance, it can be hypothesized thatthose producing ceramics at the Intervale had agreater affinity to rocker-stamping motifs on theirceramics than did the group or groups occupyingthe Winooski Site. Furthermore, both sites, as wellas others within the Lake Champlain Lowlands(Thomas and Bourassa 1978; Petersen and Power1983; Heckenberger and Petersen 1988;Heckenberger et al. 1990) and the greater St.Lawrence River Basin produced a higherpercentage of pottery with dentate decoration thanthose outside of the region during CP 4 (Petersenand Sanger 1991).

Hence each social group or unit of ethnicity tendsto possess its own distinctive style, and theoverall degree of stylistic similarity representedby two groups' material cultures taken as wholescan be regarded as a direct expression of theirethnic relatedness (Sackett 1990: 33).

It might be possible to take suchinformation and follow the movement of apopulation. If a design style is known to have been

popular within one specific region and the materialrecord shows that its frequency then grew outside ofthat region, then one can speculate that anindividual or group may have migrated andintroduced the design element. The presence of avariety of design motifs all unique to separateNortheastern locales may then be representative ofthe fusion of different populations, or small groups,with one another.

As groups became established, they createdtheir identity. Among the Western Abenaki of theContact Period, family bands identified themselveswith animal emblems (Deal 1978; Calloway 1990;Haviland and Power 1994). Centuries earlier, theWoodland-era occupants of the Northeast couldhave symbolized these affiliations with designs onpottery. Polly Wiessner (1983) notes that materialobjects that represent group or individual identitiestend to have either an emblemic or assertive styleabout them. In this case, "style" refers to the designmotifs found on Woodland-era ceramic vessels.While emblemic style pertains to a "variation inmaterial culture" that consciously signifies anidentity to a specific population (Wiessner 1983:257), assertive style is something that is morepersonal, "supporting individual identity, byseparating persons from similar others" eitherconsciously or unconsciously (Wiessner 1983: 258).

Northeastern Woodland-era ceramicsappear to represent the use of an assertive style.Although people may have consciously applieddesign motifs to ceramic vessels in order to conveya group identity, according to the data collected inthis study, it does not seem that the peopleproducing the pottery had set boundaries to theirplaces of occupation. People living in northern NewEngland prior to Contact were hunter-gatherers andtherefore not sedentary. Evidence from sitesthroughout the Northeast (Ritchie 1969; Thomasand Bourassa 1978; Petersen and Power 1983;Petersen and Heckenberger 1988; Heckenberger etal. 1990; Crock and Robinson 2011) suggests thatthese people were seasonally transplantingthemselves and the presence of strict boundarieswould have made it more difficult to move betweenseasonal occupation sites. Furthermore, the use ofan assertive style in the productions of ceramics inthe Northeast is proposed because people use anassertive style to distinguish between members of a

similar cultural affiliation (Wiessner 1983).Following this definition the family bands that weremembers of an overarching Woodland-era culturecould have produced specific design styles in orderto support their individual group identities withinthe larger group.

Sackett's (1986: 269-270) notions of"active" and "passive" styles further support thisview. An "active" style suggests that style is anethnic signal used by the maker of a utilitarianobject to show individual or group cultural identity,while the latter poses that style may serve as anethnic marker, but more or less a maker choosescertain designs because it is what is expected of hisor her culture (Sackett 1986). In relation to MiddleWoodland ceramics, people may have stamped ordragged certain design motifs onto a vessel as adirect means of displaying a group identity. Themotifs could also have been placed on utilitarianobjects because that was what was traditionallydone in that specific culture. Either way, whetheractive or passive, the placement of different designmotifs throughout the ceramic periods of theWoodland Era may be of use in determiningdifferent levels of identification amongt people.

Perhaps the close proximity of the recentexcavation at the Intervale, and the whole of VT-CH-93, to the Winooski Site is not a coincidence.The pottery found at these sites, especiallyWinooski and the 2010 field school blockexcavation segment of VT-CH-93 are very similar,a majority of pieces recovered dating to the MiddleWoodland (Petersen 1980; Petersen and Power1983; Thomas and Bourassa 1978). Furthermore, itis known that Woodland era hunter-gatherers settledin different spots within the same area duringseasonal occupations (Ritchie 1969; Snow 1980;Petersen and Power 1983; Heckenberger andPetersen 1988; Haviland and Power 1994). Is itpossible that the people who were living atWinooski and throughout the different excavationsites of VT-CH-93 were in fact the same group? Itis possible that with more archaeological data suchas larger floral and faunal samples as well as morelithic and ceramic evidence that questions could betested about relationships between the sites.Nonetheless, similarities between artifacts suggestthat these sites were at least inhabited during thesame period.

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One possible hypothesis is that theinhabitants of the Winooski Site (Petersen andPower 1983) including those across the river at theMcNeil (Thomas and Bourassa 1978) and Intervaleportions of VT-CH-93 started out as two separategroups on either side of the Winooski River.However, as the two occupations progressedthroughout the Woodland periods, relationshipsbetween the seasonal camps became stronger. Thepresence of similar pottery sherds from both sitescan attest to possible analogous group identity.Eventually, around the beginning of CP 6 (650 BPto 400 BP), the family bands living at Winooski leftthe low-lying floodplain for the higher elevationand more stable landmass of the Intervale across theriver.

Throughout the Intervale and the whole ofthe Northeast the grit and shell-tempered ceramictraditions of the Woodland periods became animportant part of pre-Contact life. Not only used asutilitarian cooking and storage vessels, the pots alsorepresented a means of aesthetically expressing agroup identity. As a result, pre-Contact potteryallows archaeologists to better understand the livesand social relationships of people living innortheastern North America before Contact. Basedon this research a conclusion can be made thatceramic design motifs may have functioned as anexpression of individual group identity and a meansof solidifying relationships between trade partners.

About the Author. Laurence (Lo) Wolf is originally fromBrookfield, Vermont. An undergraduate in anthropologyfrom the University of Vermont, Lo has worked in fieldschools in upstate New York, the US Virgin Islands, andat the Burlington Intervale project. She has been anarchaeological field and laboratory technician for theUniversity of Vermont Consulting Archaeology Programand is currently teaching English in Seoul, South Korea.

Acknowledgements. A special thank you goes to Dr.James B. Petersen, whose years of incredible researchand cataloging made much of this work possible. Also, ahuge thank you to Dr. John G. Crock, a wonderfulteacher and mentor, as well as Randy Crones, ourcommitted teaching assistant. A further thank you goesto the hard workers of the 2010 field school: KatieBennett, Colin McCormick, Meadow Coldon, Patty-Anne Holden, and Dan Guzio. And of course the wholeUVM Consulting Archaeology Program crew chiefs andfield technicians.

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