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DEAN MERCHANT PHOTODr. David Stewart-Smith and Peter Wiggin of Stratham get ready to depart on a local archaeology exploration.A short history of the natives for whom the river was namedBY DEAN MERCHANTfeatures@seacoastonline.comThe saline Squamscott River follows its serpentine path through the communities of Stratham and Newfields to its nexus with the Exeter River, its inland journey ending at the falls cascading down gentle, water-worn bedrock ledges in downtown Exeter.Each spring, at this meeting of fresh and sea-fed waters, an ancient ritual has been played out with the arrival of such migratory species as the alewife (river herring), Lamprey fish, shad and — at one time — the Atlantic salmon, each for countless generations coming to spawn. Eels were plentiful, as were striped bass that pursued the river herring..Here, the Squamscott (for whom the river was named), Squaamscott or Quamscott joined with generations of Pennacook Pawtucket kin to fish and dry their catch for the winter food supply. The natives called the river Msquamskook or Msquamskek, meaning “at the salmon place,” or “big water place.” But soon the tide would turn on this sacred homeland, and be lost to them forever.Who are the natives?Paleo (old) peoples were the first to arrive in New Hampshire as the glacier withdrew at the beginning of the Holo-cene Period. These ancient peoples are believed to have followed migratory caribou over the emergent landscape and perhaps to have used rich estuarine resources as well.“Paleo Indians were a culture defined by stone tools, explains state archaeologist and Paleo Indian researcher Dick Boisvert.The Squamscott people, part of the Algonquin tribe who inhabited the land thousands of years later, were “a culture defined by language and custom. They are descended from a long history of many people who lived in the northeast for millennia,” says Boisvert.New Hampshire archaeologist JanePottersays the Paleo people did visit a location on the Squamscott River and that “artifact collections and the results of archaeological survey tell us that native people were visiting this part of the drainage, from Great Bay to the Exeter Falls, from 10,000 to 500 years ago, or during the full span of New England prehistory'.”As the topography and natural landscape underwent vegetation changes, native populations grew, over time incorporating ceramics/pottery and agriculture into their new lifestyle. Eventually groups settled into bioregions along such waterways as the Squamscott River, favored for its confluence with the Great Bay.Natives face pandemic,The first known contact between Northeast natives and Europeans wasSee HISTORY, Page Bb
Newspaper Details
Portsmouth Hampton Union
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, US
Fri, Jun 06, 2008
Page 17
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NH, USA 25 Aug 2022
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