Description
The Manahoac, also recorded as Mahock, were a small group of Indigenous people in northern Virginia at the time of European contact. They numbered approximately 1,000 and lived primarily along the Rappahannock River west of modern Fredericksburg and the Fall Line, and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They united with the Monacan, the Occaneechi, the Saponi and the Tutelo. They disappeared from the historical record after 1728. After thousands of years of different indigenous cultures in present-day Virginia, the Manahoac and other Piedmont tribes developed from the prehistoric Woodland cultures. Historically the Siouan tribes occupied more of the Piedmont area, and the Algonquian-speaking tribes inhabited the lowlands and Tidewater.
Language
The Manahoac and Monacan tribes were both Siouan-speaking
Culture
Like the other Siouan tribes of Virginia's Piedmont region, the Manahoac people lived in various independent villages. The Siouan tribes interacted in various ways, such as through trade, cultural celebrations, and also intermarriage. Manahoac villages were usually along the upper Rappahannock River where the soil was most fertile. They practiced a mixture of hunting and gathering as well as farming. Along the upper James River, where the closely related Monacan tribe was located, archeologists have found remnants of corn and squash in cooking pits. Also found along the James are the outlines of three oval houses at a site outside the town of Wingina in Nelson County, Virginia.