Description
Generations ago, Wabanaki people traveled here overland and in seaworthy birchbark canoes. Setting up temporary camps near places like Somes Sound, they hunted, fished, gathered berries, harvested clams, and traded with other Wabanaki. Wabanaki people have lived in this region, their ancestral homelands, for thousands of years. Today, many Wabanaki families live within miles of where their distant ancestors spent summers. As Europeans settled and seized land, the Wabanaki were relegated to remote and isolated places.
Language
Algonquian
Culture
Archaeological evidence shows that Wabanaki families on MDI 1,000 years ago hunted and harvested a variety of land and sea animals. People ate seals, porpoises, white tailed deer, moose, beaver, and many varieties of birds. They fished for sculpin and flounder at high tide on mudflats and gathered sea urchins, clams, and blue mussels, which were steamed open to reveal the delicate meat. Wabanaki people crafted tools from available resources. From animal bone they carved harpoons, needles, awls, and fishing hooks. From stone they chipped arrowheads, knives, scrapers, and heavy woodworking tools such as chisels and gouges.