New England Magazine Vol. 9 (1893-94)
(Last night I visited some friends who are visiting from Hawaii, staying at a cottage on Cedar (Swamp) Lake in Bristol CT, off of Witches Rock Road. There's some interesting "Indian stone related facts/stories" connected to the area, some I have posted about before, some details I had even missed such as this interesting observation: "At the reservoir on South Mountain, southwest of the Allen place, near the south end of the pond, and not far from the town line, the trail crossed what was then a swamp over a causeway of loose stones and earth, the nearest approach to a roadway ever made by the aborigines." But in the wee hours of this morning, I found something I hadn't seen before, this article for New England Magazine:)
“The stone age of Connecticut began its decline
with the advent of the whites in 1614, and in a very short time, probably not
more than fifty years, it had passed away forever. The Indians of Connecticut
were ignorant of the use of metal; nearly all their hardware was stone. This
age was indeed a primitive one as compared with the present, but was far from
primitive as compared with that which preceded it. These people were banded
together in many tribes, speaking different dialects, but all belonging to the
one language of the Algonquins. They fortified their villages, erected houses,
wore some clothing, slept upon bedsteads, made many implements and ornaments,
and sailed over deep waters in their canoes. They obtained food by hunting,
fishing, and trapping, prepared it when obtained by dressing and cooking, and,
not contented with natural supplies, cultivated the soil. Their crops were
harvested and stored, and meat, fish, and clams were dried for future use. When
we think of primitive man as he must have been, with no language, no shelter
but the rocks and trees, no food but such as nature furnished in an unprepared
state, and no implements of any kind, we find that these Indians were advanced
far beyond primitive man…We can learn something of the Connecticut Indians from
records of deeds, from numerous town histories, from Trumbull's and Barber’s
histories of Connecticut, and Thatcher's “Indian Biographies” ; but the only
works wholly devoted to them, so far as I know, are Trumbull’s "Indian
Names,” Orcutt’s “Indians of the Housatonic and Naugatuck Valleys," and
DeForest’s “ History of the Indians of Connecticut.” The latter is the largest
of these works, and Orcutt calls it a very creditable work for “a youth of only
one and-twenty years.” The author had, however, a hobby, and grasped at every
straw upon which he could base an argument that the former estimates of our
Indian population were too great, and he entirely disregarded or overlooked
such evidence of their numbers and location as may be found in the most
reliable of all records, —their works in stone. Trumbull has estimated the
Indian population of Connecticut at its discovery as from twelve to twenty
thousand souls, while DeForest put the figures at only six or seven thousand.
All of the State west of Farmington he describes as uninhabited, except
portions of the coast and the section near \Woodbury, where an insignificant
band was known to reside. In this DeForest is evidently mistaken. Wherever
stone relics other than a few arrow-points are found, it is certain that
Indians resided for a time at least; and many such relics have been found in
Litchfield County. Even if there was no settlement in the western part of the
State at the time of its discovery, Orcutt correctly says that “what was true two hundred years ago may not
have always been true." In 1646 there was a trading post established at
New Milford, showing that there must have been a considerable body of Indians
in that vicinity…(page 327)”
“A class of articles said to have been worn on the heads of
women is known as “bird-shaped objects” or “bird amulets,” although they have
been designated as corn huskers…”
“An interesting pipe was found at Waterbury many feet below
the surface. On the side of the bowl toward the stem is a sculptured face of an
impressive Indian character, having large ears, neatly drilled for the
attachment of drops. It is looking down upon a female figure which the artist
has carved on the top of the pipestem. Closely pressed upon the body of this
figure are her arms, with hands, which, by a daring stride of characteristic
Indian genius, are represented as of a new variety, having only three fingers
each. The stem is four inches long, and to drill it through such hard stone involved
no inconsiderable skill and labor.
(The above photo is from a different work, "Bristol CT: In the Olden Time “New Cambridge” (1907)
Another pipe (i), said by those who have
seen it to be of a make peculiar to the Northwest, was found at Waterbury
twenty-five feet below the surface…(338)”
“On the grounds of the Rev. John McCook at Niantic there
is a cupped granite bowlder of about a ton's weight. The only work on it
consists of six cup shaped depressions, which average about three inches in
diameter and five eighths of an inch deep. It is illustrated and described
in Vol. V., “Contributions to American Ethnology,” by Dr. Rau, in connection
with his paper entitled “Observations on Cup shaped and other Lapidarian Sculptures in the Old World and America.” Mr. McCook believes that it was
connected with the religious life of the Indians. Such was the use of similar
stones in the Old World; but it is not known that Connecticut Indians ever
worshipped any material object. In this paper Dr. Rau says: “Large cupped
blocks fully resembling those of the Old World have of late years been observed
in the United States. As yet a few only are known, but erelong I am confident
the existence of others will be ascertained. Whenever investigators have their
attention drawn to a new class of antiquities, they endeavor to find them, and
are usually successful in their efforts.” I doubt if the majority of collectors
ever found a single Indian relic, without having had a previous knowledge of
some similar object…(342)"
There is a ton of other artifact photos and drawings in the article.
And elsewhere in the magazine are some Concord photos:
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