A Perspective on Time The Early Beginnings of the Mi’kmaq Culture in the Maritimes Grade 10 Mi’kmaq Studies

More than 10,000 years of history  The Maritime region has been occupied by people for at least 10,600 years.  It is possible that people were here before this time-however there is not physical evidence to date.  However before 13, 000 years ago the land was completely covered in ice.  People of European ancestry have lived here for less than five percent of that time.

Debert, Nova Scotia  The earliest known inhabitants were cooking, hunting, and making weapons at a campsite in Debert, Nova Scotia. (Archeological Dig)  At this time the land was still thawing from the latest ice age-it took hundreds of years for the land to warm up and animals to emerge, the land began to take a new form.  Today, the Maritime provinces are still sinking, at an average rate of about fifteen centimeters per century

Early Housing  Native people were the first to inhabit the Maritimes.  At first they lived in the open tundra but as forests emerged they began to build housing and live deeper in the forest for protection against the elements.

Adapting to the Environment  Because of the early natives close relationship to the land they became extremely familiar with the animals, use of the land, and ways to manipulate their surroundings through acute observations.  Their understanding of the land aided tremendously with their long survival in colder conditions.

The Four Main Periods  Archeologists divide the span of human history in the Maritime Provinces into four broad periods: A. Early Period-10, years ago B. Middle Period- 6,000-3,000 years ago C. Late Period-3, 000-5,00 years ago D. “Historic Period” – beginning 500 years ago

Early Period-10, years ago  First people inhabitants are known as Palaeo- Indians (from the Greek word Palaios, meaning “ancient)  The earliest evidence of these people were found near the site in Debert, Nova Scotia-Spear points.(10,600 years ago-however the next 5000 years after that there is a gap in the archeological record)

The Early Period  The discovereies of archeolgoical evidence during this period is similar in each province.  They shared similar weapons, crafts, materials, etc…

Middle Period- 6,000-3,000 years ago  Sites duinrg this period were most likely located on the coast and were eroded away.  Evidence from many of these sites were reconstructed form similar sites in NFLD and Maine.  Four different traditions have emerged from this period-Laurentian Tradition, Maritime Archaic, Susquehanna, and the Meadowood.

Late Period-3, 000-5,00 years ago  This is the best known period.  Numerous sites have been discovered and dated from this period and have provided much of the information we know about the Native Culture pre-European contact.  Although this period is the period that provide the most information there are two points that have gaps-3000 years and just after the first Europeans arrived.

From this archeological evidence what can we tell?  The Mi’kmaq people had several systems in place in order to ensure the progress of their society- everything from sports to politics.  The key to their survival was their educational system that passed down the basic skills of finding food and shelter, to defense and adaptation skills.  Their education was both formal and informal –oral traditions through family and lesson from elders.

Oral Traditions  The oral traditions tell us that there was a concept of sharing practices and a strong respect for elders, spirituality, and traditions.  The economic systems was co-operative from everything from sharing food to sharing shelter and weaponry.  Trade amongst other tribes worked on a barter system.

Politics  The policital sysmtem was divided into 7 districts, each district contained several villiages, each villiage had a chief, who was chosen because of his ability and his knoweldge of the land, ability to speak and command people, fearless nature, wisdom and deep rooted knowledge of the customs people.

Council Meetings  The districts would meet regularly- sending their chiefs to a specific area (usually near a great lake) in order to discuss and decide important issues amongst the people.  These discussions were recorded on the “Wampum Belts” kept by each tribe to record its history.

WAMPUM  Wampum is a small and short tubular shell bead.  The beads were strung into strings or woven into belts. White beads were made from the inner whorl (columella) of the whelk Purple (also called black) beads were manufactured from the dark spot or "eye" on the quahog clam shell.

 Wampum belts were used as a memory aid in Oral tradition, where the wampum was a token representing a memory.Oral tradition  Belts were also sometimes used as badges of office or as ceremonial devices of an indigenous culture such as the Iroquois people.Iroquois