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“The end of the glacial period in North America . . . brought with it momentous changes. . .  Many of the animals on which Paleoindians had depended for food, clothing, and shelter were no longer available to them.” —William Haviland and Marjorie Power.   From The Original Vermonters: Native Inhabitants, Past And Present. 1994.

You may be wondering what Abenaki people living in Vermont today have in common with their ancestors. The answer is “more than you might think.”

The timeline shown can serve as a reference tool for tracking the adaptations in Abenaki foodways.

Abenaki Paleoindian ancestors, approximately 11,000 years ago, lived in a tundra environment and relied on hunting large game animals (such as mastodons and caribou), sea mammals (such as whales), and anadromous fish (such as salmon and shad) for their survival. As the temperature rose during the Archaic period, approximately 8,000–9,000 years ago, glaciers retreated, and spruce and pine forests advanced into the region. Climate change also brought a wider variety of animals, shellfish, reptiles, and waterfowl to the region. Archeologists involved with Glacial Kame archeological sites (such as the Ewing Site in Shelburne) have found the remains of “bear, deer, turtle, fish, dog, [and] mussel” (Vermont Historic Preservation, n.d., p. 16).

The warming climate caused other changes in food resources. “By 7000 b.c., over 100 species of large mammals, such as the mammoth, mastodon, and moose-elk, became extinct. Others, like the caribou and musk ox, moved north with the tundra” (Haviland & Power, 1994). In place of these large animals, people turned to hunting other species, such as moose, beaver, lynx, and muskox, while also fishing for whitefish, and catfish.

Rising temperatures also gave rise to beech, birch, and maple trees, which are characteristic of the deciduous forests that Vermont and New Hampshire are known for. Three thousand years ago, the average temperature in Vermont was slightly warmer than today; this warming climate trend during the mid-Archaic period made for greater biodiversity. The variety of animals, nuts, fruits, and edible plants available to Archaic hunters and gatherers is remarkably similar to what we have today (Haviland & Power, 1994).

By the Woodland period, people shifted their lifeways, by living in relatively fixed settlements throughout the year. Smaller groups still came together to travel to smaller camps, where they hunted, fished, and gathered seasonal plant foods and medicines for their communities.

By roughly 1,000 years ago, a food plant imported from the Southwest – corn (Zea mays, also called maize) – was being cultivated in both Vermont and New Hampshire (Haviland & Power, 1994, p. 142). As just one example of the archaeological evidence, seven storage pits for corn were found at the Skitchewaug site (date to 1100 CE), demonstrating the importance of corn in the southern Connecticut River Valley diet (Mathewson, 2011, p. 29; Heckenberger et al, 1992; Haviland & Power, 1994, p. 86).

Corn made its way into the Champlain Valley around 1440–1700 CE (Bumstead, 1980; Haviland & Power, 1994). Beans, and squash also appeared in Vermont around the same time. During his regional travels in 1609, French colonial explorer Samuel de Champlain reported seeing “fertile fields of maize” (Heckenberger et al., 1992; Haviland & Power, 1994).

Abenaki people in Vermont continue to practice significant traditional hunting, fishing, and foraging lifeways in a culturally distinct way today; evidence of these practices (confirmed by independent scholars) can be found in the reviews of Tribal petitions for State-Recognition. Abenaki Tribes testified to ancient agricultural practices passed down in families, such as growing crops like corn, beans, and squash in mounds, and a shared cultural tradition of using “suckers” or “kikômkwa” (meaning “the garden fish”) as fertilizer. These skills are still part of the living memory and practices of families from the Elnu, Missisquoi, Koasek, and Nulhegan Abenaki Tribes, who vividly remember learning these traditions when they were children. (Elnu Abenaki Tribe, 2010; Koasek Traditional Band of the Koas Abenaki Nation, 2010; Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, 2010; Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, 2011).

The addition of corn to the list of Abenaki food staples is immortalized in the story of “Corn Mother and First Man,” a story of love where the corn spirit sacrifices herself to feed the people. This story is still told after the “Green Corn Song” echoes through the mountains during the Elnu and Nulhegan Abenaki communities’ annual Green Corn events each August. The Corn Mother is commemorated, not just in song, but also in artwork by contemporary Abenaki artists. The importance of corn as a traditional food is reflected in the children’s book “Little Deer and the Sacred Corn,” by Chief Shirly Hook of the Koasek Abenaki Tribe (Calabro, 2023).

Traditional cultivation of food plants involves year-round seasonal cycles of planting, harvesting, and seed-saving techniques. Over time, some traditional heirloom plants were supplanted by newer commercial varieties.The Seeds of Renewal Project: 2013 Harvest poster (Wiseman, 2013), illustrates Abenaki corn, beans, squash, pumpkin, and sunflower varieties that have been restored to active cultivation by Vermont Abenaki people. Collectively, these traditional crops, together with Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) and tobacco, are now known as the Abenaki “Seven Sisters.”

For More Information

Bumstead, M. P. (1980). VT-CH-94 Vermont’s earliest known agricultural experiment station. Man in the Northeast, 19, 73–82. [hard to find article can also be found at https://13c4.wordpress.com/2006/01/09/vt-ch-94-vermonts-earliest-known-agricultural-experiment-station/]

Haviland, William A. and Marjory W. Power. (1994)The Original Vermonters: Native Inhabitants, Past and Present. (Revised and Expanded Edition). University Press of New England. 

Wiseman, F. M. (2001) The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation. University Press of New England.

Wiseman, F. M. (2006) Reclaiming the Ancestors: Decolonizing a Taken Prehistory of the Far Northeast. University Press of New England.

Wiseman, F. M. (2018). Seven sisters: Ancient seeds and food systems of the Wabanaki people and the Chesapeake Bay region. Earth Haven Learning Centre Incorporated.

The above information comes from the “Deep Roots, Strong Branches” traveling exhibition, Vermont Abenaki Artists Association, curated by Vera Longtoe Sheehan (2025e). Printed with permission of the author. Share as much or as little with your students as needed to successfully complete the curriculum activities.

©2025. Vera Longtoe Sheehan. All Rights Reserved.

Travelers in Abenaki territory followed an intricate network of foot trails and waterways. Rivers enabled people in canoes to travel faster than people on foot, making it easier to visit family, friends, and allies. Rivers also made it easier for other people (strangers and newcomers) to travel into the territory. In some areas, strong river rapids and mountains acted as natural barriers, making it harder to travel for trade and alliance. But a close familiarity with river currents and mountain passes could also provide protection from attacks. Abenaki people have long depended on local knowledges to find and access natural resources, and to figure out how best to navigate rivers and natural landscapes. For example, if people want to build a wigwam (a bark-covered lodge used as a home) they need access to the forest to harvest saplings for the frame, bark for the roof, and reeds to weave into mats. If people want to plant, they need to know where to find a meadow with fertile soil for growing crops.

The various groups of Indigenous people who lived in the Northeastern parts of the North American continent had much in common. They preferred to live near rivers and forested areas, where they could find abundant natural resources that met their daily needs for food, clothing, and shelter (hunting, fishing) and that provided tools and inspiration for cultural practices (crafts, art, oral traditions).

Using “Native Land Digital,” (Banaszak, 2022) you can identify some early Abenaki neighbors. This website offers a searchable interactive map with colored overlays. If you conduct a search for “Abenaki Territory,” the map quickly provides a visual representation of the historical Abenaki homelands that we call “Ndakinna”. Neighboring tribes, such as the Mohawks to the west and the Mohicans at the southwest corner of Vermont, are represented through additional color overlays. You may notice that these colored overlays are quite different from a topographic map (showing geographic features that form natural boundaries), or from a modern state map (showing political divisions). Before colonization, there were no hard and fast dividing lines that separated tribal communities; accommodations were negotiated to ensure peaceful travel and access.

You can find additional information about geographical features and natural resources in the Resources listed for each formative performance task.

The above information comes from the “Deep Roots, Strong Branches” traveling exhibition, Vermont Abenaki Artists Association, curated by Vera Longtoe Sheehan (2025e). Printed with permission of the author. Share as much or as little with your students as needed to successfully complete the curriculum activities.

©2025. Vera Longtoe Sheehan. All Rights Reserved.

After living in the same region for thousands of years, Abenaki people were experts in using renewable resources and sustainable practices.

The “Abenaki History Timeline” poster (Abenaki Arts & Education Center, 2023) and the “Summary of 12,000 Years of Abenaki History” (Sheehan, 2025k) provide clues about the daily lives of Abenaki ancestors. Some 11,500 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age in North America, resources were limited, so people in this region lived in small family groups. They chipped local flint, chert, and quartz into projectile points and cutting instruments that facilitated hunting and processing game animals and sea mammals. These creatures provided meat and skins for food and clothing; large animal bones and skins were also used to build shelters. Slowly, over thousands of years, the climate warmed and arctic tundra evolved into woodland forests, hosting new varieties of wildlife and abundant trees, shrubs, and edible plants. The Abenaki people who lived through these changes innovated new ways of harvesting and using different natural resources (Day, 1953).

By 3,000 years ago, regional resources included a wide variety of wild animals, fowl, fish, edible and medicinal plants, fruits, and nuts. Settlement patterns changed as families began to move from high terraces overlooking waterways into flatland settlements closer to lakes and rivers. As food sources and materials for clothing and shelter became more readily available, Abenaki people were able to live in larger extended families. New techniques and cultural practices were developed, such as tooling copper nuggets into knives and ornaments and making pottery vessels for cooking and storage (Haviland & Power, 1994). When Abenaki people began practicing maize horticulture, this expansion into farming enabled larger villages to flourish (Petersen & Cowie, 2002). (Read more about agriculture under Supporting Question 2)

Ceremonial burial sites and petroglyphs reflect religious beliefs that were present as long as 3,000 years ago. Archeological evidence shows that Abenaki people moved beyond a mere subsistence economy of hunting and gathering into a robust economy of producing food and participating in extended trading networks. For example, Ramah Bay chert (a type of rock from Newfoundland and Labrador), sea shells, and seeds have been found at archeological sites in Vermont, evidence of pre-Columbian trade routes that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to Labrador, the Great Lakes, the Caribbean, and beyond. Roughly 1,000 years ago, the food plant maize (commonly called corn, which originated as the teosinte plant in Mesoamerica) was transported along trade networks from the Southwest to the Northeast. Maize, interplanted with beans and squash, flourished when planted along the river intervales (flood plains) in Abenaki territory. (Haviland & Power, 1994)

For More Information

Books:

Day, Gordon M. (1953). “The Indian as an ecological factor in the northeastern forest.” Ecology 34: 329–346. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1930900

Haviland, William A. and Marjory W. Power. The Original Vermonters: Native Inhabitants, Past and Present. (Revised and Expanded Edition). University Press of New England.

Klyza, C. M., & Trombulak, S. C. (1999). The Story of Vermont: A Natural and Cultural History. University Press of New England.

Petersen, James B. and Ellen R. Cowie. (2002). “From Hunter-Gatherer Camp to Horticultural Village: Later Prehistoric Indigenous Subsistence and Settlement in New England.” In Northeast Subsistence Settlement Change A .D. 700-1300, edited by J. P. Hart and Christina B. Rieth, 265-288. Albany, NY: NY State Museum Bulletin 496. On-line: https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/publications/bulletin/496-14644.pdf

Wiseman, F. M. (2005). Reclaiming the Ancestors: Decolonizing a Taken Prehistory of the Far Northeast. University of New England Press.

Wiseman, F. M. The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation. University Press of New England, 2001.

Wiseman, F. M. The Voice of the Dawn: An Autohistory of the Abenaki Nation. University Press of New England, 2001.

The above information comes from the “Deep Roots, Strong Branches” traveling exhibition, Vermont Abenaki Artists Association, curated by Vera Longtoe Sheehan (2025e). Printed with permission of the author. Share as much or as little with your students as needed to successfully complete the curriculum activities.

©2025. Vera Longtoe Sheehan. All Rights Reserved.