Prehistory at Kittiewan Plantation
Thousands Of Years Before Europeans, People Lived At Kittiewan
The land that comprises Kittiewan Plantation was used by Native Americans long before and for far longer than Europeans and their descendants have lived on the property. The reasons that the land was attractive are its proximity to water, riverine resources and uplands suitable for gathering nuts, berries, tubers and other edible items. Game animals were available on the land and fish were available in the water. The earliest documented occupation is in the Middle Archaic period, roughly around 4500BC.
Riverine resources were fish, clams, crayfish and waterfowl. The drawings of Thomas Heriot of Roanoke Island showed Native Americans using canoes to fish, as well as setting nets and using spears and gigs to procure fish. Archaeological research up the James River at Elk Island showed large areas set aside for curing fish by smoking and drying.
The marshes adjacent to Kittiewan and the margins of Mapsico Creek had exploitable resources as well. Arrow-root tubers, and other vegetation were used by Native Americans. Medicinal plants were also available from the marshes. In addition, muskrat, turtles, snakes and other animals lived in the marshes and were harvested by the Native Americans.
The upland terrain had nuts, berries, cordage from vines, bark for house covers, trees for canoes, and firewood to name a few items used by Native Americans. Game animals such as deer, rabbits, turkeys, bobwhite quail, doves, groundhogs, squirrels, Canada geese and various ducks were harvested.
For unexplained reasons, the Paleo people and their lifeway either died out or evolved adaptively into the Archaic lifeway set that is characterized by a increasingly less nomadic lifestyle and an increasingly semi-sedentary lifestyle based upon hunting and gathering. After the demise of the Mega-Fauna, the Native Americans adapted by hunting the remaining smaller game. Small is relative compared to a mammoth, but a bison, elk or white-tailed deer is still a large animal capable of feeding multiple people, but for shorter periods of time.
Archaic peoples began to explore the vegetation more, learning which were edible and which had uses to enrich their lives. Hunter-gatherer societies hunted whatever game was available in the area. This would include all of the animals currently living in the Tidewater, as well as some which are no longer here. Whether bison or elk ranged into the Tidewater is debatable. The gatherer part of the equation refers to gathering the seasonally available nuts, berries and tubers that grew in the region. As their sedentism increased, their knowledge of the local flora also increased. By staying in one location for extended periods, storage of foodstuff evolved apace. Knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants also appears to have grown. Archaeological research has shown a surprisingly wide knowledge of plants that had medicinal properties. It is beyond improbable that these plant remains from prehistoric features just happened to be concentrated where their settlements were located. The simpler explanation is that they were intentionally carried to the camps for use. one can see craft specialization in the making as well as a continuation of a gender division of labor.
Projectile points changed over this period from the Clovis fluted points to a variety of hafting techniques producing an even wider array of projectile point types that are the basis for archaeological classification. The spear was the primary distance weapon. Nets appear to have been developed in this period.
The introduction of pottery, the introduction of the bow and arrow and the move to incipient horticulture marks the beginning of the Woodland Period. In this era, ever larger groups formed and split into smaller groups. Inter-tribal warfare, language differences and settled, defended villages are a hallmark of this period. Population density grew steadily until the apparent lack of expansion room caused friction among groups. Swidden horticulture was practiced by Woodland peoples. Plots of land were burned off, the land was partially cleared, and crops were planted. Maize (corn), beans, and squash provided a near perfect nutritional set. When the land was no longer productive, they simply moved up or down the river to a new location. John Smith's 1624 records the names and locations of villages in Virginia that Smith encountered or had relate to him. Note that Weyanoke (Weanock) is shown where Shirley Plantation is today located, much farther west from Weyanoke Point. Smith's map shows no settlements on the Weyanoke peninsula, but it has a name. It is quite probable that the lands represented a former settlement. There may not have been a village directly on the Kittiewan property as it exists today, but there probably was one somewhere on the peninsula. The terrain is suitable, as is proximity to the river and interior watercourses such as Mapsico and Queens Creeks.
By the 13th century, if not earlier, Native American groups had settlements up and down the major rivers in the Tidewater (as well as the rest of the state). They had evolved a sophisticated chiefdom society with dynastic marriages and similar arrangements designed to solidify relations with rivals, distant family groups and so on. By the time the English arrived in 1607, the political situation had evolved to a Paramount Chiefdom Society (a very rough analogy would be that Powhatan was an Emperor and the kings of the villages in his domain were his subjects). Powhatan is the name by which the paramount chief was known, although his adult name was Wahunsunacock (there are other variant spellings) who ruled over a domain called Tsenacommaco (there are other variant spellings) that translated roughly as "densely-inhabited land". Powhatan's chiefdom ranged from a bit south of the James River on the south to the south side of the Rappahannock River on the north and from the Atlantic Ocean west to the Fall Line at Richmond. Some small tribes had resisted his domination, such as the Chickahominy. Some estimates place his population at !5,000 people.