The First People Here

The First People Here. . Long before the first Europeans set foot on this continent, American Indians moved through the area hunting and gathering food. With the Introduction of corn (about 900 CE), they increasingly formed settlements and began farming. , Seasonal hunting and fishing provided additional sources of food, and generations of Indians returned to tidal shorelines like this to fish and feast on oysters. They processed their bounty on creek and riverbanks and left behind large middens, deposits containing shells, bones, pottery pieces, and other items that reveal information about their lives. , Prior to European settlement, there was a large population of Indians in the Northern Neck of Virginia, as many as 10,000. They had sophisticated forms of self-government, as well as complex political, social, and trade networks, all rooted in a deep connection to the natural world. , English settlers began arriving in this area in the 1650s and by the 1710s, there was no longer a significant Native presence here. However, hundreds of middens remained as tangible reminders that generations of people inhabited this land before the settlers. Their descendants are part of contemporary American Indian tribes, some of whom still live in Virginia today. , What Indian Tribes live near you? What do you know about their history and culture?