Nipmuck
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The Nipmuck are an aboriginal North American people, belonging to the family of Algonquian peoples, currently living in and around the Chaubunagungamaug Reservation of Webster, Massachusetts. There are over 600 members officially recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, but federal status by the Bureau of Indian Affairs is still pending.
History
Prehistory
Coming from the southwest, Paleo Indians settled New England over 10,000 years ago, hunting the animals that inhabited the sub-arctic environment. During the Archaic Period (8000 BCE–1000 BCE) the climate slowly warmed, bringing new plants and animals, which also brought about changes in human culture and lifestyle. During this period, the Nipmuck were producing stone bowls, making bark, woven and wooden containers, and developed a written language, which remained in use until the historic period. Pesu-poncks (ceremonial stone sweat lodges) were used for purification rituals and many of these ancient chambers can still be found near the sites of Nipmuck villages. Nipmuck homes were framed of deciduous saplings covered with skins, bark and woven mats.
During the Woodland Period (1000 BCE–1000 CE), Chaubunagungamaug territory was at the hub of several ancient paths to all parts of the northeast, and trade with other peoples brought the "three sisters" (maize, beans, and squash), encouraging an agricultural based society. The bow and arrow supplemented the use of spears in their hunting and defense.
Colonial Times
As early as 1630 there is a record of a Nipmuck known as Acquittamaug walking to Boston with his elderly father, each carrying a bushel and a half of corn from Woodstock, Connecticut to the starving settlers. However, just a few years later the colonists were offering bounties on the scalps of Nipmuck men, women and children. During King Phillip's War large numbers of Nipmuck fought and died in an effort to preserve their homeland and culture. Without exception, Nipmuck sachems (chiefs) of virtually every clan were either shot or hanged before the end of the war. Despite this, the Nipmuck survived.
External links
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