Paleoindians: The ‘original affluent society' 11,000 years ago

Editor’s note: This is the first in what will be many twice-monthly columns to be written by Bill Haviland about the history of Indians on Deer Isle from the end of the ice age to the time of European settlement. We are delighted and proud to have Bill, with his vast experience and passion for history, chronicling Indian activity and seasonal settlement on the Island. Our intention is to publish this material to help Islanders and visitors alike understand and appreciate those who were here first.

- WILLIAM HAVILAND

For many millennia, what is today Maine remained “off-limits” for human habitation. Although there were people living in North America 22,000 years ago, much of the northeast was buried beneath ice which, at its height, was over a mile thick. It stretched as far east as the edge of the continental shelf and as far south as Long Island. The region was, in effect, an ice desert.

With the weight of the ice resting upon it, the land was greatly depressed. But as the climate warmed, two things happened: sea levels rose as meltwater flowed into the oceans, and the land, relieved of the weight of the ice, began to rebound. There was, however, a significant lag between sea level rise and rebound of the land. So it was that by about 14,000 years ago, after rapid glacial melting, saltwater had advanced as far up the Penobscot river valley as present-day Medway. If one were to stand in the scenic turnout high on Caterpillar Hill, seawater would have been lapping but a few feet below you, and everything between you and the Camden Hills would have been underwater.

Because the rate of crustal uplift ultimately caught up with and surpassed the rate of sea-level rise, water levels 12,200 years ago came to be as many as 200 or 300 feet below where they are today. This exposed much land, with shorelines up to 12.5 miles beyond where they are now. At that point, rates of sea-level rise and crustal uplift again reversed, and saltwater once again began to drown low-lying areas. Although this rise was rapid at first, it decreased over time, almost stalling at one point before (fairly recently) increasing again.