Archaeological sites in North Haven, Maine facts for kids

The Turner Farm Site is a very important archaeological spot located on North Fox Island in North Haven, Maine. This island is part of Penobscot Bay in Maine. In the 1970s, experts looked closely at the Fox Islands. They found over 49 interesting places in North Haven. Eight of these were so important they were added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Turner Farm Site was the most special. It showed that people lived there all year long during at least three different times in the past.

Discovering Ancient Life at Turner Farm

Penobscot Bay is a large bay in the middle of Maine's coast. It almost cuts the state's coastline in half. In the center of the bay, there are two main groups of islands. Islesboro is to the north. The Fox Islands are to the south. These Fox Islands are split between two towns: North Haven and Vinalhaven.

Why Study the Fox Islands?

In the 1970s, archaeologists from the Maine State Museum studied the Fox Islands very carefully. They wanted to learn how ancient people lived there. They also wanted to understand what they ate. This research helped them find more than 130 sites in both island communities. They also figured out when people lived there and how they got their food.

Important Discoveries

From all the sites found, eight were very important. These eight sites were added to the National Register of Historic Places. They include: Turner Farm, Turner Farm II, Mullen's Cove, Joe Amesbury Place, Bortz-Lewis Site, Bull Rock Site, Cabot I Site, and Crocker Site. All of these sites had a big shell midden. A shell midden is like an ancient trash pile made mostly of shells. These middens showed that people lived there during the Late Archaic and Ceramic periods.

The Special Turner Farm Site

The Turner Farm Site was found to be the most important of all the sites. Archaeologists did a lot of digging and studying there. They found proof that people lived at this site during at least three different time periods. These periods were the Moorehead, Susquehanna, and Ceramic phases. The earliest evidence goes back to around 5200 BCE (about 7,200 years ago!). Each period showed different ways of living and getting food.

Life in Different Eras

• Moorehead Period: During this time, the site was used most often in the late fall and winter. People mainly focused on fishing. They also hunted land animals to add to their food supply.
• Susquehanna Period: People stayed at the site for longer periods during this time. Their main food sources were large land animals. These included bears, moose, and seals caught from special seal gathering spots called rookeries.
• Ceramic Period: This was a time when people lived at the site all year long. They ate many different kinds of food. This likely means that more people were living there.

The Turner Farm Site was one of the first places to clearly show that ancient Native American groups lived all year round on the coast of Maine before Europeans arrived.