Devils Head Site facts for kids

The Devils Head Site is a very old and important place in Calais, Maine. It's located right next to the St. Croix River. This site is a special kind of archaeological spot called a shell midden. A shell midden is like an ancient trash pile, mostly made of shells, that tells us about people who lived there long ago.

Scientists have found signs that people lived at Devils Head for many years. This includes times from about 200 CE (which is the Middle Ceramic Period) all the way to the mid-1700s (the Late Contact Period). The site is also very close to Saint Croix Island. This island was where the French first tried to settle in 1604. Because of this, the things found at Devils Head might help us understand how early French settlers and Native Americans interacted. The Devils Head Site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

What is the Devils Head Site?

Devils Head is a piece of land that sticks out into the St. Croix River. It's in the eastern part of Calais, Maine. From here, you can see where the St. Croix River meets Oak Bay. The river then turns south and flows towards Passamaquoddy Bay and the Bay of Fundy. Most of Devils Head is now protected land, owned by the city of Calais.

The Devils Head Site was first officially found in 2003. It sits on a natural shelf of land that overlooks the river. The most important part of the site is its shell midden. Inside this midden, archaeologists have found different layers, showing many times when people lived there.

What Did They Find at Devils Head?

The midden contains lots of soft-shell clam shells. But it also has bones from land animals. This tells us that the people who lived there ate a variety of foods. They didn't just eat seafood!

Archaeologists also found stone tools. These include pieces of projectile points (like arrowheads or spear tips). They also found stone knives and an endscraper. An endscraper is a tool used for scraping animal hides or wood.

Pottery pieces found at the site match pottery from the Middle Ceramic Period (around 200-600 CE). They also match pottery from the Late Contact Period (mid-1700s).

Exciting Discoveries

The most interesting things found at Devils Head are a hand-forged nail and a white clay tobacco pipe.

The clay pipe looks like pipes made in Europe in the early 1600s. This is very exciting! It suggests that people might have been living at Devils Head around the same time the French settled Saint Croix Island in 1604. That settlement was led by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons and Samuel de Champlain. This discovery means that more research at the site could teach us a lot about these early meetings between French settlers and Native Americans.

The nail is also interesting. Hand-forged nails were made by hand until about 1830. After that, machines started making nails. So, this nail could be from any time up to 1830. Other things found at the site also suggest people lived there around 1830.

These finds help us piece together the long history of human life at Devils Head.