Sebasticook Lake Fishweir Complex facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Sebasticook Lake Fishweir Complex
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Nearest city | Newport, Maine |
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| Area | 1.8 acres (0.73 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 94001245 |
| Added to NRHP | November 10, 1994 |
The Sebasticook Lake Fishweir Complex is a group of very old fishing structures found underwater in Sebasticook Lake in Newport, Maine. These structures are called fishweirs. A fishweir is like a fence or trap built in water to catch fish.
Scientists have used a special method called radiocarbon dating to find out how old these fishweirs are. They date back to about 3000 BC! This makes them one of the oldest structures of their kind in all of North America. It's also the only one in eastern North America that has been directly dated.
Finding these weirs shows us that Native Americans living in this area long ago were very organized. They worked together to build these complex fishing traps. The Sebasticook Lake Fishweir Complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. This means it's an important historical site worth protecting.
About Sebasticook Lake
| Sebasticook Lake | |
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| Location | Penobscot County, Maine |
| Primary outflows | Eastern Branch Sebasticook River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 5 mi (8.0 km) |
| Max. width | 4.7 mi (7.6 km) |
| Surface area | 4,537 acres (1,836 ha) |
| Max. depth | 50 feet (15 m) |
| Water volume | 89,666 acre⋅ft (110,601,000 m3) |
| Surface elevation | 200 ft (61 m) |
Sebasticook Lake is located entirely within the town of Newport, Maine. It's part of the Sebasticook River system, which eventually flows into the Kennebec River. The lake is quite large, covering about 4,537 acres.
Several smaller streams flow into Sebasticook Lake. Stetson Stream flows in from Pleasant Lake, and the East Branch Sebasticook River flows in from Lake Wassookeag.
In the past, pollution from nearby towns caused problems for the lake. This led to something called eutrophication. This means too many nutrients, like from fertilizers, got into the water. This caused too much plant growth, which then died and sank to the bottom. This changed the lake's environment. Because of this, some fish species that used to live there have been replaced. Now, fish like largemouth bass and crappie are common, thanks to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
What the Fishweirs Look Like
The ancient fishweir complex is found near where a smaller stream flows into Sebasticook Lake. The lake's water level has changed over time. In the 1980s, work was done to lower the lake's water level. This made the hidden fishweirs visible.
The weirs are made of many wooden stakes. These stakes were sharpened at one end, probably with stone axes. They were then pushed into the soft mud and plant material at the bottom of the lake. The tops of these stakes have broken off over time. This happened because of natural wear and tear, and from boats passing over them. When the lake's water level is low, these structures are exposed to the air. This can cause them to wear away quickly.
There's another part to the weirs: piles of organic material topped with stones. These structures were very sensitive to the lake's water level changes. Some of them even collapsed between 1991 and 1993, when archaeologists were studying the site.
Besides the weirs themselves, archaeologists also found other items in the area. They discovered pieces of stone tools and spear points. Divers found these items in the lake, just beyond the stream's modern mouth. One interesting find was a piece of a birch bark container. Scientists used radiocarbon dating to find out it was from around 200 BC.
