Ancient Fishweir Project is a collaborative group that creates an annual public art installation on

Boston Common The Boston Common (also known as the Common) is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by Tremont Street (139 Tremont St.), Park Street, Beacon ...

Description

In the spring of each year, members of the

Massachusett The Massachusett were a Native American tribe from the region in and around present-day Greater Boston in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name comes from the Massachusett language term for "At the Great Hill," referring to the Blue Hills ...

and

Wampanoag The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...

Native American tribes work with students, educators and artists to construct a

fish-weir A fishing weir, fish weir, fishgarth or kiddle is an obstruction placed in tidal waters, or wholly or partially across a river, to direct the passage of, or trap fish. A weir may be used to trap marine fish in the intertidal zone as the tide reced ...

in honor of the people who built fishweirs 3500 to 5200 years BP (

Before Present Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...

) in the area that is now urban Boston. Today this fishweir re-creation is located on dry land near what was once an early shoreline that existed when ocean levels were lower and before new land was made by fill of the

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

tidal estuary that began in the Colonial period. The fishweir construction is based on archeological discovery of wooden stakes from fishweirs, including the

Boylston Street Fishweir In archeological literature, the name Boylston Street Fishweir refers to ancient fishing structures first discovered in 1913, buried below Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts. Reports written in 1942 and 1949 describe what was thought to be ...

, that are still buried under the streets of the

Back Bay, Boston Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and th ...

. The early fishweirs, fence-like structures of wood and brush, were built in tidal flats to catch alewife,

smelt Smelt may refer to: * Smelting, chemical process * The common name of various fish: ** Smelt (fish), a family of small fish, Osmeridae ** Australian smelt in the family Retropinnidae and species ''Retropinna semoni'' ** Big-scale sand smelt ''At ...

, and

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

during the spring

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment, and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** '' Spawn: ...

. The time of the spring fish spawn, and the beginning of new growing season, is traditionally considered the New Year for Wampanoag and Massachuset people. In traditional culture it is said that the fish return to spawn in the streams when “the oak leaf is as big as a mouse’s ear”. Initiators of the Ancient Fishweir Project include Gill Solomon, Sachem of the Massachuset Tribe;

Ross Miller Ross James Miller (born March 26, 1976) is an American Attorney at law, attorney and politician. He is a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, currently the Clark County Commissioner for District C since 2021, the former Secretary of State ...

; Dena Dincauze, archeologist; Ellen Berkland, Archeologist for the City of Boston; and Annawon Weedon and Jim Peters of the Wampanoag Tribe. Annual building of the fishweir on

, the oldest public common in the country (1634), challenges assumptions of the history that is currently taught. Construction of the fishweir is supported by educational programs and teacher workshops in collaboration with Boston Children's Museum. Lectures and on-site music and dance performance events provide interpretation of the history for students and the public.

References

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External links

TEDx BeaconStreet video, In the place we now call Boston, Ross MillerThe Boston Museum article from Friends of Farlow Botany Library, Harvard University
Public archaeology Public art in the United States History of Boston Annual events in Boston Weirs

Description

See also

References

External links