Arrowheads and Other Pre-European Artifacts in Montpelier, Vermont

There is little public information about artifacts from pre-European contact found within the Montpelier city limits. The information is held secret by the state government, to prevent looting.

The following comes from information provided by the Montpelier "master plan".

Although little is known of the earliest settlement of the area by Native Americans, we do know that about 6000 years ago warm, dry weather encouraged the spread of population into the upper Winooski River valley. By 1200 AD extensive settlements developed throughout the region and were linked by trading networks. The rich floodplains and relatively warm southern exposures were conducive to settlement. After the arrival of European settlers, between 1600 and 1800 AD, war and dispersal virtually destroyed Native American settlement. However, early investigators in the mid-1800s reported burial mounds and other evidence of Native Americans. Otherwise, material evidence is limited to three recorded sites in the Vermont Archeological Inventory. All of these were random, chance finds of stone tools and spear points. This lack of evidence is probably due to intensive development in highly sensitive areas, past flooding which wiped out remains, and the fact that little investigation has been undertaken.