The Shawmut Peninsula was originally connected to the mainland to its south by a narrow isthmus, Boston Neck, and surrounded by Boston Harbor and the Back Bay, an estuary of the Charles River. The name was originally Mashauwomuk, but the settlers could not pronounce that and besides, the people of Boston were developing their unique version of English and wouldn't have left it that way for anything.
The original site of Boston before the land grab was less than 800 acres. Then the peninsula with its distinctive scoop bays was shaped by glacial erosion and deposits left by retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age, the previous inconvenient truth. Several prehistoric Native American archaeological sites, including the Boylston Street Fishweir (wooden fishing cages) made up of 65,535 wooden stakes, lead scientists to believe pre-Massachuset-Algonquin Indians used base 16 math. They also placed longer sharpened stakes around their villages that could be used as either spears or as a very large counting sticks. Each stake had a bow drilled pattern between 0, (no pattern), and 15, which in Mashauwomuk was called Eff, (not to be confused with 3839), and usually shortened to just F.
 |
| Eff or F counting stick pattern |
 |
| Ancient village located where Shabu-Zen is today |
Several other fishweirs excavated during construction of buildings indicate the ancients had mastered harvesting fish over 7,500 years before present. According to Wikipedia, "Research on climate change and evidence from study of fish weirs and sediments under the Back Bay indicate the ocean level in the Boston area has risen more than ten feet in the last 6,000 years." Other scientists vigorously dispute this, claiming it is simply the result of tidal surge a la the Bay of Fundy.
The organizers of SANS Boston 2016, August 1 - 6, invite you to join them and the 2nd person to register will be the recipient of an applewood counting stick, radiocarbon rated to be at least 0x1E61 Mashauwomuk standard weeks old.
 |
| Mashauwomuk applewood counting stick |
 |
| Ancient Bone Counting Sticks |
No comments:
Post a Comment