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

Boston Common The Boston 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 five major Boston streets: Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charl ...

Description

In the spring of each year, members of the

Massachusett The Massachusett are 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 a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...

Native American tribes work with students, educators and artists to construct a fish-weir in honor of the people who built fishweirs 3500 to 5200 years BP (

Before Present Before Present (BP) or "years before present (YBP)" 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. Because ...

) 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 Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on Land reclamation, reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the ...

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 ...

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

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

during the spring

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, 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: Armageddon' ...

. 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 and politician. He is a Democrat, and served as the Clark County Commissioner for District C from 2021 thru 2025, the former Secretary of State of Nevada and 2012–2013 president ...

; 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