The People of Vinland;

Factors that indicate anthropological differences result from contact rather than chance.

The present day Township of Narragansett is a narrow band along the West Coast of lower Narragansett Bay. The borderline between the townships of Narragansett and adjoining South Kingstown is directly up the channel of Pettaquamscutt River. The Narragansett township entity has had the name since colonial times, thus indicating Pettaquamscutt as at, or near, the locus of the Narragansett Tribe. As we have seen, Pettaquamscutt River was unoccupied for several thousand years till about a thousand years ago and was abruptly re-occupied by a culture anthropologically distinct from other New England Tribes – even immediate neighbors. In 1524 the apparent first recorded contact with Narragansetts was by famed Giovanni Verrazano, who found them populous, nautical, militarily stable and socially secure, and also distinct from natives to both south and north. Their foremost distinction was their nautical ability and their seaside culture, for their habit of dwelling immediately alongside waterways was unusual at the time and denotes nautical ability, high military skill, and social cohesion – precisely as did the culture of Vikings.  Their military prowess is found to be demonstrated in the dominion of their influence and the ability to travel widely in, though, and around alien tribes' territory - also a unique Viking attribute in Europe. 

By 1635 their population was some 15,000 to 30,000 and their territory west of the present town of Narragansett was some 15 miles; and from Block Island Sound north some 20 miles, making a territory of rather limited area and dense population. They were dominant not only in lower Narragansett Bay, but for many miles inland and seaward, greatly respected by other tribes and English, Dutch and French colonists. Their nautical presence was felt all along the coast from Nantucket to at least the Connecticut River and included Block Island (barely visible) and Long Island which is nowhere visible from Narragansett territory. The natives of Marthas Vinyard ("Nope" in their day, later "Capowock" – our "Straumney") shared many similarities with them.  Several historians say that they were one of two of the "greatest" tribes on the North American continent, but whether the word "great" meant "advanced" or "populous" is uncertain. Besides occupying Block Island, they also dominated the several islands of Narragansett Bay, owning entirely the large island Conanicut (Jamestown) and almost certainly sharing Aquidneck (Rhode – Newport area). Wampanoags occupied the eastside of the bay, but there was minimal enmity - traffic was regular between opposite shores and frequent intermarriage occurred. Indeed, the formal division of the groups on opposite sides would not appear valid; those resident about the bay essentially all the same people, differing only in a few cultural practices. It happens that Aquidneck Island has a very narrow strait at its northern end. It is likely that this large island, upon which Newport now exists, was territory held in common. This was fortunate for certain colonials who felt uncomfortable in the new settlements east, for the natives of this island welcomed the exiles from repressive Plymouth and Salem colonies. Two of the original settlements of the present state of Rhode Island originated on that island - Newport to the south, and Portsmouth to the north end, near the straits. (The island is about the same size and general shape of Manhattan.) In 1660, there were but four settlements in the colony; the two on Aquidneck, another in Warwick, and a fourth at Providence, which had been negotiated by Roger Williams. Colonial settlers were welcomed in these places, their locations demonstrating a political sophistication of some degree, for at these places the settlers formed buffer colonies between the people opposed on the bay. In 1660 there could not have been more than a hundred or so - if that many - Caucasians within Narragansett territory. (But there seems to have been a concerted effort by colonists to "purchase" lands of the Indians. One of these purchases was by Jirah Bull at Pettaquamscutt, to which he removed in 1663.) Narragansetts were welcoming and cordial to the settlers. From earliest contact until King Phillip's War (1676) colonists passed freely through and around Narragansett territory without hindrance - there is no record of any hostility in all that time of well over 30 years. They were in process of integration and often wore English clothing: becoming artisans as well, with some noted as stonemasons, farriers and even locksmiths.

To the west of defined territory were several other groups called "Nipmucs", "Niantics", "Natics". They spoke Narragansett and apparently were offshoots of the tribe - from our point of view still the same people. Further west were Pequots of Connecticut and there seems to have been some Narragansett enmity towards them. In 1635, at the behest of Connecticut Governor Winthrop and with some prodding by Roger Williams, Narragansetts were enlisted as mercenaries against the Pequots with the result that the Pequot tribe was essentially decimated and destroyed as an entity. Contemporary illustrations of some of these assaults show Narragansetts in the manner we will demonstrate below - and also commonly using muskets of their own - not provided by the settlers. Williams said they obtained them in trade with the French to the north - at least a hundred miles away. (An interesting sidelight is that Narragansetts appear to have recoiled at English war aim of genocidal annihilation, which was not notably an "Indian" war policy.)

--------- <Attribute text to: Voyage of Wave Cleaver, Inc. Frederick N. Brown > ---------

It now appears that we know more about this single Native American group than any other - perhaps any other of any people anywhere – their origin time, place and legends. It would seem a safe presumption that at that locus when new arrivals intermarried with natives to form the new culture it was a result of predominantly or absolutely surplus invading males taking native women for wives or servants. This was the custom of explorers in times past and a characteristic of Vikings in particular. (The enthralling books of the late Peter Fruechen demonstrate just how easy and natural this was to do.) We can determine both Narragansett origins and the date that they commenced their development. This comes about from examination of their earliest chroniclers (primary sources) and the modern assessment of their ancestral locale - Pettaquamscutt River. We are dependent upon the records of Giovanni Verrazano (1524), Roger Williams (1635) and a nineteenth century Rhode Island historian named Sidney Smith Rider. (see, "Background" page)

The Pettaquamscutt River Basin had been unoccupied for eons, until a sudden appearance of some "advanced culture" "--about a thousand years ago." The anthropological feature of making residences and campsites directly at or near waterside locations indicated the "advancement" all up and down riverbanks and salt-water shores. This trait was unique in those times as in order to so dwell, a people must have a certain degree of nautical skill and military prowess. Difficulty in extracting food stuffs from open strands in "off" seasons reduces available terrain for hunter/gatherers and the risk of being trapped with no escape by enemies from inland is great. The survey (undertaken because of the peculiar geology of the river mouth: listed on Proofpage) is clear and explicit on the variances found in varied sites along the river, which also states that this is the only river of New England where this had happened.

Giovanni Verrazanno appeared 500 odd years later - perhaps some 20 generations - and discovered a populous, healthy and advanced culture which which was united by language, law and social status, firmly established in their territory, and had no recollection of their origins - they must have been there for a long time. They habitually dwelt at sizable oceanside estates kept clear of prolific growth (difficult to do even in this day) by systematic burning programs. So large were these settlements that Verrazano said an "army could maneuver" in them. While they no longer exist, their numbers and locations can be identified by their still extant Indian names. (They seem to have averaged perhaps 50 acres.)  He recorded - and was enabled to compare with other contacts to both south and north - varied anthropological and genetic traits. His immediately prior waystop had been in New York Harbor, some 180 miles distant, where he had described the natives as well. Narragansetts almost certainly were the descendents of those people who settled the river basin "—a thousand years ago."

A century later Roger Williams appeared and set up a trading post within their domain - apparently the second of only two in what became known as a rather limited territory of merely some 15 by 20 miles (the other post was Dutch). Williams, highly educated and humane, befriended them and was so involved that he recorded many traits and wrote a dictionary of their language. He also found that they were nautical to a fault, confirming Verrazano's descriptions of their finely crafted vessels and adding that their nautical territory extended all along the New England coastline and including Block, Marthas Vineyard, Nantucket and Long Islands

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Sidney Smith Rider (Pre-eminent Rhode Island Historian, 1833/1917) later recorded the tribe as one of two of the "greatest" upon the North American Continent, but he was not specific if this was opined from population density or cultural advancements. However, it could well be both, for it was essentially true in both respects and is the reason for their fame. Narragansetts were the largest of the New England tribes at English settlement and were respected and feared for what was found to be the ability to field an array of no fewer than 5000 warriors - if they should so organize themselves (in the event, they didn’t manage quite that many but did succeed in an array of some 2000; perhaps the largest body of men in New England, Indian or Colonist.). They were prosperous, numerous and healthy. It was noted that not only did they survive the European diseases that were decimating other tribes, we now have the proof of the relative immunity to TB in RI1000, Williams and colonial Connecticut Governor Winthrop (a physician) both stating that "the plague did not seem to be among them."

Their history can be summarized as follows:

> Arrival and origin at Pettaquamscutt 1000 years BP. (approximate dating but event clearly delineated by scientific survey.)

> Discovery and description by Giovanni Verrazano in 1524.

> Contact with Europeans by trading posts 16?? and 1636 about ten miles apart (Wickford/Cocumcussoc, "Fort" Ninnegret).

> Participation as mercenaries of Connecticut colonists against the Pequot tribe of Connecticut about the year 1635. Pequots destroyed as tribal entity as a result. One major locus of the Connecticut Colony was located near present day New London, not far west of Narragansett territory. That area is where colonial Governor Winthrop made his residence and where the Pequot battles were fought. This (Pawcatuck River, Rhode Island's present western boundary) is the general borderline of Narragansett/Pequot lands.

> Amicable relations with Rhode Island settlers, apparently by invitation to exiles and escapees from Massachusetts and Connecticut from earlier than 1630 to 1676. There is record and some remark of no incidence whatsoever of hostility to Rhode Islanders from the time of Roger Williams to King Phillip's War (1676) – near 40 years. There is also some speculation that Narragansett participation in that destructive war was both delayed and reluctant. Grave goods from RI1000 indicate both friendly and intimate relations to Rhode Islanders and considerable contact with distant European colonies to as far west as Hudson River and as far north as Lake Champlain.

> Near 1660, about the time of the RI1000 burials, there was considerable activity in sales of relatively large tracts of Narragansett lands to Rhode Island settlers. Both Roger Williams (now Governor) and the Rhode Island Legislature opposed this trend. Historians are uncertain as to the causes of this at a time when the tribe was still powerful and in full suzerainty of their territory. It has been speculated that the sales were instigated by native attempts to enlist Caucasian Rhode Island settlers as allies in resisting pressure from Connecticut colonists to their west - unappreciative victors over the Pequots and presently covetous of Narragansett lands.

> Drawn, apparently reluctantly and possibly by deceit, into King Phillip's War of 1676, Narragansetts attack the Jirah Bull homestead and shipyard at Pettaquamscutt where 15 of 17 colonists are killed. Bull's fortified farmhouse burnt out while two brothers escape - Jirah Bull himself chancing to be absent.  (Several colonial militia companies had actually invaded or were positioned for invasion Narragansett territory by this date.  The attack here occurred about December 15th, 1676, just after a visit by a militia company which had departed.)  

> Retaliation by Massachusetts and Connecticut Militia who attack and annihilate (on a freezing December day) a major Narragansett winter settlement at so-called "Great Swamp Massacre". Over 400 Amerinds killed. (About five miles west of Pettaquamscutt.  This attack occurred on the 18th, only a few days later by several companies including both Massachusetts and Connecticut troops.  This indicates the Indian attack a response to a valid provocation. )

> Collapse of social entity as result of defeat; many captured and sold into slavery so far distant as the West Indies. Escape of many who were enabled to join other tribes so distant as Michigan, possibly Wisconsin. No chieftain alive in 1674 was among the living at end of 1676. At least one of these slain chieftains was a woman. (The assassination of native leaders was apparently calculated policy of the Massachusetts and Connecticut settlements, commenced before the start of the war, and was partially responsible for it.  {Oct.2000} Found that no fewer than four Narragansett Sachems actively participating in the war were women.  This compares closely with Viking social structure and exceedingly rare in other Amerind groups.)

> Continued existence of some who remained and whose descendants reside in Rhode Island to this time. Integrated, there are few, if any, pure blood remaining, and are entirely distinct from Native Americans of Arizona. Their tiny reservation in the town of Charlestown Rhode Island, was never large, is the most recent of a series, and was formed only at the middle of the last century at instigation of Government policies related to the Indian wars of the west.

--------- <Attribute text to: Voyage of Wave Cleaver, Inc. Frederick N. Brown > ---------

AT ISSUE; is the discovery of genes in common between Europeans and Narragansett "Indians". This discovery, by itself, constitutes pre-Columbian interchange of Human Beings between the two continents and we consider this proven. From this we can look at other information in new light. Are there other indications of the same thing? The writer is inspired by Thor Heyerdahl's "Maldive Mystery" which shows how a master approaches this sort of thing. As it happens, there is a wealth of indication in historical records that make up a rather comprehensive postactive argument nearly as conclusive as the proactive examination of the Vinland Sagas. Much of this material, by being from a nearly forgotten era, has been overlooked but is part and parcel of that which made the Narragansetts so famed. Following are items concerning with the factor - the "observed phenomena" so, the variance , and the related correlation to Vikings/Normen (if any).  Verrazano's observations are especially important by reason of the fact that he was directly comparing Narragansetts and Wampoags to many others he had seen in his northward voyaging from the Carolinas to Nova Scotia. The writer is in a favorable position to make direct observations by reason of residence in Arizona where there are 22 reservations, a great many "pure blood" native Americans, and where the Indian culture is still very much alive. He also recalls some minimal contact in New England with Narragansetts, Mohawks, and Penobscotts. The eastern "Indian" survivors are remarkable nowadays by being pretty well integrated both socially and physically - they are mainly indistinguishable from Caucasians today. Arizona "Indians" are quite distinct - on the reservations, one is reminded of photographs in National Geographic of places like Tibet and Mongolia. Science is pretty explicit that all Amerinds are descendents of Mongolian forebears who traversed in some manner the narrow Bering straits eons ago. For more of this see below. I am also enabled to observe great numbers of people of Mexican descent, a people who are of similar genetic makeup at five hundred years of Spanish/Indian intermarriage as Narragansetts in 1660 with a six hundred-year history at the time of Roger Williams.

It is generally recognized by Anthropologists that Amerind cultures were in most cases at wide variance to Europeans - their cultural origins could not have been more distant. This diversity is confused by early writings concerning Narragansetts who, significantly, shared many of the European traits and which thereby corrupted accurate viewpoints to all the other tribes on the continent. For instance: Amerinds elsewhere were democratic to a fault. Governments were seldom so highly refined as to be considered hierarchal. Generally, chieftainship was by merit alone, the common man not restrained in the slightest by political loyalties of any kind and obliged simply to follow whichever leader demonstrated the best course of wisdom or success either in hunting or warfare. War aims were seldom or never genocidal or driven my land-lust; war seems to have been a cultural attribute directed for glory, revenge, or ritualized social advancement by demonstrated bravery. Amerinds never (so far as I am aware) fought in masses or lines, but only in small parties best called as raids. Life was of supreme value within their group; military leaders abhorred taking casualties and would break off battle is such was threatened.  War chiefs who sustained excessive casualties were censured and deprived of their positions.  Indian fortifications were distinct and readily recognized by both protagonists. The "Indian" side of the Narragansetts followed this manner, but the colonist fear was that they would organize "en masse", European style, in which case they would have been devastating. This did not happen, but Narragansetts (and Marthas Vineyard natives as well) were strictly hierarchal and had the social capabilities to make this apparent, so much so as to be distinct by this alone. The invader's attack on the encampment at "Great Swamp" signifies the variance by an expected seasonal raiding as opposed to the colonists year round, genocidal policies. Amerinds of North America generally had little interest in history; in many tribes it was a matter of culture that persons of the deceased were formally "forgotten", possessions destroyed, their names never thereafter mentioned. Europeans, of course, are noted for their sense of history and attention to geneology.  (Oct.200, found; that Narragansetts did, indeed form into an army of at least short duration.  During the 1676 war a party exceeding 1500 warriors appeared before Providence and encamped about where the State House now stands.  they attacked and burnt many of the houses in Providence, including that of Roger Williams, but do not seem to have been extremely interested in killing - at any rate most colonists survived, as did Roger Williams who was in face to face negotiations with some while his own home burnt.  The size of this party is significant as it seems to have been the largest of any formed by either antagonists in the war.  It was drawn from a much smaller area than the colonists whose largest contingent seems to have been some 800, and that by alliances drawn from much larger areas of New England.  It is a strong indicator of latent immunities, as at this time no other tribe had escaped the European diseases.)  

Continued; page two 

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