Lead Shot
• Chouacoet site on the Saco River
• 5 mm in diameter
In August 2005 the Abbe Museum held its annual archaeology field school at the Chouacoet Site on the Saco River, where French cartographer Samuel de Champlain visited an Almouchiquois Indian village in 1605. During the field school, a curious student brought this tiny object to the curator. It weighed much more than a tiny pebble should – what was it?
This is a bead of lead called Rupert shot. European gunsmiths made it by dropping lead through a heated colander into a pan of water below. About 5 mm in diameter, it was made for use in fowling pieces.
At Chouacoet, the Rupert shot dates to around 1605, when Champlain visited. Champlain probably did not trade guns and ammunition to the Native people, instead these firearms probably were gained through intertribal trade networks.
This is a bead of lead called Rupert shot measuring 5 mm in diameter.