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Lead Shot
Chouacoet Site on the
Saco River
5mm 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.
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