The Eel River Archaeological Site, named for its location on the banks of the Eel River in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is located on the main campus of Plimoth Patuxet Museums. It was continuously inhabited for at least 8,000 years by the Wampanoag people, whose name means “People of the East” or “People of the Dawn,” and both archaeology and oral history show evidence of Wampanoag people in this area beginning at least 10,500 years ago. Many modern Wampanoag still live in their homelands in parts of what is n
A small selection of cultural items are presented here and they represent only a fragment of the thousands of years of Wampanoag life along the Eel River. Although archaeology allows us to study long spans of time, it is limited by what is preserved in the ground and what is later excavated. Because of these constraints, this exhibit can only speak to topics related to the archaeological artifacts found at Eel River. This exhibit showcases both photographs and 3D models of artifacts to demonstrate both cont
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