An Intact Prehistoric Ceramic Pot from Cumberland Bay, Lake Champlain

A team of local divers found this prehistoric ceramic pot at the bottom of Lake Champlain on August 5, 1979 at a site half way between Crab Island and the tip of Cumberland Head. The pot probably fell from an ancient vessel that left one of the many prehistoric campsites along the north shore of Cumberland Bay. The pot is nine and one half inches in diameter on the rim and eleven and five eights inches tall. The side walls are about a quarter inch thick and the interior is black. The exterior of the pot shows signs of fabric impressions, as if marked by a large cord-wrapped paddle. The Durfee Underlined style is very similar, according to William A. Ritchie, to pottery from the Roebuck Site of Eastern Ontario along the St. Lawrence drainage. It is, indeed, a stunning artifact from the earliest times of Champlain Valley history!