Quahogs (clams)

Quahogs (clams)

food √ Delicious in stews or steamed in a big pit.

tools √They used Quahog shells for digging in the gardens and to scrap out the burnt ashes from a dugout canoe. The shells also made good bowls. They also used a whole shell like tweezers to pluck out their hair one by one for special hairstyles.

wampum √Quahog made the best wampum beads. They liked it for the beautiful purple sections and because it was hard.

Fish

Fish

food √They smoked fish to make it last for the winter or just cooked it over the fire and ate it then. They would also add it to stews.

tools √Small fish bones were very good for needles for careful sewing like stitching moccasins together.

fertilizer √They would place a fish into each mound with the seeds for corn, beans, and squash (the “Three Sisters”) to fertilizes them and help them grow.

Horseshoe Crab

Horseshoe Crab

tools √They would use the tail for sewing. It would punch holes in leather. They would also use it for the point of a fishing spear.

fertilizer √They would put the legs and insides of the crab into the gardens to help the “Three Sisters” grow.

Seals

Seals

food √They got a lot of meat from seals. It was a good source of fat and protein and it could feed a lot of people.

clothing √They would take the skin off the seal and make it into a warm winter fur coat.

tools √ They would use the seal bones for lots of tools.

Cattails

Cattail

food √They ate the roots and the tubers from the plant, like a potato.

clothing √They could use the fluffy seed heads for insulation in winter clothes.

tools √The straight cattail stalks were woven into mats to cover the wigwams in the summer. They also used the leaves to weave baskets and make rope.

Seaweed

Seaweed

food √They used some seaweed to thicken soups and stews.

fertilizer √They used seaweed as fertilizer because it rotted into the ground and made compost.

Seagulls

Seagulls

food √ Seagulls were eaten for their meat.

clothing √They used the feathers for decoration, especially in their hairstyles.

tools √The beak could be used as a scraper, the wings could be a fan, and the feathers were used on arrows to help them fly straight.

Whelk

Whelk

food √ They could get delicious meat from big whelks.

tools √The shells were used to make tools like scrappers, knives, or for making designs in pottery.

wampum √ Whelk was good for making white pieces of wampum.