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The earliest human settlers in the area were Native Americans who left the archeological record rich with evidence of
their lives and habitations. Fluted points dating from the Paleo-Indian/Early Archaic phases (15,000 BC - 6500 BC) provide the earliest evidence of human activity in this area. The last Ice Age was
ending, and the bay was much shallower than today. Glacial melt and runoff made the bay much colder than today, as well. These early cultures consisted of hunters and gatherers making and using stone
tools. Archeological sites from the Middle Archaic period (6500 BC - 3000 BC) begin to display many distinct types of tools. This suggests cultural changes and a diversification of resources used in the
environment. The climate was warmer, and the land was covered in forests of hemlocks and oaks. Late Archaic/Early Woodland sites (3000 BC - 1000 AD) possess early ceramic artifacts and tools used in the
manufacture of dugout canoes.
Much more evidence survives from more recent periods. Up into the 17th century, distinct cultures inhabited the
Upper Eastern Shore. When European settlers and traders arrived to this area they encountered the Tochwogh up along the Sassafras River, the Wicomiss in what would become Queen Anneās County, and the Choptank and
Nanticokes farther south.
Europeans came and established trading posts early in the 1600s. Native Americans exchanged deer hides and other
raw materials gathered from the region for Western goods. The more goods and technologies the natives gathered from the Europeans the more their distinct culture homogenized with the newcomers.
Eventually, the Native Americans were driven out or immersed and lost within the culture of the European settlers. Early in the colonial period, the records and personal accounts of life in the Eastern Shore
go silent with respect to the native populations. While there are many archeological sites around the shore region, the presence of the earliest humans is felt most in the place names throughout the Chesapeake
region.
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