Pocomtuc
extinct Native American tribe previously inhabiting what is now Massachusetts.
The Pocomtuc (also Pocomtuck, Pocumtuc, Pocumtuck, or Deerfield Indians) were a Native American tribe historically inhabiting western areas of Massachusetts.
Settlements
Their territory was concentrated around the confluence of the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers in today's Franklin County. Their homelands also included much of current-day Hampden and Hampshire Counties, plus areas now in northern Connecticut and southern Vermont. This area is roughly coterminous with the modern Pocumtuck Valley.
Their principal village, also known as Pocumtuck, was in the vicinity of the present day village of Deerfield, Massachusetts.
Language
Their language, now extinct, was an R-dialect of the Algonquian language family, most likely related to the Wappinger and nearby Mahican tribes of the Hudson River Valley.
Subsistence
The Pocumtuc people likely led lifestyles similar to neighboring tribes in New England. They would have engaged in semi-sedentary agriculture of maize, beans, and squash. They also hunted game and fished in the Connecticut River, which served as a major inland transportation route.
Archaeological and documentary evidence both testify to the fact that the Pocumtuc were skilled at maize horticulture.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pocomtuc” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.