As the climate stabilized, plant and animal resources became more predictable and people timed their movements to coincide with these sources of food and materials.  A family group might return to the same inland winter hunting camp year after year to take advantage of the animals they expected to find there.

New varieties of animals began to occupy the woodlands of southeastern New England, and our ancestors refined their hunting tools to take advantage of these resources.  The main hunting weapon was still the spear, which could be thrust or thrown at the prey, but projectile points were designed in a new range of sizes and materials.

Over time, people began to experiment with different shapes and styles for their points, refining them for different functions.  Most points from southern New England share general characteristics, distinguishing them from points from other regions such as the Midwest. However, even within this region points varied slightly according to the materials that were locally available.  Different types of points also had functional differences: triangular forms were intended to pierce an animal and remain lodged within it, while thin-bladed forms could be quickly removed.

Making and using hunting tools was men’s work. The bow and arrow was still unknown, but by 5,000 years ago people had added smaller spearpoints to their tool kits for hunting small game animals and migratory birds. For hunting large animals, the hunter sometimes used an atlatl, or spear-thrower, to gain distance and accuracy in throwing. It is possible that people created snowshoes to aid in hunting in deep snow.

The white-tailed deer is perhaps the animal most commonly hunted by the people of southern New England 5,000 years ago.

White-tailed deer were a prominent part of the people’s diet 5,000 years ago. Deer were hunted by men with spears who stalked, tracked, or hid and awaited their prey. The meat was roasted over a fire or dried, the internal organs eaten or in some cases used as containers, the bones and antlers made into tools, and the hides used for clothing and blankets.

White-tailed deer, elk, moose, bear, beaver, and muskrat were some of the animals that our ancestors hunted in southern New England during winter months.  Although autumn was usually the season when game was most plentiful, winter was a time when some animals could be hunted more easily—moose unable to run in deep snows, for example, and hibernating bears.