Everything about Manahoac totally explained
(Virginia)
|region2 =
|pop1 =
|ref1 =
|region3 =
|religions = Indigenous Religion
|languages = Probably Tutelo-Saponi (extinct)
|related =
Tutelo,
Occaneechi,
Monacan,
Saponi, possibly
Saura, other eastern
Siouan tribes}}
The
Manahoac, also recorded as
Mahock, were a small group of Siouan
American Indians. They numbered approximately 1,000 by the time of European contact and lived in northern
Virginia, primarily along the
Rappahannock River west of modern
Fredericksburg and the
fall line and east of the
Blue Ridge Mountains. They united with the
Monacan, the
Occaneechi, the
Saponi and the
Tutelo, and nothing else seems to have been heard of them specifically since
1728. According to William W. Tooker, the name Manahoac is
Algonquin for "they are very merry", but John R. Swanton considers this dubious. This is supported by the fact that
John Lederer encoutered a tribe that he recorded as the "Mahock" along the James River in 1670.
Culture
Like the other Siouan tribes of Virginia's Piedmont region (i.e the
Monacan,
Tutelo and
Saponi), their members lived in various independent villages. It is assumed that the Siouan tribes interacted in various ways, such as through trade, cultural celebrations, and also intermarriage. Manahoac villages were usually along the Rappahannock River where the soil was most fertile. They practised a mixture of hunting and gathering as well as farming. Along the
James River where the closely related Monacan tribe was located, remnants of
corn and
squash have been found in cooking pits. Also found along the James are the outlines of 3 oval houses at a site outside the town of Wingina in
Nelson County, Virginia. Given the close relations of the Monacans and the Manahoacs, it's often assumed these aspects of their cultures were similar or identical. Many stone tools have be unearthed in the areas the Manahoac inhabited, usually made of the
milky quartz common in the region. Their pottery was tempered with quartz and sand and often featured fabric, net, or cord motifs as decoration.
Because
John Lederer stated that two of the tribes he listed spoke the same language, Mooney assumed Lederer's
Managog was a misspelled
Monahoac and therefore Monahoac and Saponi must be the two tribes with a common language. The common language may, in fact, be
Virginia Siouan which was used as a
lingua franca spoken by both Siouan and
Iroquoian peoples. Thus, Mooney's interpretation isn't supported by the primary sources. It may also be possible that the Manahoac were a group of peoples who spoke more than language.
[ ]
Further Information
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