The Missisquoi Delta is the traditional homeland of the Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe, and archaeological sites along the Missisquoi River show a rich Native history spanning almost nine thousand years, with evidence that people carefully used the river’s natural resources and built their lifeways around it. Excavations along a two-mile stretch of Route 78 between 2000 and 2013 revealed layered sites buried by flood sands, allowing archaeologists to trace settlement over thousands of years. The first Native settlements in the area occurred on high ground in Highgate soon after the glaciers receded about 13,500 years ago, while seasonal settlements on the Missisquoi floodplain began about 9,000 years ago during the Archaic period; the oldest artifact found in the Route 78 excavations dates to the Middle Archaic period and may be up to 7,000 years old. From about 3,000 years ago to A.D. 1550, during the Woodland period, Native people made and used pottery, and evidence from decorated pottery, stone tools, hearths, and food remains indicates larger populations camping for extended periods along the river and nearby wetlands. Archaeology shows that settlements became increasingly large and permanent in the area of the historically known Abenaki village of Missisquoi, and between about 950 and 500 years ago a distinct village developed along the riverbank. Excavations in the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge uncovered the first evidence of a longhouse in Vermont, extending up to 100 feet in length, likely one of several year-round dwellings for extended families. Along with hunting, gathering, and fishing, Native people raised crops such as corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco. Thousands of recovered artifacts and features, including stone tools, pottery, storage and refuse pits, hearths, post stains, animal bones, and burned seeds and nutshells, show changing diets and lifeways over time, including intensified plant use beginning about 3,000 years ago and farming of maize, beans, and squash becoming an important part of village life by about 1000 A.D. The archaeological record and Abenaki oral tradition together show remarkable continuity in the settlement and use of the Missisquoi Delta over thousands of years into the present day.