My work is underpinned by the desire to understand the relationship between long-term processes of cultural change and the lived experience of individuals and communities. The major impacts of my research have been on understandings of the nature of organizational complexity and diversity in Pre-Columbian Eastern North America. I have accomplished this through reconstructing socio-cultural processes associated with the occupational histories of communities and regions, redefining inter- and intra-regional interaction networks, and reconstructing the dynamics associated with the realignment of discrete populations into chiefdoms and confederacies. The theoretical frameworks I employ draw upon concepts of historical process and contingency, theories of practice, and a broadly-conceived materialism. These perspectives necessitate multi-scalar research designs that interrogate the recursive interactions between top-down and bottom-up processes, structure and agency, institutions and individuals. My most current research projects employ a range of methodologies including integrative analyses of settlement data, geophysical prospection, social network analysis, and chronology-building. Address: The University of Georgia Department of Anthropology 250A Baldwin Hall, Jackson Street Athens GA 30602-1619 jabirch@uga.edu
The emergence of village societies out of hunter-gatherer groups profoundly transformed social re... more The emergence of village societies out of hunter-gatherer groups profoundly transformed social relations in every part of the world where such communities formed. Drawing on the latest archaeological and historical evidence, this volume explores the development of villages in eastern North America from the Late Archaic period to the eighteenth century.
Sites analyzed here include the Kolomoki village in Georgia, Mississippian communities in Tennessee, palisaded villages in the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia, and Iroquoian settlements in New York and Ontario. Contributors use rich data sets and contemporary social theory to describe what these villages looked like, what their rules and cultural norms were, what it meant to be a villager, what cosmological beliefs and ritual systems were held at these sites, and how villages connected with each other in regional networks. They focus on how power dynamics played out at the local level and among interacting communities.
Highlighting the similarities and differences in the histories of village formation in the region, these essays trace the processes of negotiation, cooperation, and competition that arose as part of village life and changed societies. This volume shows how studying these village communities helps archaeologists better understand the forces behind human cultural change.
Archaeologists have focused a great deal of attention on explaining the evolution of village soci... more Archaeologists have focused a great deal of attention on explaining the evolution of village societies and the transition to a Neolithic way of life. Considerable interest has also concentrated on urbanism and the rise of the earliest cities. Between these two landmarks in human cultural development lies a critical stage in social and political evolution. Throughout the world, at various points in time, people living in small, dispersed village communities have come together into larger and more complex social formations. These community aggregates were, essentially, middle range; situated between the earliest villages and emergent chiefdoms and states. This volume explores the social processes involved in the creation and maintenance of aggregated
communities and how they brought about revolutionary transformations that affected virtually every aspect of a society and its culture. Although a number of studies have addressed coalescence from a regional perspective, less is understood about how aggregated communities functioned internally. The key premise explored in this volume is that large-scale, long-term cultural transformations were ultimately enacted in the context
of daily practices, interactions, and what might be otherwise considered the mundane aspects of everyday life. How did these processes play out in diverse and historically contingent settings? What are the strategies and mechanisms that people adopt to facilitate living in larger social formations? What changes in social relations occur when people come together? This volume employs a broadly cross-cultural approach to interrogating these questions, employing case studies that span four continents and more than 10,000 years of human history.
This is the first detailed analysis of a completely excavated northern Iroquoian community, a six... more This is the first detailed analysis of a completely excavated northern Iroquoian community, a sixteenth-century ancestral Wendat village on the north shore of Lake Ontario. The site resulted from the coalescence of multiple small villages into a single, well-planned and well-integrated community. Jennifer Birch and Ronald F. Williamson frame the development of this community in the context of a historical sequence of site relocations. The social processes that led to its formation, the political and economic lives of its inhabitants, and their relationships to other populations in northeastern North America are explored using multiple scales of analysis. This book is key for those interested in the history and archaeology of eastern North America, the social, political, and economic organization of Iroquoian societies, the archaeology of communities, and processes of settlement aggregation.
This article presents results to date of the Dating Iroquoia project. Our objective is to develop... more This article presents results to date of the Dating Iroquoia project. Our objective is to develop high-precision radiocarbon chronologies for northeastern North American archaeology. Here, we employ Bayesian chronological modeling of 184 AMS radiocar-bon dates derived from 42 Northern Iroquoian village sites in five regional sequences in order to construct new date estimates. The resulting revised chronology demands a rethinking of key assumptions about cultural process in the region regarding the direc-tionality and timing of processes of coalescence and conflict and the introduction of European trade goods. The results suggest that internal conflict may have preceded confederacy formation among the Haudenosaunee but not the Wendat, as has been previously assumed. External conflict, previously thought to have begun in the early seventeenth century, began more than a century earlier. New data also indicate that the timing and distribution of European materials were more variable between communities than acknowledged by the logic underlying traditional trade-good chronologies. This enhanced chronological resolution permits the development and application of archaeological theories that center the lived experiences and relational histories of Iroquoian communities, as opposed to the generalized thinking that has dominated past explanatory frameworks. Cet article présente les résultats obtenus jusqu'à présent dans le cadre du projet intitulé «Dating Iroquoia» (Datation de l'Ir-oquoisie). Notre objectif consiste à mettre au point des chronologies radiocarbone de haute précision dans le cadre de l'arch-éologie de la partie nord-est de l'Amérique du Nord. À cette fin, nous employons une modélisation chronologique Bayésienne de datations radiocarbone par SMA 184, en provenance de 42 sites villageois Iroquoiens du Nord, selon cinq séquences régio-nales, dans le but d'établir de nouvelles estimations de dates. Cette nouvelle chronologie incite à revoir les principales hypoth-èses liées au processus culturel dans la région concernant l'orientation et le calendrier des mécanismes de coalescence et de conflit, ainsi que l'introduction d'échanges commerciaux avec les Européens. Les résultats laissent à penser que les conflits internes peuvent avoir précédé l'établissement de la confédération avec les Haudenosaunee, mais non pas avec les Wendat, comme on a jusqu'à présent pensé. Les conflits externes, censés avoir démarré au début du dix-septième siècle, ont commencé plus d'un siècle auparavant. De nouvelles données indiquent également que le calendrier et la distribution des matières européennes ont davantage varié entre les communautés qu'il n'est reconnu selon la logique sous-tendant les chronologies traditionnelles d'échanges commerciaux. Cette résolution chronologique améliorée permet de développer et d'appliquer des théories archéologiques mettant l'accent sur les expériences vécues et les antécédents relationnels des communautés iroquoiennes, contrairement à la réflexion généralisée qui a dominé les anciens cadres explicatifs. Mots-clés: datations radiocarbone, modélisation chronologique Bayésienne, conflit, d'échanges commerciaux avec les Européens C hronologies fundamentally underpin all other aspects of archaeological thought. The time frames we employ structure not only the broad brushstrokes of cultural process at the regional scale but also the questions we are willing to ask of our data and the answers we are
Radiocarbon dating is rarely used in historical or contact-era North American archaeology because... more Radiocarbon dating is rarely used in historical or contact-era North American archaeology because of idiosyncrasies of the calibration curve that result in ambiguous calendar dates for this period. We explore the potential and requirements for radio-carbon dating and Bayesian analysis to create a time frame for early contact-era sites in northeast North America independent of the assumptions and approximations involved in temporal constructs based on trade goods and other archaeological correlates. To illustrate, we use Bayesian chronological modeling to analyze radiocarbon dates on short-lived samples and a post from four Huron-Wendat Arendarhonon sites (Benson, Sopher, Ball, and Warminster) to establish an independent chronology. We find that Warminster was likely occupied in 1615-1616, and so is the most likely candidate for the site of Cahiagué visited by Samuel de Champlain in 1615-1616, versus the other main suggested alternative, Ball, which dates earlier, as do the Sopher and Benson sites. In fact, the Benson site seems likely to date ∼50 years earlier than currently thought. We present the methods employed to arrive at these new, independent age estimates and argue that absolute redating of historic-era sites is necessary to accurately assess existing interpretations based on relative dating and associated regional narratives. La datation par le radiocarbone est rarement utilisée dans l'archéologie de l'Amérique du Nord, historique ou de l'époque des contacts, en raison des particularités de la courbe de calibration qui donnent lieu aux dates ambiguës pour le calendrier. Nous explorons le potentiel et les exigences pour les datations radiocarbone et d'analyses Bayésienne afin de créer un calendrier pour les sites de début de la période contact dans le nord-est de l'Amérique du Nord séparent des hypothèses et approximations impli-quées dans les constructions temporelles basées sur les marchandises commerciales et d'autres corrélats archéologiques. Comme démonstration, nous utilisons la modélisation chronologique Bayésienne pour analyser les dates par le radiocarbone sur des échantillons éphémères et un poteau de quatre sites Huron-Wendat Arendarhonon (Benson, Sopher, Ball et Warminster) afin d'établir une chronologie indépendante. Nous trouvons que Warminster était probablement occupé pendant 1615-1616, ce qui en fait le candidat le plus probable pour le site de Cahiagué visité par Samuel de Champlain en 1615-1616, par rapport à l'autre alternative principale suggérée, Ball, qui est plus ancien, comme les sites Sopher et Benson. En fait, le site Benson semble dater d'environ cinquante ans (∼50) plus tôt que prévu. Nous présentons les méthodes employées pour arriver à ces nouvelles estimations d'âge indépendant et affirmons qu'une re-datation absolue des sites de l'époque historique est nécessaire pour éva-luer avec précision les interprétations existantes basées sur la datation relative et les récits régionaux associés.
The research presented here evaluates the applicability of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (... more The research presented here evaluates the applicability of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) for characterizing steatite. We present compositional data from an assemblage of 100 steatite beads and pipes deriving from 11 Northern Iroquoian sites in southern Ontario and New York State. Percentages of major elemental constituents and principal components analysis define two compositional groups and various non-steatite artifacts. Our results suggest that EDXRF is an expedient means of characterizing steatite based on major oxides and trace elements. The results support the assertion that individual Iroquoian communities were involved in distinct interaction networks that linked groups in southern Ontario and the St. Lawrence Valley region.
Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of ra... more Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of radiocarbon dating, permitting more precise age-estimates for archaeological sites and materials than have been previously possible. This report presents new AMS dates on maize and bone collagen from a European-worked needle case from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian Roebuck site. Those dates are then re-presented within a series of Bayesian models to illustrate the benefits of chronological frameworks which include prior information. The results produce an estimate of Roebuck’s occupation as beginning cal A.D. 1474–1568 and ending cal A.D. 1524–1587 (2 sigma), placing the needle case in the very early protohistoric period.
Only in the last decade have archaeologists working on Iroquoian sites in Ontario, Québec, and Ne... more Only in the last decade have archaeologists working on Iroquoian sites in Ontario, Québec, and New York Statebegun to seize upon the potential of geophysical prospection and soil chemistry for identifying settlement fea-tures. Recent studies employing magnetic gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate analysisdemonstrate that multi-method approaches have the potential to overcome the limitations imposed by intrusivehistoric features, soil composition, and underlying geology. We consider how specific aspects of the Iroquoianbuilt environment, such as longhouses, palisades, and middens, might be visible in datasets produced by mag-netic gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate analyses and apply these methods to twoIroquoian sites: Trent-Foster (BcGr-5), a late 16th-century Wendat village and Hamilton-Lougheed (BbHa-10), anearly-to-mid 17th-century Tionontate village. At Trent-Foster, we interpret certain anomalies as potentiallonghouses, but suggest that a band of low magnetism cutting through the site may be due to underlyinggeology. At Hamilton-Lougheed, we identify a potential palisade and a likely habitation area. We conclude byacknowledging that the biggest imperative moving forward is the need for more ground-truthing to verify thepresence or absence of built environment features suggested by geophysical and soil chemistry methods. Weadvocate for continued use and development of geophysical and geochemical methods on Iroquoian sites,particularly in the cultural resource management context, as they strike an important balance between pre-serving archaeological heritage and learning from that which is preserved, issues that are of the utmost im-portance to descendant communities and First Nations research partners.
A time frame for late Iroquoian prehistory is firmly established on the basis of the presence/abs... more A time frame for late Iroquoian prehistory is firmly established on the basis of the presence/absence of European trade goods and other archeological indicators. However, independent dating evidence is lacking. We use 86 radiocarbon measurements to test and (re)define existing chronological understanding. Warminster, often associated with Cahiagué visited by S. de Champlain in 1615–1616 CE, yields a compatible radiocarbon-based age. However, a well-known late prehistoric site sequence in southern Ontario, Draper-Spang-Mantle, usually dated ~1450–1550, yields much later radiocarbon-based dates of ~1530–1615. The revised time frame dramatically rewrites 16th-century contact-era history in this region. Key processes of violent conflict, community coalescence, and the introduction of European goods all happened much later and more rapidly than previously assumed. Our results suggest the need to reconsider current understandings of contact-era dynamics across northeastern North America.
Iroquoian villagers living in present-day Jefferson County, New York, at the headwaters of the St... more Iroquoian villagers living in present-day Jefferson County, New York, at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River and the east shore of Lake Ontario, played important roles in regional interactions during the fifteenth century AD, as brokers linking populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario with populations in eastern New York. This study employs a social network analysis and least cost path analysis to assess the degree to which geographical location may have facilitated the brokerage positions of site clusters within pan-Iro-quoian social networks. The results indicate that location was a significant factor in determining brokerage. In the sixteenth century AD, when Jefferson County was abandoned , measurable increases in social distance between other Iroquoian populations obtained. These results add to our understandings of the dynamic social landscape of fif-teenth and sixteenth century AD northern Iroquoia, complementing recent analyses elsewhere of the roles played in regional interaction networks by populations located along geopolitical frontiers.
The Wendat (Huron) and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacies of northeastern North America are o... more The Wendat (Huron) and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacies of northeastern North America are often presented as functionally equivalent political formations despite their having distinct cultural traits and unique geopolitical and developmental histories. In this article we employ social network analysis of collar decoration on ceramic vessels both to examine organizational differences in the social network that composed each group and to evaluate women’s participation in political activities as potters who produced and transmitted social and political signals. The concept of social capital and the dimensions along which it varies are employed to understand variability in network statistics and topologies. Our results indicate that the Wendat confederacy formed a “complete” network characterized by bonding ties of social capital, whereas the Haudenosaunee confederacy was a “coalitional” network characterized by bridging ties. The results suggest that women’s signaling networks were integral to how each confederacy functioned and the norms of reciprocity, trust, and information-sharing that defined each political formation.
The dispersal of Iroquoian groups from St. Lawrence River valley during the 15th and 16th centuri... more The dispersal of Iroquoian groups from St. Lawrence River valley during the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. has been a source of archaeological inquiry for decades. Social network analysis presented here indicates that sites from Jefferson County, New York at the head of the St. Lawrence River controlled interactions within regional social signaling networks during the 15th century A.D. Measures indicate that Jefferson County sites were in brokerage liaison positions between sites in New York and Ontario. In the network for the subsequent century, to which no Jefferson County sites are assigned, no single group took the place of Jefferson County in controlling network flow. The dispersal of Jefferson County populations effectively ended this brokerage function concomitant with the emergence of the nascent Huron-Wendat and Iroquois confederacies and may have contributed to the escalation of conflict between these entities. These results add to a growing literature on the use of network analyses with archaeological data and contribute new insights into processes of population relocation and geopolitical realignment, as well as the role of borderlands and frontiers in nonstate societies.
St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen being as culturally separate from other Iroquoian gro... more St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen being as culturally separate from other Iroquoian groups, a position supported by their disappearance in the mid-sixteenth century. In this paper, Social Network Analysis of Iroquoian ceramic collar motifs and two characteristic St. Lawrence ceramic types repositions this group, most fundamentally the Jefferson County Iroquoians, as a central and integral constituent of a highly fluid pan-Iroquoian ceramic social signalling system that, we argue, reflects changing socio-political relationships. Specifically, we suggest that the strong social ties of the late fifteenth century may be reflected in subsequent distinct movements and integrations of St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples with Ancestral Wendat and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities.
Multidisciplinary Investigations into Huron-Wendat and St. Lawrence Iroquoian Connections, edited by Neha Gupta and Louis Lesage, 2016
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., processes of settlement aggregation, populatio... more During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., processes of settlement aggregation, population relocation, and geopolitical realignment galvanized Iroquoian communities into formative nations. Socio-political changes were brought about by regional patterns of conflict and migration as well as intra-community reorganization as populations met the social, political, and economic challenges of coalescence. These historical events provided the context for the incorporation of St. Lawrence Iroquoians into the Wendat world. This paper employs a conceptual framework that emphasizes historically contingent and multilinear explanations for the development of social complexity. It is argued that these processes of political development in ancestral Wendat society involved the generation of both consensual and asymmetrical power structures between and within ancestral Wendat communities.
Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of ra... more Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of radiocarbon dating, permitting more precise age-estimates for archaeological sites and materials than have been previously possible. This report presents new AMS dates on maize and bone collagen from a European-worked needle case from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian Roebuck site. Those dates are then re-presented within a series of Bayesian models to illustrate the benefits of chronological frameworks which include prior information. The results produce an estimate of Roebuck’s occupation as beginning cal A.D. 1474–1568 and ending cal A.D. 1524–1587 (2 sigma), placing the needle case in the very early protohistoric period.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., northern Iroquoian communities in southern Ontario... more In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., northern Iroquoian communities in southern Ontario and upper New York State came together into large, palisaded village aggregates. Over time, these coalescent communities exhibit increasing degrees of socio-political complexity and reorganization of the built environment. This paper employs magnetic gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate analysis to help infer the settlement structure of Spang, a coalescent community located east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The results are interpreted with reference to the fully-excavated Draper and Mantle sites, occupied before and after Spang in this contiguous community relocation sequence. The results suggest the potential presence of longhouses, a palisade, and a central plaza consistent with increased community integration over time. As geophysical prospection is infrequently employed on Iroquoian village sites, the results suggest the potential of these techniques as components of research designs employed by researchers and cultural resource managers.
The emergence of village societies out of hunter-gatherer groups profoundly transformed social re... more The emergence of village societies out of hunter-gatherer groups profoundly transformed social relations in every part of the world where such communities formed. Drawing on the latest archaeological and historical evidence, this volume explores the development of villages in eastern North America from the Late Archaic period to the eighteenth century.
Sites analyzed here include the Kolomoki village in Georgia, Mississippian communities in Tennessee, palisaded villages in the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia, and Iroquoian settlements in New York and Ontario. Contributors use rich data sets and contemporary social theory to describe what these villages looked like, what their rules and cultural norms were, what it meant to be a villager, what cosmological beliefs and ritual systems were held at these sites, and how villages connected with each other in regional networks. They focus on how power dynamics played out at the local level and among interacting communities.
Highlighting the similarities and differences in the histories of village formation in the region, these essays trace the processes of negotiation, cooperation, and competition that arose as part of village life and changed societies. This volume shows how studying these village communities helps archaeologists better understand the forces behind human cultural change.
Archaeologists have focused a great deal of attention on explaining the evolution of village soci... more Archaeologists have focused a great deal of attention on explaining the evolution of village societies and the transition to a Neolithic way of life. Considerable interest has also concentrated on urbanism and the rise of the earliest cities. Between these two landmarks in human cultural development lies a critical stage in social and political evolution. Throughout the world, at various points in time, people living in small, dispersed village communities have come together into larger and more complex social formations. These community aggregates were, essentially, middle range; situated between the earliest villages and emergent chiefdoms and states. This volume explores the social processes involved in the creation and maintenance of aggregated
communities and how they brought about revolutionary transformations that affected virtually every aspect of a society and its culture. Although a number of studies have addressed coalescence from a regional perspective, less is understood about how aggregated communities functioned internally. The key premise explored in this volume is that large-scale, long-term cultural transformations were ultimately enacted in the context
of daily practices, interactions, and what might be otherwise considered the mundane aspects of everyday life. How did these processes play out in diverse and historically contingent settings? What are the strategies and mechanisms that people adopt to facilitate living in larger social formations? What changes in social relations occur when people come together? This volume employs a broadly cross-cultural approach to interrogating these questions, employing case studies that span four continents and more than 10,000 years of human history.
This is the first detailed analysis of a completely excavated northern Iroquoian community, a six... more This is the first detailed analysis of a completely excavated northern Iroquoian community, a sixteenth-century ancestral Wendat village on the north shore of Lake Ontario. The site resulted from the coalescence of multiple small villages into a single, well-planned and well-integrated community. Jennifer Birch and Ronald F. Williamson frame the development of this community in the context of a historical sequence of site relocations. The social processes that led to its formation, the political and economic lives of its inhabitants, and their relationships to other populations in northeastern North America are explored using multiple scales of analysis. This book is key for those interested in the history and archaeology of eastern North America, the social, political, and economic organization of Iroquoian societies, the archaeology of communities, and processes of settlement aggregation.
This article presents results to date of the Dating Iroquoia project. Our objective is to develop... more This article presents results to date of the Dating Iroquoia project. Our objective is to develop high-precision radiocarbon chronologies for northeastern North American archaeology. Here, we employ Bayesian chronological modeling of 184 AMS radiocar-bon dates derived from 42 Northern Iroquoian village sites in five regional sequences in order to construct new date estimates. The resulting revised chronology demands a rethinking of key assumptions about cultural process in the region regarding the direc-tionality and timing of processes of coalescence and conflict and the introduction of European trade goods. The results suggest that internal conflict may have preceded confederacy formation among the Haudenosaunee but not the Wendat, as has been previously assumed. External conflict, previously thought to have begun in the early seventeenth century, began more than a century earlier. New data also indicate that the timing and distribution of European materials were more variable between communities than acknowledged by the logic underlying traditional trade-good chronologies. This enhanced chronological resolution permits the development and application of archaeological theories that center the lived experiences and relational histories of Iroquoian communities, as opposed to the generalized thinking that has dominated past explanatory frameworks. Cet article présente les résultats obtenus jusqu'à présent dans le cadre du projet intitulé «Dating Iroquoia» (Datation de l'Ir-oquoisie). Notre objectif consiste à mettre au point des chronologies radiocarbone de haute précision dans le cadre de l'arch-éologie de la partie nord-est de l'Amérique du Nord. À cette fin, nous employons une modélisation chronologique Bayésienne de datations radiocarbone par SMA 184, en provenance de 42 sites villageois Iroquoiens du Nord, selon cinq séquences régio-nales, dans le but d'établir de nouvelles estimations de dates. Cette nouvelle chronologie incite à revoir les principales hypoth-èses liées au processus culturel dans la région concernant l'orientation et le calendrier des mécanismes de coalescence et de conflit, ainsi que l'introduction d'échanges commerciaux avec les Européens. Les résultats laissent à penser que les conflits internes peuvent avoir précédé l'établissement de la confédération avec les Haudenosaunee, mais non pas avec les Wendat, comme on a jusqu'à présent pensé. Les conflits externes, censés avoir démarré au début du dix-septième siècle, ont commencé plus d'un siècle auparavant. De nouvelles données indiquent également que le calendrier et la distribution des matières européennes ont davantage varié entre les communautés qu'il n'est reconnu selon la logique sous-tendant les chronologies traditionnelles d'échanges commerciaux. Cette résolution chronologique améliorée permet de développer et d'appliquer des théories archéologiques mettant l'accent sur les expériences vécues et les antécédents relationnels des communautés iroquoiennes, contrairement à la réflexion généralisée qui a dominé les anciens cadres explicatifs. Mots-clés: datations radiocarbone, modélisation chronologique Bayésienne, conflit, d'échanges commerciaux avec les Européens C hronologies fundamentally underpin all other aspects of archaeological thought. The time frames we employ structure not only the broad brushstrokes of cultural process at the regional scale but also the questions we are willing to ask of our data and the answers we are
Radiocarbon dating is rarely used in historical or contact-era North American archaeology because... more Radiocarbon dating is rarely used in historical or contact-era North American archaeology because of idiosyncrasies of the calibration curve that result in ambiguous calendar dates for this period. We explore the potential and requirements for radio-carbon dating and Bayesian analysis to create a time frame for early contact-era sites in northeast North America independent of the assumptions and approximations involved in temporal constructs based on trade goods and other archaeological correlates. To illustrate, we use Bayesian chronological modeling to analyze radiocarbon dates on short-lived samples and a post from four Huron-Wendat Arendarhonon sites (Benson, Sopher, Ball, and Warminster) to establish an independent chronology. We find that Warminster was likely occupied in 1615-1616, and so is the most likely candidate for the site of Cahiagué visited by Samuel de Champlain in 1615-1616, versus the other main suggested alternative, Ball, which dates earlier, as do the Sopher and Benson sites. In fact, the Benson site seems likely to date ∼50 years earlier than currently thought. We present the methods employed to arrive at these new, independent age estimates and argue that absolute redating of historic-era sites is necessary to accurately assess existing interpretations based on relative dating and associated regional narratives. La datation par le radiocarbone est rarement utilisée dans l'archéologie de l'Amérique du Nord, historique ou de l'époque des contacts, en raison des particularités de la courbe de calibration qui donnent lieu aux dates ambiguës pour le calendrier. Nous explorons le potentiel et les exigences pour les datations radiocarbone et d'analyses Bayésienne afin de créer un calendrier pour les sites de début de la période contact dans le nord-est de l'Amérique du Nord séparent des hypothèses et approximations impli-quées dans les constructions temporelles basées sur les marchandises commerciales et d'autres corrélats archéologiques. Comme démonstration, nous utilisons la modélisation chronologique Bayésienne pour analyser les dates par le radiocarbone sur des échantillons éphémères et un poteau de quatre sites Huron-Wendat Arendarhonon (Benson, Sopher, Ball et Warminster) afin d'établir une chronologie indépendante. Nous trouvons que Warminster était probablement occupé pendant 1615-1616, ce qui en fait le candidat le plus probable pour le site de Cahiagué visité par Samuel de Champlain en 1615-1616, par rapport à l'autre alternative principale suggérée, Ball, qui est plus ancien, comme les sites Sopher et Benson. En fait, le site Benson semble dater d'environ cinquante ans (∼50) plus tôt que prévu. Nous présentons les méthodes employées pour arriver à ces nouvelles estimations d'âge indépendant et affirmons qu'une re-datation absolue des sites de l'époque historique est nécessaire pour éva-luer avec précision les interprétations existantes basées sur la datation relative et les récits régionaux associés.
The research presented here evaluates the applicability of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (... more The research presented here evaluates the applicability of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) for characterizing steatite. We present compositional data from an assemblage of 100 steatite beads and pipes deriving from 11 Northern Iroquoian sites in southern Ontario and New York State. Percentages of major elemental constituents and principal components analysis define two compositional groups and various non-steatite artifacts. Our results suggest that EDXRF is an expedient means of characterizing steatite based on major oxides and trace elements. The results support the assertion that individual Iroquoian communities were involved in distinct interaction networks that linked groups in southern Ontario and the St. Lawrence Valley region.
Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of ra... more Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of radiocarbon dating, permitting more precise age-estimates for archaeological sites and materials than have been previously possible. This report presents new AMS dates on maize and bone collagen from a European-worked needle case from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian Roebuck site. Those dates are then re-presented within a series of Bayesian models to illustrate the benefits of chronological frameworks which include prior information. The results produce an estimate of Roebuck’s occupation as beginning cal A.D. 1474–1568 and ending cal A.D. 1524–1587 (2 sigma), placing the needle case in the very early protohistoric period.
Only in the last decade have archaeologists working on Iroquoian sites in Ontario, Québec, and Ne... more Only in the last decade have archaeologists working on Iroquoian sites in Ontario, Québec, and New York Statebegun to seize upon the potential of geophysical prospection and soil chemistry for identifying settlement fea-tures. Recent studies employing magnetic gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate analysisdemonstrate that multi-method approaches have the potential to overcome the limitations imposed by intrusivehistoric features, soil composition, and underlying geology. We consider how specific aspects of the Iroquoianbuilt environment, such as longhouses, palisades, and middens, might be visible in datasets produced by mag-netic gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate analyses and apply these methods to twoIroquoian sites: Trent-Foster (BcGr-5), a late 16th-century Wendat village and Hamilton-Lougheed (BbHa-10), anearly-to-mid 17th-century Tionontate village. At Trent-Foster, we interpret certain anomalies as potentiallonghouses, but suggest that a band of low magnetism cutting through the site may be due to underlyinggeology. At Hamilton-Lougheed, we identify a potential palisade and a likely habitation area. We conclude byacknowledging that the biggest imperative moving forward is the need for more ground-truthing to verify thepresence or absence of built environment features suggested by geophysical and soil chemistry methods. Weadvocate for continued use and development of geophysical and geochemical methods on Iroquoian sites,particularly in the cultural resource management context, as they strike an important balance between pre-serving archaeological heritage and learning from that which is preserved, issues that are of the utmost im-portance to descendant communities and First Nations research partners.
A time frame for late Iroquoian prehistory is firmly established on the basis of the presence/abs... more A time frame for late Iroquoian prehistory is firmly established on the basis of the presence/absence of European trade goods and other archeological indicators. However, independent dating evidence is lacking. We use 86 radiocarbon measurements to test and (re)define existing chronological understanding. Warminster, often associated with Cahiagué visited by S. de Champlain in 1615–1616 CE, yields a compatible radiocarbon-based age. However, a well-known late prehistoric site sequence in southern Ontario, Draper-Spang-Mantle, usually dated ~1450–1550, yields much later radiocarbon-based dates of ~1530–1615. The revised time frame dramatically rewrites 16th-century contact-era history in this region. Key processes of violent conflict, community coalescence, and the introduction of European goods all happened much later and more rapidly than previously assumed. Our results suggest the need to reconsider current understandings of contact-era dynamics across northeastern North America.
Iroquoian villagers living in present-day Jefferson County, New York, at the headwaters of the St... more Iroquoian villagers living in present-day Jefferson County, New York, at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River and the east shore of Lake Ontario, played important roles in regional interactions during the fifteenth century AD, as brokers linking populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario with populations in eastern New York. This study employs a social network analysis and least cost path analysis to assess the degree to which geographical location may have facilitated the brokerage positions of site clusters within pan-Iro-quoian social networks. The results indicate that location was a significant factor in determining brokerage. In the sixteenth century AD, when Jefferson County was abandoned , measurable increases in social distance between other Iroquoian populations obtained. These results add to our understandings of the dynamic social landscape of fif-teenth and sixteenth century AD northern Iroquoia, complementing recent analyses elsewhere of the roles played in regional interaction networks by populations located along geopolitical frontiers.
The Wendat (Huron) and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacies of northeastern North America are o... more The Wendat (Huron) and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) confederacies of northeastern North America are often presented as functionally equivalent political formations despite their having distinct cultural traits and unique geopolitical and developmental histories. In this article we employ social network analysis of collar decoration on ceramic vessels both to examine organizational differences in the social network that composed each group and to evaluate women’s participation in political activities as potters who produced and transmitted social and political signals. The concept of social capital and the dimensions along which it varies are employed to understand variability in network statistics and topologies. Our results indicate that the Wendat confederacy formed a “complete” network characterized by bonding ties of social capital, whereas the Haudenosaunee confederacy was a “coalitional” network characterized by bridging ties. The results suggest that women’s signaling networks were integral to how each confederacy functioned and the norms of reciprocity, trust, and information-sharing that defined each political formation.
The dispersal of Iroquoian groups from St. Lawrence River valley during the 15th and 16th centuri... more The dispersal of Iroquoian groups from St. Lawrence River valley during the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. has been a source of archaeological inquiry for decades. Social network analysis presented here indicates that sites from Jefferson County, New York at the head of the St. Lawrence River controlled interactions within regional social signaling networks during the 15th century A.D. Measures indicate that Jefferson County sites were in brokerage liaison positions between sites in New York and Ontario. In the network for the subsequent century, to which no Jefferson County sites are assigned, no single group took the place of Jefferson County in controlling network flow. The dispersal of Jefferson County populations effectively ended this brokerage function concomitant with the emergence of the nascent Huron-Wendat and Iroquois confederacies and may have contributed to the escalation of conflict between these entities. These results add to a growing literature on the use of network analyses with archaeological data and contribute new insights into processes of population relocation and geopolitical realignment, as well as the role of borderlands and frontiers in nonstate societies.
St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen being as culturally separate from other Iroquoian gro... more St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen being as culturally separate from other Iroquoian groups, a position supported by their disappearance in the mid-sixteenth century. In this paper, Social Network Analysis of Iroquoian ceramic collar motifs and two characteristic St. Lawrence ceramic types repositions this group, most fundamentally the Jefferson County Iroquoians, as a central and integral constituent of a highly fluid pan-Iroquoian ceramic social signalling system that, we argue, reflects changing socio-political relationships. Specifically, we suggest that the strong social ties of the late fifteenth century may be reflected in subsequent distinct movements and integrations of St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples with Ancestral Wendat and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities.
Multidisciplinary Investigations into Huron-Wendat and St. Lawrence Iroquoian Connections, edited by Neha Gupta and Louis Lesage, 2016
During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., processes of settlement aggregation, populatio... more During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., processes of settlement aggregation, population relocation, and geopolitical realignment galvanized Iroquoian communities into formative nations. Socio-political changes were brought about by regional patterns of conflict and migration as well as intra-community reorganization as populations met the social, political, and economic challenges of coalescence. These historical events provided the context for the incorporation of St. Lawrence Iroquoians into the Wendat world. This paper employs a conceptual framework that emphasizes historically contingent and multilinear explanations for the development of social complexity. It is argued that these processes of political development in ancestral Wendat society involved the generation of both consensual and asymmetrical power structures between and within ancestral Wendat communities.
Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of ra... more Advances in laboratory methods and chronological modeling have greatly refined the practice of radiocarbon dating, permitting more precise age-estimates for archaeological sites and materials than have been previously possible. This report presents new AMS dates on maize and bone collagen from a European-worked needle case from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian Roebuck site. Those dates are then re-presented within a series of Bayesian models to illustrate the benefits of chronological frameworks which include prior information. The results produce an estimate of Roebuck’s occupation as beginning cal A.D. 1474–1568 and ending cal A.D. 1524–1587 (2 sigma), placing the needle case in the very early protohistoric period.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., northern Iroquoian communities in southern Ontario... more In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., northern Iroquoian communities in southern Ontario and upper New York State came together into large, palisaded village aggregates. Over time, these coalescent communities exhibit increasing degrees of socio-political complexity and reorganization of the built environment. This paper employs magnetic gradiometry, magnetic susceptibility, and soil phosphate analysis to help infer the settlement structure of Spang, a coalescent community located east of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The results are interpreted with reference to the fully-excavated Draper and Mantle sites, occupied before and after Spang in this contiguous community relocation sequence. The results suggest the potential presence of longhouses, a palisade, and a central plaza consistent with increased community integration over time. As geophysical prospection is infrequently employed on Iroquoian village sites, the results suggest the potential of these techniques as components of research designs employed by researchers and cultural resource managers.
Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the potter... more Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the pottery recovered from a given site are decorated in some manner. In northern Iroquoia, late pre-contact pottery and early contact decoration commonly occur on collars—thick bands of clay that encircle a pot and extend several centimeters down from the lip. These decorations constitute signals that conveyed information about a pot’s user(s). In southern Ontario the period A.D. 1350 to 1650 witnessed substantial changes in socio-political and settlement systems that included population movement, coalescence of formerly separate communities into large villages and towns, waxing and waning of regional strife, the formation of nations, and finally the development of three confederacies that each occupied distinct, constricted areas. Social network analysis demonstrates that signaling practices changed to reflect these regional patterns. Networks become more consolidated through time ultimately resulting in a “small world” network with small degrees of separation between sites reflecting the integration of communities within and between the three confederacies.
Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the potter... more Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the pottery recovered from a given site are decorated in some manner. In northern Iroquoia, late pre-contact pottery and early contact decoration commonly occur on collars—thick bands of clay that encircle a pot and extend several centimeters down from the lip. These decorations constitute signals that conveyed information about a pot’s user(s). In southern Ontario the period A.D. 1350 to 1650 witnessed substantial changes in socio-political and settlement systems that included population movement, coalescence of formerly separate communities into large villages and towns, waxing and waning of regional strife, the formation of nations, and finally the development of three confederacies that each occupied distinct, constricted areas. Social network analysis demonstrates that signaling practices changed to reflect these regional patterns. Networks become more consolidated through time ultimately resulting in a “small world” network with small degrees of separation between sites reflecting the integration of communities within and between the three confederacies.
St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen as being culturally separate from other Iroquoian gro... more St. Lawrence Iroquoians have long been seen as being culturally separate from other Iroquoian groups, a position supported by their disappearance in the mid-sixteenth century. In this paper, Social Network Analysis of Iroquoian ceramic collar motifs and two characteristic St. Lawrence ceramic types repositions this group, most fundamentally the Jefferson County Iroquoians, as a central and integral constituent of a highly fluid panIroquoian ceramic social signalling system that, we argue, reflects changing socio-political relationships. Specifically, we suggest that the strong social ties of the late fifteenth century may be reflected in subsequent distinct movements and integrations of St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples with Ancestral Wendat and Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities.
To understand the development of complex socio-political phenomena, we need to study not just the... more To understand the development of complex socio-political phenomena, we need to study not just the origins of central places, but also their emergence. This can be accomplished by taking an historical perspective where we position ourselves before the occurrence we wish to study. Data from the Georgia Archaeological Site File are presented to explore the Late Woodland and Early Mississippian (ca. A.D. 600–1,100) settlement landscape which contextualized the emergence of two prominent Mississippian mound centers: Macon Plateau (also known as Ocmulgee) and Etowah. Our results suggest that the Etowah River valley supported a denser population who had formed attachments to particular points in the landscape compared to the region surrounding Macon Plateau during the Late Woodland to Early Mississippian transition. These social landscapes provided different contexts for the origins of each Mississippian center and influenced later trajectories of cultural development and settlement in each region.
Rethinking the Archaeological Application of Iroquoian Kinship Jennifer Birch Abstract. Kinship ... more Rethinking the Archaeological Application of Iroquoian Kinship Jennifer Birch Abstract. Kinship is the primary idiom ... Rethinking the Archaeological Application of Iroquoian Kinship Jennifer Birch Abstract. Kinship is the primary idiom ...
This paper explores processes of settlement aggregation among ancestral Huron-Wendat populations ... more This paper explores processes of settlement aggregation among ancestral Huron-Wendat populations in south-central Ontario, Canada. During the fifteenth century A.D., numerous small communities came together, forming large, fortified village aggregates. In order to understand these processes a multiscalar analytical approach was combined with a conceptual framework emphasizing cross-cultural perspectives on coalescent societies, the archaeology of communities, and historical trajectories of societal change. Regional settlement data are presented to illustrate the movement and increasing size of settlements. In order to determine how individual coalescent communities were formed and maintained, a single village relocation sequence is examined in detail. This sequence illustrates how people constructed, inhabited, and negotiated domestic and public spaces in these new community aggregates. Detailed analyses of the occupational histories of these sites point to the creation of new commu...
Excavations undertaken to date within the Fort Simpson Heritage Park, located in Canada's Nor... more Excavations undertaken to date within the Fort Simpson Heritage Park, located in Canada's Northwest Territories, have not yielded anticipated evidence for the early XIXth century North West Company's Fort of the Forks. Instead, archaeological remains found there indicate that the Park was the location of a sawpit and a York Boat recycling and building facility during the mid to late-XIXth century. These two activities, lumber production and the construction of watercraft used for regional transportation and distribution, were critical to the success of the Hudson's Bay Company. The archaeological evidence shows that they took place outside of the fur trade company's precinct which is usually delimited by a palisade or picket fence, and would have been missed by a research approach focused on the enclosed space. Las excavaciones para fechar las evidencias en el Fort Simpson Heritage Park, en los territorios del noroeste de Canadá, no produjeron evidencias anteriores h...
Acknowledgements List of Tables List of Figures Chapter 1.Understanding Northern Iroquoians Chapt... more Acknowledgements List of Tables List of Figures Chapter 1.Understanding Northern Iroquoians Chapter 2. The Historical Development of Ancestral Wendat Societies Chapter 3. Situating the Mantle Site Chapter 4. Community History Chapter 5. The Necessities of Life Chapter 6. Production, Consolidation, and Interregional Interaction Chapter 7. Conclusions Bibliography Index About the Authors
We employ social network analysis of collar decoration on Iroquoian vessels to conduct a multisca... more We employ social network analysis of collar decoration on Iroquoian vessels to conduct a multiscalar analysis of signaling practices among ancestral Huron-Wendat communities on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Our analysis focuses on the microscale of the West Duffins Creek community relocation sequence as well as the mesoscale, incorporating several populations to the west. The data demonstrate that network ties were stronger among populations in adjacent drainages as opposed to within drainage-specific sequences, providing evidence for west-to-east population movement, especially as conflict between Wendat and Haudenosaunee populations escalated in the sixteenth century. These results suggest that although coalescence may have initially involved the incorporation of peoples from microscale (local) networks, populations originating among wider mesoscale (subregional) networks contributed to later coalescent communities. These findings challenge previous models of village relocation...
This article presents results to date of the Dating Iroquoia project. Our objective is to develop... more This article presents results to date of the Dating Iroquoia project. Our objective is to develop high-precision radiocarbon chronologies for northeastern North American archaeology. Here, we employ Bayesian chronological modeling of 184 AMS radiocarbon dates derived from 42 Northern Iroquoian village sites in five regional sequences in order to construct new date estimates. The resulting revised chronology demands a rethinking of key assumptions about cultural process in the region regarding the directionality and timing of processes of coalescence and conflict and the introduction of European trade goods. The results suggest that internal conflict may have preceded confederacy formation among the Haudenosaunee but not the Wendat, as has been previously assumed. External conflict, previously thought to have begun in the early seventeenth century, began more than a century earlier. New data also indicate that the timing and distribution of European materials were more variable betwe...
Radiocarbon dating is rarely used in historical or contact-era North American archaeology because... more Radiocarbon dating is rarely used in historical or contact-era North American archaeology because of idiosyncrasies of the calibration curve that result in ambiguous calendar dates for this period. We explore the potential and requirements for radiocarbon dating and Bayesian analysis to create a time frame for early contact-era sites in northeast North America independent of the assumptions and approximations involved in temporal constructs based on trade goods and other archaeological correlates. To illustrate, we use Bayesian chronological modeling to analyze radiocarbon dates on short-lived samples and a post from four Huron-Wendat Arendarhonon sites (Benson, Sopher, Ball, and Warminster) to establish an independent chronology. We find that Warminster was likely occupied in 1615–1616, and so is the most likely candidate for the site of Cahiagué visited by Samuel de Champlain in 1615–1616, versus the other main suggested alternative, Ball, which dates earlier, as do the Sopher and...
A time frame for late Iroquoian prehistory is firmly established on the basis of the presence/abs... more A time frame for late Iroquoian prehistory is firmly established on the basis of the presence/absence of European trade goods and other archeological indicators. However, independent dating evidence is lacking. We use 86 radiocarbon measurements to test and (re)define existing chronological understanding. Warminster, often associated with Cahiagué visited by S. de Champlain in 1615–1616 CE, yields a compatible radiocarbon-based age. However, a well-known late prehistoric site sequence in southern Ontario, Draper-Spang-Mantle, usually dated ~1450–1550, yields much later radiocarbon-based dates of ~1530–1615. The revised time frame dramatically rewrites 16th-century contact-era history in this region. Key processes of violent conflict, community coalescence, and the introduction of European goods all happened much later and more rapidly than previously assumed. Our results suggest the need to reconsider current understandings of contact-era dynamics across northeastern North America.
The dispersal of Iroquoian groups from St. Lawrence River valley during the 15th and 16th centuri... more The dispersal of Iroquoian groups from St. Lawrence River valley during the 15th and 16th centuries A.D. has been a source of archaeological inquiry for decades. Social network analysis presented here indicates that sites from Jefferson County, New York at the head of the St. Lawrence River controlled interactions within regional social signaling networks during the 15th century A.D. Measures indicate that Jefferson County sites were in brokerage liaison positions between sites in New York and Ontario. In the network for the subsequent century, to which no Jefferson County sites are assigned, no single group took the place of Jefferson County in controlling network flow. The dispersal of Jefferson County populations effectively ended this brokerage function concomitant with the emergence of the nascent Huron-Wendat and Iroquois confederacies and may have contributed to the escalation of conflict between these entities. These results add to a growing literature on the use of network ...
Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the potter... more Pottery is a mainstay of archaeological analysis worldwide. Often, high proportions of the pottery recovered from a given site are decorated in some manner. In northern Iroquoia, late pre-contact pottery and early contact decoration commonly occur on collars-thick bands of clay that encircle a pot and extend several centimeters down from the lip. These decorations constitute signals that conveyed information about a pot's user(s). In southern Ontario the period A.D. 1350 to 1650 witnessed substantial changes in socio-political and settlement systems that included population movement, coalescence of formerly separate communities into large villages and towns, waxing and waning of regional strife, the formation of nations, and finally the development of three confederacies that each occupied distinct, constricted areas. Social network analysis demonstrates that signaling practices changed to reflect these regional patterns. Networks become more consolidated through time ultimately...
The growth of the archaeological consulting industry in Ontario has drastically changed how archa... more The growth of the archaeological consulting industry in Ontario has drastically changed how archaeology is done in this province. This new public context has raised questions about accountability, and it has been suggested that archaeologists have an obligation to public education and outreach. This thesis will investigate the public role of consulting archaeologists in Ontario, with reference to a recent survey undertaken among archaeological practitioners in the province for the purposes of this study. The results suggest that the current system of cultural resource management in this province is lacking in policies and practices that permit meaningful communication with the public.
This study documents and theorizes the processes behind the coalescence of ancestral Huron-Wendat... more This study documents and theorizes the processes behind the coalescence of ancestral Huron-Wendat populations on the north shore of Lake Ontario. A multi-scalar analytical approach is employed to examine settlement aggregation at the regional, local and community levels. The study draws upon cross-cultural models of coalescent societies and the archaeology of communities while being theoretically situated within an historical-processual approach.
The settlement data presented demonstrate that during the fifteenth century AD, small, previously distinct communities came together into large village aggregates. Through an examination of settlement relocation sequences and the occupational histories of individual villages, the transformations in social and political organization that accompanied this process are examined. Differences between site sequences suggest that while it is possible to identify similar processes in coalescence, the actual experience of coming together varied at the local level due to particular historical contingencies.
A major contribution of the study is a detailed analysis of one village relocation sequence involving the aggregation of several small village communities at the Draper site, during the late fifteenth century. In the early sixteenth century, this coalescent community relocated to establish the Mantle site, the largest Iroquoian village excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes. A detailed analysis of the occupational history of the Mantle site is presented here. The results point to the increasing integration of the community over time. A comparison of the built environments and other features of the Draper and Mantle sites elucidate practices that directly address the lived experience of coalescence. These community-level processes are ultimately situated in, and form the basis for, the broader socio-political realignments that characterized the Late Precontact Lower Great Lakes.
Magnetic gradiometry (MG hereafter) is an affordable and preservation-minded method to detect a w... more Magnetic gradiometry (MG hereafter) is an affordable and preservation-minded method to detect a wide range of subsurface features at historic and prehistoric archaeological sites. Horizontal excavation is the only way to confirm the nature of features detected by MG, but in some cases may be impossible or undesirable. Excavation-based understandings of local architectural practices can be used to infer the nature of magnetic anomalies, as long as those understandings encompass the full range of architectural variability that may reasonably be expected. MG was conducted at three sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Iroquoian villages in Ontario, Canada: Hamilton-Lougheed, Trent-Foster, and Spang. A search of extant excavation records was used to characterize the range of architectural variability likely to be found on these sites. Based on these expectations and the identified anomalies, intersite architectural variability is inferred. This approach has general methodological utility for interpreting subsurface anomalies in MG data in the Eastern Woodlands and other areas with similar soil conditions and architectural traditions. Poster presented at the 83rd Society for American Archaeology Conference, Washington DC.
Magnetometry data and excavations in 2015 identified a linear palisade adjacent to the largest mo... more Magnetometry data and excavations in 2015 identified a linear palisade adjacent to the largest mound at Singer-Moye — a Mississippian Period site located in the Lower Chattahoochee River Valley. We excavated two separate units, the first to ascertain if the palisade continued beyond a clear termination point in the magnetometer data, and the second to determine if it intersected with a perpendicular palisade segment identified in earlier excavation. Our results indicate that the palisade extends beyond the magnetometer results but does not intersect with the second palisade, suggesting that the two palisades were not contemporaneous.
The 400-year occupation of Singer-Moye was marked by periods of population aggregation and disper... more The 400-year occupation of Singer-Moye was marked by periods of population aggregation and dispersal. These occupational events played a role in changes in activities at the site. Comparative statistical analyses are used to elucidate changes in the ratios of artifact types from a sample of material removed from a well-preserved, stratified midden deposit. Ceramic data indicate the midden was deposited during the site’s Middle Occupation (ca. A.D. 1300-1400), and lithic and faunal data indicate notable shifts in activities in this area of the site during this phase. This research bears upon current understandings of settlement history both at Singer-Moye and in the lower Chattahoochee River Valley.
Magnetometer data from Singer-Moye revealed anomalies that resemble structures previously identif... more Magnetometer data from Singer-Moye revealed anomalies that resemble structures previously identified at other Mississippian sites. Ten square meters of excavation were placed so as to investigate these anomalies. We encountered two structural features: a central hearth and a line of three post molds. The presence of a dense midden layer above the eastern half of the structure suggests post-abandonment refuse deposition. These findings contribute insights into the use-life of structures and residential areas at Singer-Moye, contributing to the small corpus of residential data available for the prehistoric lower Chattahoochee River valley.
Gradiometer data from Singer-Moye, a Mississippian center in the Lower Chattahoochee River Valley... more Gradiometer data from Singer-Moye, a Mississippian center in the Lower Chattahoochee River Valley, revealed a linear anomaly running northwest to southeast along the north face of Mound A. Excavations were conducted to determine the nature of the feature, which was revealed to be a palisade trench. Subsequent research was directed at understanding the feature’s relationship to the palisade previously excavated under Mound H and to the site’s overall occupational history. The lack of evidence for bastions, and post diameter suggest that the palisade was not intended for defense, but to segment social space, possibly demarcating an elite precinct.
Magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar were employed to explore terminal mound stages at Singe... more Magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar were employed to explore terminal mound stages at Singer-Moye, a multi-mound center in the lower Chattahoochee River Valley. Three of the site’s five platform mounds were surveyed (Mounds A, C, and F). Each exhibited different combinations of anomalies and magnetically 'quiet' areas representing, respectively, structures and open spaces. Our interpretations suggest a final use for each mound summit as the setting for an elite or sacred precinct (Mound A), open or public space (Mound C), and a combination of paired structures and open space (Mound F).
Cross-culturally, naturally occurring hilltops, terraces, and other prominent locations have been... more Cross-culturally, naturally occurring hilltops, terraces, and other prominent locations have been the focus for long-lived and/or recurrent human activity. These places have frequently been enclosed with ditches, ramparts and palisades, creating culturally-prescribed arenas for human action. The practice of enclosure frequently forms just one element in the complex biographies of such places and is not always necessarily related to defence. At various points in their biographies, such places might be social and/or political centres, elite residences, centres of exchange, liminal zones where communication could be made with the gods, spirits or ancestors, funerary sites, or places of refuge. Despite the potential interpretive gains to be derived from cross-cultural analysis of the biographies of enclosed places, attempts to critically compare sites in different temporal and geographical contexts have been generally lacking. This session will address this lacuna, drawing on research from several parts of the world. Papers will focus on biographical approaches, the agency of natural places, and the role of enclosure in materialising social memory and identity.
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Books by Jennifer Birch
Sites analyzed here include the Kolomoki village in Georgia, Mississippian communities in Tennessee, palisaded villages in the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia, and Iroquoian settlements in New York and Ontario. Contributors use rich data sets and contemporary social theory to describe what these villages looked like, what their rules and cultural norms were, what it meant to be a villager, what cosmological beliefs and ritual systems were held at these sites, and how villages connected with each other in regional networks. They focus on how power dynamics played out at the local level and among interacting communities.
Highlighting the similarities and differences in the histories of village formation in the region, these essays trace the processes of negotiation, cooperation, and competition that arose as part of village life and changed societies. This volume shows how studying these village communities helps archaeologists better understand the forces behind human cultural change.
communities and how they brought about revolutionary transformations that affected virtually every aspect of a society and its culture. Although a number of studies have addressed coalescence from a regional perspective, less is understood about how aggregated communities functioned internally. The key premise explored in this volume is that large-scale, long-term cultural transformations were ultimately enacted in the context
of daily practices, interactions, and what might be otherwise considered the mundane aspects of everyday life. How did these processes play out in diverse and historically contingent settings? What are the strategies and mechanisms that people adopt to facilitate living in larger social formations? What changes in social relations occur when people come together? This volume employs a broadly cross-cultural approach to interrogating these questions, employing case studies that span four continents and more than 10,000 years of human history.
Journal Articles by Jennifer Birch
OPEN ACCESS:
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/12/eaav0280
Sites analyzed here include the Kolomoki village in Georgia, Mississippian communities in Tennessee, palisaded villages in the Appalachian Highlands of Virginia, and Iroquoian settlements in New York and Ontario. Contributors use rich data sets and contemporary social theory to describe what these villages looked like, what their rules and cultural norms were, what it meant to be a villager, what cosmological beliefs and ritual systems were held at these sites, and how villages connected with each other in regional networks. They focus on how power dynamics played out at the local level and among interacting communities.
Highlighting the similarities and differences in the histories of village formation in the region, these essays trace the processes of negotiation, cooperation, and competition that arose as part of village life and changed societies. This volume shows how studying these village communities helps archaeologists better understand the forces behind human cultural change.
communities and how they brought about revolutionary transformations that affected virtually every aspect of a society and its culture. Although a number of studies have addressed coalescence from a regional perspective, less is understood about how aggregated communities functioned internally. The key premise explored in this volume is that large-scale, long-term cultural transformations were ultimately enacted in the context
of daily practices, interactions, and what might be otherwise considered the mundane aspects of everyday life. How did these processes play out in diverse and historically contingent settings? What are the strategies and mechanisms that people adopt to facilitate living in larger social formations? What changes in social relations occur when people come together? This volume employs a broadly cross-cultural approach to interrogating these questions, employing case studies that span four continents and more than 10,000 years of human history.
OPEN ACCESS:
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/12/eaav0280
supported by their disappearance in the mid-sixteenth century. In this paper, Social Network Analysis of
Iroquoian ceramic collar motifs and two characteristic St. Lawrence ceramic types repositions this group, most
fundamentally the Jefferson County Iroquoians, as a central and integral constituent of a highly fluid panIroquoian
ceramic social signalling system that, we argue, reflects changing socio-political relationships.
Specifically, we suggest that the strong social ties of the late fifteenth century may be reflected in subsequent
distinct movements and integrations of St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples with Ancestral Wendat and
Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) communities.
The settlement data presented demonstrate that during the fifteenth century AD, small, previously distinct communities came together into large village aggregates. Through an examination of settlement relocation sequences and the occupational histories of individual villages, the transformations in social and political organization that accompanied this process are examined. Differences between site sequences suggest that while it is possible to identify similar processes in coalescence, the actual experience of coming together varied at the local level due to particular historical contingencies.
A major contribution of the study is a detailed analysis of one village relocation sequence involving the aggregation of several small village communities at the Draper site, during the late fifteenth century. In the early sixteenth century, this coalescent community relocated to establish the Mantle site, the largest Iroquoian village excavated to date in the Lower Great Lakes. A detailed analysis of the occupational history of the Mantle site is presented here. The results point to the increasing integration of the community over time. A comparison of the built environments and other features of the Draper and Mantle sites elucidate practices that directly address the lived experience of coalescence. These community-level processes are ultimately situated in, and form the basis for, the broader socio-political realignments that characterized the Late Precontact Lower Great Lakes.