Susquehanna's Indians

Susquehanna's Indians

Author: Barry C. Kent

Publisher: Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission

Published: 1984

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13:

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Barry Kent combines the historical and archaeological records to interpret the culture of the peoples who formerly occupied the Susquehanna Valley of central and eastern Pennsylvania until they vanished in the mid-eighteenth century. The book provides the reader with a timeline of the Susquehanna people and a discussion of archaeological findings.


The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom

The Archaeology of Northern Slavery and Freedom

Author: James A. Delle

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2019-06-05

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 0813057132

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Investigating what life was like for African Americans north of the Mason-Dixon Line during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, James Delle presents the first overview of archaeological research on the topic in this book, debunking the notion that the “free” states of the Northeast truly offered freedom and safety for African Americans. Excavations at cities including New York and Philadelphia reveal that slavery was a crucial part of the expansion of urban life as late as the 1840s. Slaves cleared forests, loaded and unloaded ships, and manufactured charcoal to fuel iron furnaces. The case studies in this book also show that enslaved African-descended people frequently staffed suburban manor houses and agricultural plantations. Moreover, for free blacks, racist laws such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 limited the experience of freedom in the region. Delle explains how members of the African diaspora created rural communities of their own and worked in active resistance against the institution of slavery, assisting slaves seeking refuge and at times engaging in violent conflicts. The book concludes with a discussion on the importance of commemorating these archaeological sites, as they reveal an important yet overlooked chapter in African American history. Delle shows that archaeology can challenge dominant historical narratives by recovering material artifacts that express the agency of their makers and users, many of whom were written out of the documentary record. Emphasizing that race-based slavery began in the Northeast and persisted there for nearly two centuries, this book corrects histories that have been whitewashed and forgotten. A volume in the series the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective, edited by Michael S. Nassaney


Archaeology Matters

Archaeology Matters

Author: Jeremy A Sabloff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-06-16

Total Pages: 135

ISBN-13: 1315434032

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Archaeology is perceived to study the people of long ago and far away. How could archaeology matter in the modern world? Well-known archaeologist Jeremy Sabloff points to ways in which archaeology might be important to the understanding and amelioration of contemporary problems. Though archaeologists have commonly been associated with efforts to uncover cultural identity, to restore the past of underrepresented peoples, and to preserve historical sites, their knowledge and skills can be used in many other ways. Archaeologists help Peruvian farmers increase crop yields, aid city planners in reducing landfills, and guide local communities in tourism development and water management. This brief volume, aimed at students and other prospective archaeologists, challenges the field to go beyond merely understanding the past and actively engage in making a difference in the today’s world.


Bears

Bears

Author: Heather A. Lapham

Publisher: University Press of Florida

Published: 2020-01-20

Total Pages: 413

ISBN-13: 168340145X

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Although scholars have long recognized the mythic status of bears in Indigenous North American societies of the past, this is the first volume to synthesize the vast amount of archaeological and historical research on the topic. Bears charts the special relationship between the American black bear and humans in eastern Native American cultures across thousands of years. These essays draw on zooarchaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic evidence from nearly 300 archaeological sites from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. Contributors explore the ways bears have been treated as something akin to another kind of human—in the words of anthropologist Irving Hallowell, “other than human persons”—in Algonquian, Cherokee, Iroquois, Meskwaki, Creek, and many other Native cultures. Case studies focus on bear imagery in Native art and artifacts; the religious and economic significance of bears and bear products such as meat, fat, oil, and pelts; bears in Native worldviews, kinship systems, and cosmologies; and the use of bears as commodities in transatlantic trade. The case studies in Bears demonstrate that bears were not only a source of food, but were also religious, economic, and political icons within Indigenous cultures. This volume convincingly portrays the black bear as one of the most socially significant species in Native eastern North America. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series


Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper

Author: Eric H. Cline

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-11-03

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0691208573

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"A brief, accessible primer explaining the basics of archaeology from "How do you know where to dig?" to "Do you get keep what you find?""--


From the miners' doublehouse

From the miners' doublehouse

Author: Karen Bescherer Metheny

Publisher: Univ. of Tennessee Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 9781572334953

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In From the Miners’ Doublehouse, archaeologist Karen Metheny uses an interpretive, contextual approach to examine the physical and cultural landscape of the now-abandoned coal-mining town of Helvetia in western Pennsylvania. The author weaves together documentary sources, oral history, and archaeological evidence to reveal the ways in which mine workers constructed a sense of community in this company town from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. As the first archaeological and historical study of a coal company town that focuses upon the strategies its residents used to manipulate landscape and material culture to achieve personal and social goals, From the Miners’ Doublehouse makes a significant contribution to historical and industrial archaeology. This book will be of interest to scholars in industrial and environmental history, geography, and industrial sociology. It will also appeal to general readers interested in coal’s history and the Appalachian coal-mining region.