Agriculture and Inter-village Space in the Ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) World

Summary

Ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) settlement patterns have been commonly presently as a series of well-spaced two acre defended agglutinated villages. Inter-village space was generally viewed as dangerous within a landscape of endemic warfare. Surveys and excavations in the Cayuga heartland (east side of Cayuga Lake) of the Finger Lakes region, central New York, are altering that vision. By at least the 15th century, agricultural complexes and stations were established between villages. These locales, possibly hosted by a particular clan, served as nodes of contact and communication between both local and distant groups. Based on recent excavations at the Myers Farm site, they do not contain the size, organization, or longhouse architecture of villages, but do contain small middens, unusually small ceramic bowls, and high frequencies of ground stone, farming implements and smoking pipes. As evidenced by large-scale food production at small sites, communal feasts were held to host visiting work parties.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage