Regional Settlement Patterns in the Colonization of Historical Landscapes: the New Acadia Project Archaeological Survey

Summary

In 1765 more than 200 Acadian refugees settled on the natural levees along the Bayou Teche in south Louisiana. Two centuries later, the descendants of the Acadians were recognized as having created a homeland known as Acadiana. The Fausse Pointe region where the Acadian families initially settled, however, presented an unfamiliar and difficult environment in an already inhabited landscape. The New Acadia Project has systematically surveyed portions of a ten mile segment of the Teche Ridge in order to identify the homesteads and associated burial places of Nouvelle Acadie. The findings of the past four years are presented in relation to multiple lines of evidence, including geomorphology, as well as archival, cartographic and genealogical sources. While regional settlement pattern studies have proven indispensable in cultural resource management and heritage conservation, this paper explores a regional approach to the archaeology of colonization and in particular, understanding the colonization of historical landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology of the French in the New World   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 263