More than Ramparts and Redoubts: Forts and Families of New France

The study of military fortifications is an enduring research topic in the archaeology of New France. However, forts in the French colonial world were far more than military installations. These sites served as expressions of imperial power, commercial centers, locations where identities were negotiated, and sometimes safe havens for settlers. French colonists settled North and South America, expanding an empire, interacting with various cultural groups, and exploiting economic opportunities. With settlements spread over thousands of miles, the French colonial experience was far from homogeneous. The papers in this session address political, social, and economic entanglements of the French colonial world in archaeological perspective through the lens of fort habitation. Enduring attention needs to be drawn to fort sites as social interaction spheres as opposed to simple cases studies of ‘military archaeology.