From the Bottom Up: Socioeconomic Archaeology of the French Maritime Empire

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "From the Bottom Up: Socioeconomic Archaeology of the French Maritime Empire," at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The French maritime empire enabled the continued colonization of territories all over the world and was built upon the backs of those in lower socioeconomic classes. This session will focus on those who were necessary to or heavily impacted by the French maritime structure, and whose agency and importance is often overlooked, like French sailors, settlers, enslaved populations, and shipwrights. Focus will be given to processes often seen as static that were, in reality, extremely dynamic, such as the negotiation and struggle between the center of power and marginalized populations, and the complex reality of technological knowledge which is far removed from the polished image of a united national tradition. This isn’t the story of kings, generals, or political leaders; this is an exploration of the perspectives of those that provided the fuel for the French maritime empire – this is the story of the French maritime empire from the bottom.