The Excavated Bead Collection at Fort St. Joseph (20BE23) and Its Implications For Understanding Adornment, Ideology, Cultural Exchange, and Identity

Part of the Fort St. Joseph Archaeological project

Author(s): LisaMarie Malischke

Year: 2009

Summary

Fort St. Joseph in Niles, Michigan was a French and later and English fort built along the St. Joseph River. It had a military presence, but the majority of its activity involved the fur trade. A variety of French, French-Canadian, Native and Métis people called this fort locale home, which led to a blending of cultural practices. Documents such as the baptismal register for the fort suggest this site hosted daily interactions between the French inhabitants and the neighboring Miami, Potawatomi, and Sauk peoples. New forms of cultural interaction affected the participants as they negotiated their individual and group identities in a changing world.

This project examines the collection of beads excavated in 2002, 2004, and 2006 from Fort St. Joseph. This thesis demonstrates that: (1) beads can be viewed as more than chronological markers, (2) beads in colonial New France had multiple uses, and (3) beads were markers of social identity for the people of Fort St. Joseph. Lastly, this thesis discusses how the exchange of bead practices illustrates intercultural behaviors that contribute to the process of ethnogenesis at this frontier fort.

Cite this Record

The Excavated Bead Collection at Fort St. Joseph (20BE23) and Its Implications For Understanding Adornment, Ideology, Cultural Exchange, and Identity. LisaMarie Malischke. 2009 ( tDAR id: 372401) ; doi:10.6067/XCV87H1HMQ

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
British Colonial • Euroamerican • French Colonial • Historic • Historic Native American • Miami • Potawatomi

Material
Building Materials • Ceramic • Dating Sample • Fauna • Fire Cracked Rock • Glass • Ground Stone • Macrobotanical • Metal • Shell • Wood

Site Name
Fort St. Joseph

Site Type
Archaeological Feature • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Hearth • Historic Structure • Hunting / Trapping • Midden • Non-Domestic Structures • Palisade • Pit • Post Hole / Post Mold • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features • Rock Alignment • Settlements • Structure • Trash Midden

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation • Ethnohistoric Research • Geophysical Survey • Historic Background Research • Reconnaissance / Survey • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Beads • Fur Trade • garrison • Jesuit • mission • Public Archaeology • Trading Post

Geographic Keywords
Great Lakes • Pays d'en Haut

Temporal Keywords
Colonial Period

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1691 to 1781

Spatial Coverage

min long: -86.285; min lat: 41.794 ; max long: -86.238; max lat: 41.827 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Principal Investigator(s): Michael Nassaney

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
the-excavated-bead-collection-at-fort-st-joseph-20be23-and-its... 45.44mb Dec 6, 2011 2:09:27 PM Public