The Mid-Atlantic Steatite Belt: Archaeological Approaches to Traditional Knowledge and the formation of Persistent Landscapes

Summary

In the Mid-Atlantic, steatite outcrops within the eastern talc belt, which runs from Alabama, through New England to Labrador. It is a porous, carvable stone with a mineralogical and chemical makeup that inhibits soil formation, resulting in scrub or barren landscapes that host rare grasses and wildflowers. In their natural state, these would be striking landscape features. While an array of items, such as plummets, bannerstones and pipes, were produced from steatite throughout pre-colonial times, the craft of carving open vessels peaked during the Transitional Period. Though several locales may supply steatite, only some appear to have been used for extraction, and finished vessels are found up to 300 kilometers from these source locations. Traditional knowledge about the environment is often observable to us through ethnography, local toponomy, or oral history. Much of the Mid-Atlantic region lacks access to these rich sources. Yet traditional knowledge is also manifest in the physical construction of persistent landscapes as people visit and revisit places, infusing them with meaning and memory. This work addresses how archaeology helps to understand how people developed traditional knowledge of resources in the past, and how archaeology may be a partner in the contemporary cultural re-imagination of relict landscapes.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Traditional Knowledge and Lithic Resources   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15103