Historic Ethnography and the Early Colonial Delaware Valley

Summary

The documentary record and archaeological resources of the Delaware valley present an excellent opportunity to explore the complex interactions among colonial settlers and their Lenape and Susquehannock neighbors. Historic ethnography envisions approaching the culture of a group of people at a specific place and time from as many documentary and material perspectives as possible in order to develop a rich and deeply contextualized understanding of how those people lived. My approach to work on the colonial settlements in the Delaware Valley owes much to the interdisciplinary approach to Historical Archaeology promoted by Robert Schuyler. This approach encouraged archaeologists to explore beyond anthropology and archaeology to understand potential contributions from a wide range of disciplines including folklore, history, architecture history, landscape studies and material culture. The small size of the colonial Swedish community relative to the extent of available documents, sites, and objects presents a perfect place to apply these lessons.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017   •
• Historical Archaeologies of the Modern World:Celebrating the Career of Robert Schuyler

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 381