An Examination of Mashantucket Pequot Social Activities and Identity Around the Turn of the Nineteenth-Century Through On-Reservation Ceramic Assemblages

Summary

Two recently excavated turn of the nineteenth-century Mashantucket Pequot households have offered a glimpse into the Native use of European manufactured ceramics on the reservation in southeastern Connecticut. The Schemitzun Site (72-208) and the 72-226 Site have allowed for a large-sample analysis of a variety of vessel forms and types of varying quality acquired by the Pequot residents of these localities during the colonial era. These Native owned ceramics provide insight into the social activities and daily practices that took place at these households and the strategies their inhabitants utilized to maintain social connections with other indigenous people. They also present an opportunity to evaluate how these material items intersected with Native identity, despite traditionally being considered strictly European identifiers due to their manufacturing origins.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Digging Domestic Spaces: An Exploration of Homesteads, Habitations and Farms   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-71,11