Cultural Landscapes in Exodus: The Natchez Fort in Central Louisiana

Summary

This paper considers the Natchez, who in the mid-1700s, were disconnected from their traditional homeland in Western Mississippi. The Natchez shielded their community from the French in an ancestral landscape that is critical to understanding the processes of change and creation of place and cultural landscapes at the Natchez Fort site. The location of the fort in a well defended region was key for seclusion and military defense. But this tactical decision to entrench themselves on the bluffs above the Mississippi floodplain was cultural as well. The landscape, fort architecture, and mortuary practices all testify to a commitment to boundedness among a community that was experiencing an active political collapse, diaspora, and ultimately enslavement during the tumultuous period of French colonialism. This paper will examine the architectural, ceremonial/mortuary, and landscape characteristics of the Natchez in exile from 1730-1731.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeologies of Diaspora and Dispersal   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

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PaperId(s): 485