Global Currents and Local Currents in Northern La Florida: Recent Finds at the Berry Site in Western North Carolina

Summary

Spanish exploration and colonization of the American South encompassed a great deal of movement, including the movements of Spanish conquistadors, flows of goods to coastal entrepots and inland along the routes of Spanish entradas, rearrangements of Native American groups within the cultural landscape, and practices of placemaking that created common ground and borders between natives and newcomers.  One site at which to consider these dimensions of the Spanish colonialism in La Florida is the Berry site, located in the upper Catawba Valley, in western North Carolina.  What drew Spanish conquistadors and colonists to western North Carolina during the sixteenth century?  What drew Native American community leaders to places where they could interact with Spaniards and participate in diplomacy and trade?  What motivated Spanish colonialism in northern La Florida?  What agendas did Native Americans have in developing relationships with Spaniards and Spanish colonial towns in the South?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions) 2018   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 505