Vanished Cultural Landscapes of the Qualla Boundary

Summary

Landscapes of tribal reservations vary across the regions of the United States, yet change to these landscapes remains a constant. On the constrained reservations of the east any change to the landscape can be of great significance.  The Qualla Boundary in western North Carolina is one such reservation.  Home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, this 57,000 acre section of trust land has changed significantly over the past century, but with the economic boon brought about by the casino, the past twenty years have marked constant and vast changes.  This paper will focus on utilizing the concerns of Cherokee elders to teach young Cherokees about important aspects of life on the Boundary that have vanished over the past 100 years. From these lessons, we hope to translate the teachings on recent vanished landscapes to teachings on archaeological landscapes of the Qualla Boundary.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018   •
• Reservation Archaeology: Culture Change, Historical Trauma, and Community Resilience in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Native North America

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1048