Paths of Connection in the Great Dismal Swamp: Wetland Watercourses as Indigenous and Maroon Landscape Features

Summary

Speckled with mesic islands and peat hummocks, the soggy lowlands and standing water of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina (USA) were home to thousands of African and African American Maroons ca. 1608-1863 and were a significant feature of the landscape of Indigenous Americans for many centuries prior. The Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study and the Swampscapes project archaeologically investigate the landscape of resistance created by Maroons. The Dismal is far from a homogenous morass and surrounded by seemingly impenetrable vegetation deep in the Swamp’s interior, one may be tempted to view the small dry landforms on which Maroons, Indigenous people and others built structures, had fires, and engaged in other activities of daily life as isolated locales. Recent LiDAR studies and exploration has revealed a significant topographic similarity amongst the sites and potential sites identified to date in this varied wetlands: their proximity to a stream or watercourse. This poster examines the watercourses and what they may have meant for travel, community connections, and contact with the world beyond the Swamp.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22335