Introduction: Jesuit Archaeology in the Americas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Jesuit Missions, Plantations, and Industries" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

An historical archaeology of Jesuit sites in the Americas reveals how these missions impacted the diverse peoples with whom Jesuits sustained daily interactions, as well as the priests and lay brothers themselves. From its headquarters in Rome, this Catholic religious order built and maintained a global mission program that consisted not only of evangelization but also education, arts, sciences, and economic activities to finance their work. This left behind a voluminous archival record, and portable objects, features, and structures, many of which are archaeologically recoverable. Jesuit sites are numerous and diverse, and in many cases are difficult to define archaeologically because of their economic focus or because missionaries lived within Native villages. Past research and the papers to follow in this session explore how archaeology reveals the lived experience of people in the Jesuit sphere of influence, and the way in which this influence continues today.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Jesuit Missions, Plantations, and Industries   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 145