Toward a Household Archaeology of the Onöndowa'ga:' (Seneca Iroquois) White Springs Site, circa 1688-1715 CE

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Onöndowa'ga:' (Seneca Iroquois) White Springs site near Geneva, New York, was occupied circa 1688-1715 CE. The town, approximately 3.4 hectares in size and likely palisaded, was founded in the aftermath of the 1687 French-led Denonville invasion that destroyed several Onöndowa'ga:' towns and most of their agricultural fields. Cornell University-sponsored fieldwork took place at the site from 2007 to 2015, focusing on the impact of warfare and adverse political-economic conditions on Onöndowa'ga:' community structure, house forms, and material practices. Portions of four longhouse structures were uncovered during these excavations, including well-contextualized samples of material culture and faunal and botanical remains, creating the opportunity to compare households across the site. The material traces of everyday practice within these domestic spaces attest to the economic and political strategies and cultural practices of household units within a community under duress. External spaces of activity associated with specific longhouses allow investigations of public activities and community-strengthening practices among the tightly-clustered households. This study presents preliminary findings on the domestic areas of the White Springs site, exploring these spaces as sites of household-centered and community-oriented responses to warfare and challenging conditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24412