Powhatan’s Pearls: Power, Prestige, Profit, and Identity in Coastal Virginia during the Late Woodland and Contact Periods

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Deep History, Colonial Narratives, and Decolonization in the Native Chesapeake" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

While copper and shell beads have been focal topics within the region, as items of adornment and power during later prehistory, a review of early historic accounts indicates that freshwater pearls may have been the most valued of all such commodities, during both life and death. Obtained locally, from the expansive waters of the inner coastal plain, freshwater pearls may have served as a symbolic marker of regional identity, with the event of finding of a significant pearl representing a powerful moment infused with manitou. These same pearls were targeted by English settlers as a potential means for making the Virginia Company profitable, underscoring their persistent presence in the early historic record. The quest for freshwater pearls may have served as a driving force behind Native American settlement within the inner coastal portion of the James River drainage during the Middle and Late Woodland periods, based on a potential knowledge of extra-regional trade networks and the ideal habitat conditions required by freshwater mussels, a resource viewed by many researchers as a starvation food. This presentation investigates the ephemeral presence and varied roles of freshwater pearls within the historic record and at Native American archaeological sites in coastal Virginia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Deep History, Colonial Narratives, and Decolonization in the Native Chesapeake

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33479