Finding New Netherland in New Jersey: Two or Three Dutch Needles in a Supersized Haystack

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "More than Pots and Pipes: New Netherland and a World Made by Trade" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

For the colonists of New Netherland there was of course no “New Jersey”. Rather there was a mostly poorly known, although readily crossed, landmass separating the North and South River foci of Dutch activity. This study provides an archaeological context for the identification and evaluation of pre-1664 Dutch sites within the boundaries of the modern state, while recognizing that New Netherland extended much beyond these limits.

Material culture studies equip us with tools for identifying pre-1664 sites, but with the exception of Burlington Island on the Delaware, actual archaeological evidence for the Dutch in New Jersey is elusive. The precise location of Fort Nassau on the South River remains uncertain. On the North River, despite massive urbanization, some potential exists for finding physical remains of the boweries and plantations of Pavonia (Bergen Neck). The remarkably well-documented plantation at Achter Col (Bogota) may well survive as a coherent archaeological property.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022   •
• More than Pots and Pipes: New Netherland and a World Made by Trade

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology