Elusive Forever?: Maroon Archaeology and the Practicality of Least Cost Networks

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In the late-eighteenth century, during the Spanish control of colonial Louisiana, several Maroon settlements surrounding New Orleans reached its pinnacle in terms of expanse, population, and permanence. However, due to the challenging environments and elusive nature of these sites, no one has located these settlements archaeologically. In fact, one of the largest issues within Maroon archaeology more broadly is that Maroon sites are difficult to locate. Maroon archaeologists have sought to address this problem using various site location methods, but these techniques are usually suitable for only one context and/or rely heavily on environmental datasets to make conclusions about human behavior. With the increasing rise in geographic information systems, there is potential for more computationally intense site location methods, including least-cost networks (LCNs), to aid in this endeavor. This paper evaluates the role of LCNs in locating Maroon archaeological sites in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2022 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology