Representing Pennsylvania Colonial Expansion and Indigenous Trade in GIS

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.

The colonization of the landscape now known as Pennsylvania drastically altered the material record found at indigenous settlement sites. European material goods became more commonplace in the archaeological record as time moved on, with the expansion of colonial settlements into indigenous lands assisting this material shift. This paper focuses on how the material shift was undertaken geographically and the impact on localized trade structures, rather than the actual material the record includes. Using ArcGIS mapping of colonial settlement expansion, indigenous settlement sites, and known historic trade routes, a visualized connection between these settlements can be created representing the likely pathways of material travel and how this travel impacted colonial settlement expansion further into the Contact Period. This visualization can be used for larger colonial expansion studies, as a look at trade route changes over time, and as an education tool about Pennsylvania’s own expansionist history.

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