Shackleford Banks: The Economical and Environmental Changing Coastal Dynamics from the Early 1800s to the Creation of the National Seashore.

Summary

This is a poster submission presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Shackleford Banks, North Carolina is a 14.5-kilometer barrier island that has not been permanently inhabited by humans in over a century. These Ca’e Bankers lived, not necessarily in isolation, but in self-relying communities that used anything and everything to their advantage. They were able to survive by using what the landscape provided them through oystering, clamming, whaling, porpoise hunting, crabbing, farming, and salvaging. Evidence collected from East Carolina University’s 2021 Summer Field School is utilized as well as census records, oral histories, and shoreline data in order to show the history of these communities. The information determined will be important to the descendants of these communities who still follow the old traditions. This poster will examine evidence to determine the economic and environmental change that led to why these people established themselves on Shackleford, how they developed, and what lead to their decline and ultimate exodus of the Banks.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 2022 SHA Poster Submissions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology