“Like Mushrooms after Rain”: Learning the Land on the Late Nineteenth-Century Central Great Plains (USA)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

After the Civil War, settlers moved into a Great Plains landscape from which Native Americans had been extirpated; i.e., a foreign land with few local experts. In the case of late nineteenth-century Custer County, Nebraska, settler towns sprang up and disappeared “like mushrooms after rain.” Settlers initially sought out “old-timers” and acted on their traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). They incorporated new technologies (e.g., windmills, barbwire), expanding the human-modified landscape outside of well-watered valleys. Settlers were well connected to others via local institutions and to the world system via newspapers and railroads, enhancing their ability to learn. Innovating individuals were celebrated, and, with inter-ethnic marriage and communities, conceivably, TEK evolved. Confronted by the severe climatic and economic challenges of the 1890s, settlers pursued well-researched risk management strategies, including abandonment. The archaeological signatures of the lessons for living in a foreign, demanding grassland are highlighted.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Archaeology and Landscape Learning for a Climate-Changing World

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37142.0