Finding Women in their Lost Possessions: Personal Artifacts at the Luna Settlement

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Tristan de Luna 1559-1561 Spanish expedition carried around 1,500 total people in hopes to settle La Florida. While extensive documentary and archaeological research has been conducted on this expedition, there has been no study to date on the material culture evidence of the women and children that would have accompanied this expedition. This paper provides a deep dive into the women and children’s roles in Spanish settlements such as this one. In addition, this paper applies the documentary evidence of women and children at this specific settlement attempt, and explores the personal artifacts recovered from the shipwreck and terrestrial sites of the Luna Settlement. Personal Artifacts being examined from this site include clothing fasteners, religious items, jewelry, or other items that would have been used for personal adornment or individual use.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SHA 2023 General Sessions   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow