The New Kent Island? Using Pipes to Analyze Anglo-Susquehannock Relationships along the Potomac River

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In circa 1640, John Mottrom, a planter and Indian trader, established his manor complex, Coan Hall (44NB11) in Northumberland County, Virginia. Mottrom’s manor house became the center of the Chicacoan settlement, a consortium of primarily former Kent Islanders who were exiled after the Maryland government seized the island in 1638. These former Kent Islanders were traders who gained access to the northern beaver fur trade through the Susquehannock. Since 2011, archaeologists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville have focused their research on the development of the mid-17th century manor complex, however, they have recently begun to examine Chicacoan-Susquehannock trade relationships at Coan Hall. This paper seeks to use Susquehannock pipes recovered from the Coan Hall site as a conduit to discuss the relationships between people at the Chicacoan settlement and the Susquehannock and how these relationships set the Chicacoan apart from other Virginian colonists.  

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Artifacts are More Than Enough: Recentering the Artifact in Historical Archaeology   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow