Beyond the Fields: Lenape Domesticated Landscapes in the Minisink National Historic Landmark

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Discussions of Indigenous agricultural systems in the Northeastern United States have focused almost exclusively on the cultivation of maize, beans, and squash. General models focus on the cultivation of these plants in ridged fields or fields of small hillocks. While the fields and crops grown within them are important, I argue they are only one part of a larger domesticated landscape. Using data from the Minisink National Historic Landmark, I focus on how the Lenape created a domesticated landscape into which agricultural fields were integrated and became central too. I argue Lenape agricultural systems probably have their root in agroforestry practices focused on enhancing mast nut production that originated during the Late Archaic. Drawing on paleoethnobotanical and landscape data, I argue that Lenape agricultural systems were not focused solely on domesticated plants as traditionally defined but also included the encouragement, maintenance, and cultivation of disturbance adapted species growing on the edge of their fields. In particular, I focus on the cultivation of ruderal plants and fleshy fruits. I argue that to better understand the complexity and utility of Indigenous agricultural systems in the Northeast, the full extent of how Indigenous people domesticated their landscapes must be realized.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41488.0