Landscapes in Transition: Looking to the Past to Adapt the Future

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Centuries before the first free-Black settlement on Manhattan Island known as Seneca Village was recorded, the Lenape people laid claim to that central spot. In addition to what has been referred to as Manahatta the indigenous civilization called the larger encompassing landmass Lenapehoking. Before and after European contact, Brown and Black people were environmental stewards and laborers of the land. As power dynamics evolved – and European dominance prevailed, contested concepts of land use, development and redevelopment left an altered landscape with scars and markings. Focusing on the people of Seneca Village whose intimacy and practices with the landscape as 19th century land sustainers, and Black environmentalists, this paper examines past interactions: the social, political and economic to examine climate change and the environmental impact of the site of land that lies within the boundaries of present-day Central Park.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow