Nantucket and Other Native Places

Description

The archaeology and histories of the Native peoples and earliest settlers of eastern Massachusetts come vividly to life in these pages. Leading archaeologists and anthropologists share the latest findings and interpretations on a wide range of topics, including the archaeology of the Jethro Coffin House, arguably the oldest house in Nantucket; the origin and significance of maize horticulture; the production and distribution of wampum; Native women sachems of Martha's Vineyard; Native vernacular architecture at Nantucket; the "Indian planting fields" at Concord; fertilizer and Native horticulture; the enduring strands of significance of drift whales; and an insightful examination of a seventeenth-century house in Duxbury.

A tribute to the career of the influential archaeologist Elizabeth Alden Little (1926–2003), Nantucket and Other Native Places offers an essential introduction to the archaeology of eastern Massachusetts. The book includes an homage to Elizabeth Little's life and career by renowned archaeologist Dena F. Dincauze, as well as a comprehensive bibliography of her extensive published work.
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Preface

1. The “Ancient Dwelling” on Sunset Hill: Preliminary Archaeological Investigations at the Jethro Coffin House
Duncan Ritchie

2. Native American Architecture on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
Mary Lynne Rainey

3. Drift Whales at Nantucket: The Kindness of Moshup
Elizabeth Alden Little and J. Clinton Andrews

4. Island Queens: Women Sachems on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket in the Colonial Period
Kathleen J. Bragdon

5. Pilgrim Subsistence: A Seventeenth Century Profile from the John and Priscilla Alden House, Duxbury, Massachusetts
Tonya Baroody Largy and Mitchell T. Mulholland

6. The “Indian Planting Fields” in Concord, Massachusetts: Influence of New Techniques on Archaeological Explanatory Models
Shirley Blancke

7. Wampum Use in Southern New England: The Paradox of Bead Production without the Use of Political Belts
Marshall Joseph Becker

8. The Origin and Spread of Maize (Zea Mays) in New England
Elizabeth S. Chilton

9. Limestone, Shell, and the Archaeological Visibility of Maize and Beans in New England: A Fertilizer Hypothesis
Elizabeth Alden Little

10. An Intellectual Biography of Elizabeth Alden Little, 1927–2003
Dena Ferran Dincauze

Afterword: A Presentation at Elizabeth A. Little’s Memorial Celebration, September 12, 2003
Ruel Little

A Comprehensive List of the Works of Elizabeth Alden Little
About the Contributors
Index

Sujets

• Indigenous peoples
• History of the Americas

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438432557
• Langue: English

Extrait

Betty Little at Miacomet

Nantucket and Other Native Places
The Legacy of Elizabeth Alden Little
Edited by
Elizabeth S. Chilton
and
Mary Lynne Rainey

Cover image of “The Shack” courtesy of Mary Lynne Rainey
This publication was partially funded by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society which received the Louis Brennan Award for the book project from the Eastern States Archaeological Federation.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2010 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Diane Ganeles Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nantucket and other native places : the legacy of Elizabeth Alden Little / edited by Elizabeth S. Chilton and Mary Lynne Rainey.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-3253-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-3254-0 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Indians of North America—Massachusetts—Nantucket Island—Antiquities. 2. Indians of North America—New England—Antiquities. 3. Nantucket Island (Mass.)—Antiquities. 4. New England—Antiquities. 5. Little, Elizabeth A. I. Chilton, Elizabeth S. II. Rainey, Mary Lynne.
E78.M4N36 2010
974.4'97—dc22                                                                                             2009045179
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Illustrations 1.1      Jethro Coffin House, Built 1686    5 1.2      Location of Subsurface Testing on Jethro Coffin House Property    11 2.1      Nantucket Archaeological Sites Containing Information on Native American Vernacular Architecture Plotted on 1893 USGS Topographic Map    27 2.2      Map of the Coffin Farm Complex 1 Site with Builder's Trench Inset    45 2.3      Profile of Interior Ridge Pole Support Feature: 19-NT-50    49 2.4      Map of the Dwelling Site, with Builder's Trench Inset    51 2.5      Possible Structural Support Features at the Poison Meadow Site    53 2.6      Plan View of Brick Hearth Remains at the Wild Rose Pasture Site    55 3.1      Locations of Whale Strandings at Nantucket, 1947–1980 Each numbered dot identifies a stranded whale of Appendix 1 , which gives the species, date, and location. Base map after Chisholm et al. (1974).    65 3.2      Location of Drift Whale Rights at Nantucket, 1668–1728, from Nantucket County Records ( Appendix 2 ) Drift whale right locations known precisely are shown by solid shading, and those not known precisely are shown by hatching. Base map, after Chisholm et al. (1974) and Holland (1794), shows seventeenth- and eighteenth-century extension of the southwest shore of Nantucket to the west of Tuckernuck.    67 3.3      Ethnohistoric Drift Whaling Locations on the East Coast of the United States, North of New York in the Seventeenth Century, from Recorded Deeds, Customs, and Regulations Locations known precisely are shown by solid shading, and those not known precisely are shown by hatching. Base map after National Ocean Survey (1977).    70 3.4      Ethnohistoric Drift Whaling Locations on the East Coast of the United States, North of New York in the Seventeenth Century, from Recorded Deeds, Customs, and Regulations Solid circles indicate locations that are well documented, and open circles indicate locations that are poorly documented. Base map after National Geographic Society (1960).    71 3.5      Along-shore and Pelagic Whaling Ports of the United States, 1715–1839 (Starbuck 1964) The major ports, Nantucket and New Bedford, are shown by stars, and minor ports are shown by solid dots. Hudson River ports were established by pelagic whalers of Nantucket.    71 3.6      Two Whalebone Adzes, or Spades, Found at Nantucket (Fowler 1973; collection of Paul C. Morris, Nantucket)    73 3.7      Two Stone Celts (left: an axe; right: an adze) Found at Nantucket with Bone Adzes (Fowler 1973; collection of Paul C. Morris, Nantucket)    73 4.1      William Hubbard's “Map of New-England,” 1677 It appears to have been commissioned by Hubbard for his volume The History of the Indian Wars in New England, published in London and Boston in 1677. It is described by Samuel G. Drake, editor of Hubbard's Indian Wars (1865), as “the curious Woodcut Map.”    90 4.2      Nantucket Sachem Succession (Little 1996)    92 4.3      Saconnet Leadership    95 4.4      Chappaquiddick Sachem Lines    98 5.1      Master Plan of the Excavation Grid System Used by Robbins at the Alden House (Robbins 1969, 44–45)    106 5.2      Plan of the Alden House Foundation Showing the Excavation Units (Robbins 1969, 44–45)    108 5.3      House Site Plan of the Alden House with Profiles of the Foundation (Robbins 1969, 44–45)    109 5.4      House Site Plan of the Alden House with Profiles of the Root Cellar (Robbins 1969, 44–45)    110 6.1      Walling's 1856 Map of Concord “Middlesex Agricultural House” is in the center between the large “C” and “O” of Concord.    121 6.2      Projectile Points and Potsherds from Sleepy Hollow Expansion Site by Type (Top, left to right: Small Stemmed I; Fishtail, Adena-like. Middle, left to right: Fox Creek Stemmed base, untyped stemmed point of brown chert, two sherds. Bottom, left to right: Neville variant, Atlantic, Fox Creek Stemmed)    123 6.3      Plan of the “Black Platform” (Living Floor) at the Sleepy Hollow Expansion Site (FC = Fire Center) The dotted line represents where the edge of the blackened area was found. The grid consists of meter squares.    127 6.4a,      6.4b Obverse and Reverse of the Brown Chert Point from the Living Floor (Length 2.2 cm)    129 8.1      Location of Sites with Direct Dates on Maize (see Table 8.1 for a key to sites)    163 8.2      AMS Age Ranges for Cultigen Samples in the Present Study    171 9.1      Sites of Maize Finds in New England to the Hudson River (Asch Sidell 1999; Chilton 1999; Heckenberger et al. 1992) Maize is undated, charcoal dated, or directly dated: #1–#16 and W (Little 2002); MV (Little 1999a, 38); base map after Heckenberger et al. (1992) (Note the focus on rivers and coasts.)    186 9.2      Calibrated Dates for Pairs of Maize and Charcoal or Shell from Coastal Sites in New England    187 9.3      Calibrated Dates for Pairs of Maize and Charcoal or Shell from Floodplain Sites in New England    187 9.4      Sites of Maize Finds in New England Showing (Heavy Line) Northern Limit of Regions Today with More Than 2,000 Growing Degree Days (Demeritt 1991) For a drop in temperature of 2 degrees C (the Little Ice Age), that line would have moved as far south as the dashed heavy line (Demeritt 1991). Local microclimates would decrease the precision of these boundaries (Asch Sidell 1999). Base map after Heckenberger et al. (1992).    194

Tables 5.1      Vertebrate Taxa from the Alden House Site    113 8.1      Sites with Direct Radiocarbon Dates on Precontact and Early Contact Period Maize, Prior to Pilot Project (see Figure 8.1 for site locations)    164 8.2      Examples of New England Sites Where There Is a Lack of Match between Direct Maize Dates and Associated Word Charcoal Dates    166 8.3      Samples Analyzed and Dated as Part of This Study    167 9.1      Comparison of Maize (M) Dates with Associated Charcoal (C) or Shell (S) Dates    183 9.2      Evidence of Limestone or Shell as Fertilizer for Maize (see Hasenstab 1994 for increase in yield of maize and beans p