“Decolonizing Archaeological Interpretations of Native American Agriculture: An Example from Northern Iroquoia” with John Hart

Fourteenth to seventeenth-century Northern Iroquoian villages housed hundreds to over 1000 individuals. Various forms of evidence, including isotopic analyses of human teeth, as well as ethnohistorical accounts from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, suggest that Iroquoian farmers produced large quantities of maize and other crops. However, archaeological accounts often refer to horticulture (gardening) rather than agriculture, gardens rather than fields, and swidden or slash and burn rather than permanent agriculture. Archaeological interpretations often suggest more “primitive” forms of crop production than contemporaneous Euro-American and Euro-Canadian agriculture. Join John Hart, Curator Emeritus at the New York State Museum, along with IAIS staff, for a presentation and discussion about how recent analyses have shown that the Iroquoian agronomy was well adapted to local climatic variables and why these results emphasize the need to evaluate Native American agriculture in its own contexts. 

This presentation is the second in the Institute for American Indian Studies Annual Native American-Archaeology Roundtable series. This ongoing series seeks to explore ecological ties, past and present, through the sharing of new technologies, new findings, and new analyses that help bring Indigenous communities into greater focus. 

Please register online in order to receive a Zoom link. Questions? Please call (860) 868-0518 or email [email protected]. Price of participation: Free for IAIS and LHAC Members; $10 for Non-Members. Support for this program has been provided by the Jane Goodall Center at Western Connecticut State University.

Questions?