An established Native American settlement as early as 1200 CE, Werowocomoco―located in Gloucester County, Virginia, along the York River―was a secular and sacred seat of power of the present-day Virginia’s Algonquian people, whom the English would call the "Powhatan." The site was rediscovered in 2003. Only about 1 percent of the 50-acre site has been investigated; however, based on archaeological research conducted so far, it appears to be an unprecedented archaeological find for the eastern coastal region of the nation, and its significance to Virginia Indians today and our shared history is without parallel. Generously illustrated and informed by recent scholarship, this latest addition to the National Park Service Handbook series is an engaging and concise history of the site, its rediscovery, and what recent archaeology tells us about Werowocomoco. Distributed for the National Park Service in association with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Virginia Indians at Werowocomoco: A National Park Handbook

History

Brown, David A.

Gallivan, Martin D.

Lutz, Lara

Harpole, Thane

Turner, E. Randolph, III

Americas

Dept of Historic Resources

Southern Anthropological Society James Mooney Award “A well-written, fresh, and engaging interpretation of two millennia of Virginia Algonquian landscape history, presenting new data and new ideas—a must read.”—Stephen Potter, author of Commoners, Tribute, and Chiefs: The Development of Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley “Theoretically innovative, richly empirical, and superbly written, this book demonstrates the potential for combining ‘new’ finds in the field with reconsiderations of ‘old’ sites and collections, and it makes a compelling case for an archaeology that involves Native American perspectives and participation.”—Christopher B. Rodning, coeditor of Fort San Juan and the Limits of Empire: Colonialism and Household Practice at the Berry Site As Native American history is primarily studied through the lens of European contact, the story of Virginia’s Powhatans has traditionally focused on the English arrival in the Chesapeake. This has left a deeper indigenous history largely unexplored—a longer narrative beginning with the Algonquians’ construction of places, communities, and the connections in between. The Powhatan Landscape breaks new ground by tracing Native placemaking in the Chesapeake from the Algonquian arrival to the Powhatan’s clashes with the English. Martin Gallivan details how Virginia Algonquians constructed riverine communities alongside fishing grounds and collective burials and later within horticultural towns. Ceremonial spaces, including earthwork enclosures within the center place of Werowocomoco, gathered people for centuries prior to 1607. Even after the violent ruptures of the colonial era, Native people returned to riverine towns for pilgrimages commemorating the enduring power of place. For today’s American Indian communities in the Chesapeake, this reexamination of landscape and history represents a powerful basis from which to contest narratives and policies that have previously denied their existence. A volume in the series Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology, edited by Victor D. Thompson

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake (Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology)

University Press of Florida

Southern Anthropological Society James Mooney Award As Native American history is primarily studied through the lens of European contact, the story of Virginia's Powhatans has traditionally focused on the English arrival in the Chesapeake. This has left a deeper indigenous history largely unexplored--a longer narrative beginning with the Algonquians' construction of places, communities, and the connections in between. The Powhatan Landscape breaks new ground by tracing Native placemaking in the Chesapeake from the Algonquian arrival to the Powhatan's clashes with the English. Martin Gallivan details how Virginia Algonquians constructed riverine communities alongside fishing grounds and collective burials and later within horticultural towns. Ceremonial spaces, including earthwork enclosures within the center place of Werowocomoco, gathered people for centuries prior to 1607. Even after the violent ruptures of the colonial era, Native people returned to riverine towns for pilgrimages commemorating the enduring power of place. For today's American Indian communities in the Chesapeake, this reexamination of landscape and history represents a powerful basis from which to contest narratives and policies that have previously denied their existence. A volume in the series Society and Ecology in Island and Coastal Archaeology, edited by Victor D. Thompson

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gallivan, Martin D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gallivan, Martin D.