The Fabric of Empire in a Native World

An Analysis of Trade Cloth Recovered from Eighteenth-Century Otstonwakin

Datos Bibliográficos

ID7603733
AutoresMary Ann Levine (0000-0001-6136-6135, Franklin & Marshall College, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen85
Número1
Páginas51-71
Fecha de publicación2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/aaq.2019.81
OpenAlexW2981455455
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas29

The residents of Otstonwakin, an eighteenth-century multinational Native American village in Pennsylvania, were involved in extensive trade networks that resulted in the incorporation, modification, and selective adoption of a variety of European-manufactured goods and technologies. Although Native Americans in the fur trade era like those at Otstonwakin negotiated the exchange of a wide array of commodities including alcohol, firearms, iron tools, and brass kettles, the most commonly traded commodity was cloth. Despite its role as a cornerstone commodity, colonial trade cloth has received considerably less scholarly attention than more durable objects largely because very few textiles have survived into the twenty-first century. This article reports on a rare find, a preserved European textile from Otstonwakin's burial ground recovered in the 1930s and hitherto unanalyzed. By analyzing the fabric fragments, sewing thread, and lace with metallic thread, I explore the material and social negotiation of colonial identity on the Pennsylvania frontier

Ancient history · Archaeology · Business · Colonialism · Commerce · Cornerstone · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Empire · International trade · Multinational corporation · Negotiation · Political science · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law