Rethinking the Dawn of History

The Schedule, Signature, and Agency of European Goods in Protohistoric Illinois

Bibliographic Data

ID9397948
AuthorsRobert Mazrim (0000-0002-7257-5466), Duane Esarey (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Year2007
Volume32
Issue2
Pages145-200
Publication date2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMidcontinental Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0146-1109 • E-ISSN: 2327-4271
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1179/mca.2007.007
OpenAlexW2042652186
LanguageEN
Citations received16
References cited30

Interpretations of the archaeological record of the seventeenth century Illinois Country have been temporally compressed, and the richly stratified archival, ethnographic, and material records from that era have not been applied to the archaeological information at hand. A muddied view of the remarkable changes that occurred within the cultural landscape of Illinois is the result. European goods first appear in the region between 1580 and 1630 and the pottery of the Illinois Indians—the Danner series—is present in each early Illinois sample that includes these imports. A reexamination of the Zimmerman, Palos, and Oak Forest sites suggests that temporal changes in trade good assemblages can be better understood in the context of historically documented trade schedules. Further, it is argued that the Illinois Indians actively positioned themselves in the political and economic landscape of the fur trade many decades prior to the arrival of the French in the Illinois Country, serving as the principal agents of the great changes that are associated with protohistory in Illinois

Agency (philosophy · Archaeology · Context (archaeology · Economic history · Ethnography · Fur trade · Geography · Mosaic · Political science · Politics · Possession (linguistics · Pottery · Principal (computer security · Social science · Sociology · American Environmental and Regional History · American History and Culture · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Law