Deep Histories and the Archaeology of Colonialism

Abstract

As archaeologists turn toward studies of Native societies’ lived experiences of colonialism and its aftermath, a remaining challenge is to find effective means of linking these accounts to the precolonial past. The effort to develop frameworks for recovering Native societies’ deep histories and for connecting these with colonial developments benefits from a consideration of archaeology’s disciplinary development, including shifts in the understanding of “history” and of “deep.” This review points toward three related concerns, the appropriate unit of analysis for understanding continuity and change when deep histories are brought together with colonial-era narratives, the most effective temporal scales for examining the deep past that offer insights into Native communities’ lived experiences, and the potential for decolonization when deep Native histories coalesce with current-day experiences and imagined futures. A case study from the Chesapeake region points toward the value of focusing on the making and remaking of a cultural landscape across a medium-term temporal scale similar to Braudel’s conjoncture. Decolonization remains elusive in the Chesapeake region, and yet Native communities’ engagement with the region’s deep history offers an opening for revitalizing Native places and for recasting colonial narratives from a different frame of reference.