Papers by Stephen Mrozowski
Historical Archaeology and Environment, 2018
Much of the discussion concerning climate change has understandably focused on providing proof th... more Much of the discussion concerning climate change has understandably focused on providing proof that it is an empirically verifiable process whose trajectory has been accelerating. This chapter focuses on one of the prime drivers, commodity production, and asks whether it is sustainable. What the historical archaeology of the modern era clearly has established is the critical role that commodity production has played in the growth of an ever-expanding world economy. The impact this has had on the environment from the micro- to the macro-scale is also revealed by this archaeology. Ultimately, we may be confronted by the need to drastically curtail commodity production. Here I will explore the ramifications of such a future and what it suggests about issues such as universal employment.
University Press of Florida eBooks, Mar 11, 2019
... urbanisation, the rise of capitalism and the construction of empire. Mercifully, attempting t... more ... urbanisation, the rise of capitalism and the construction of empire. Mercifully, attempting to discuss each of these processes in any detail is well beyond the scope of a chapter such as this. So instead, I will try and focus on some of the connecting threads that link these ...
Between 2003 and 2013 the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachus... more Between 2003 and 2013 the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted an intensive investigation of the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead on Keith Hill in Grafton, Massachusetts. The project employed a collaborative method that involved working closely with the Town of Grafton, through the Hassanmesit Woods Management Committee, and the Nipmuc Nation, the state recognized government of the Nipmuc people. Yearly excavation and research plans were decided through consultation with both the Nipmuc Tribal Council, their designated representative, Dr. D. Rae Gould, and the Hassanamesit Woods Management Committee. Dr. Gould also played a continuous and active role in reviewing and collaborating on research activities including scholarly presentations at national and international academic meetings and public presentations at the community level. Large scale excavation between 2006 and 2013 focused on the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston farmstead that was occupied intensively between 1750 and 1840. Sarah Burnee and Sarah Boston were two of four Nipmuc women to own and possibly reside on the 206 acre parcel that today comprises Hassanamesit Woods. The other two, Sarah Robins and Sarah Muckamaug, were Sarah Burnee's grandmother and mother respectively. Excavation, archaeogeophysical survey, soil chemistry, and micromorphological and macrobotanical analysis were combined with the analysis of material culture and faunal material to generate a detailed picture of Nipmuc life during the 18th and 19th centuries. Excavation also found evidence of earlier indigenous occupations spanning some 6,000 years. The most intensive period of occupation covered the period 1750 to 1840, but with a significant spike the period 1790 to 1830. This appears to coincide with the coming of age of Sarah Boston who continues to live in the household with her mother Sarah Burnee Philips. Based on a combination of the documentary, architectural and archaeological data, it seems that an addition was made the structure between 1799 and 1802. A rich material assemblage of more than 120,000 artifacts was recovered from the site that provides detailed information on cultural practices including foodways, exchange networks, agricultural activities and other work-related activities such as basket making. A wealth of foodways related artifacts as well as faunal and floral remains provide ample evidence of daily meals and feasting. The latter conclusion is particularly important because of the implications is has for demonstrating that the Hassanamisco Nipmuc were regularly engaged in political activities. We believe the findings of the project provide empirical evidence that counters arguments made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the Hassanamisco Nipmuc did not persist as a politically and culturally continuous community.
Northeast Historical Archaeology, 2014
Stone tools have been found at all Nipmuc-related house sites in central Massachusetts dating fro... more Stone tools have been found at all Nipmuc-related house sites in central Massachusetts dating from the 17th through 20th centuries. This article explores in detail the lithic assemblage recovered from the kitchen midden of the late 18th and early 19th century Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston farmstead in Grafton, Massachusetts. Quartz and quartzite lithics were found in similar concentrations as historic ceramics within the midden suggesting that these tools were in active use within the household. Ground-stone tools of ancient origin indicate curation and reuse of older materials, and knapped glass and reworked gunflints suggest knowledge of flintknapping. This article argues that despite colonial rules forbidding traditional Native practices, this and other Nipmuc families continued to practice the production and use of lithics for at least 300 years after the arrival of Europeans. Dans la partie centrale du Massachusetts, des outils en pierre ont été trouvés sur tous les sites Nipmuc datant du XVIIe au XXe siècle. Cet article étudie en détail l'assemblage lithique provenant du
Northeast Historical Archaeology, 2007
A summary of the methods employed and the conclusions reached after nine seasons of archaeologica... more A summary of the methods employed and the conclusions reached after nine seasons of archaeological fieldwork are presented. Emphasis is placed on the success and limitations of the methods employed in the investigations at Sylvester Manor and results of those investigations. Although excavations concentrated on the plantation core, additional areas examined produced little in the way of archaeological features. The results, although preliminary, point to a major role for Native Americans as laborers during the earliest phases of the plantation's operation. Landscape evidence also suggests an evolving economy as the Manor transitions from a provisioning operation to a commercial farm/tenant run operation within a decade of Nathaniel Sylvester's death in 1680. A third transition saw the commercial farm reconfigured once again as a Georgian-inspired country estate eclipsed it. Ce chapitre présente un résumé des méthodes utilisées lors des neuf saisons de fouilles archéologiques et soumet les conclusions des recherches. Les succès et les faiblesses des méthodes utilisées pendant les investigations au Sylvester Manor de même que les résultats de ces recherches sont mis en évidence. Quoique les fouilles aient été concentrées au coeur de la plantation, un examen de certains secteurs additionnels n'a révélé que peu d'éléments structurels archéologiques. Les résultats, quoique préliminaires, indiquent que les ouvriers autochtones ont joué un rôle important dans le fonctionnement de la plantation alors que cette dernière n'en était qu'à ses débuts. Les éléments paysagers suggèrent aussi une économie en développement. En effet, dans la décennie suivant la mort de Nathaniel Sylvester en 1680, le manoir passera d'un mode d'opération par approvisionnement à une opération commerciale dirigée par des fermiers. Enfin, le manoir verra une troisième transition alors que la ferme commerciale est restructurée et transformée en domaine d'inspiration Georgienne.
Historical Archaeology, 2019
du Massachusetts et du Connecticut ont été victimes. Ces deux forces, à savoir le comportement du... more du Massachusetts et du Connecticut ont été victimes. Ces deux forces, à savoir le comportement du consommateur et l'accumulation par le biais d'une dépossession, sont présentées comme les éléments critiques d'une politique économique émergente liée à la croissance du capitalisme.
American Antiquity, 2008
Archaeobotanical analysis remains one of the least-utilized strategies for investigating the life... more Archaeobotanical analysis remains one of the least-utilized strategies for investigating the lifeways of African diasporic peoples despite the fact that the field of African diaspora archaeology has grown exponentially over the last 30 years. We consider the botanical remains from the Rich Neck Slave Quarter site as constituting a significant line of evidence for illuminating the nature of plant use among enslaved Afro-Virginians. As a result of the ambitious flotation program undertaken during the excavation of the Rich Neck site, the botanical assemblage provides evidence allowing for interpretations of the role of plants in enslaved subsistence and potential medicinal practices. Our research illustrates that Afro-Virginians actively participated in the creation of cultural practices related to plant use, and strategically shifted their production activities in response to both internal and external factors that influenced their lives within the context of plantation slavery.
Journal of Ethnobiology, 2012
Scientific insights are sometimes found in the least likely places. For an ethnobiologist whose r... more Scientific insights are sometimes found in the least likely places. For an ethnobiologist whose research focuses generally on the intersection of culture and biology, the city may seem like the last place to search for answers to complex questions surrounding the relationship between the social and the natural or the material and immaterial. Yet the archaeology of modern cities reveals a complex fabric of spaces whose emergence at the nexus of social and biological forces makes them ideal for examining their interaction. Such investigations are aided by a strong interdisciplinary approach that combines the more traditional study of material culture with the examination of the political ecologies that have shaped the urban landscape. Political ecology informs the work of scholars in a variety of disciplines who seek to transcend the former dichotomous worlds of nature and society in the hopes of forging a new understanding of the intersection of the material and immaterial (e.g., Bennett 2010; Beitl 2012; Collins 2008; Greenberg 2006; Uggla 2010). As the products of human hands, cities are nevertheless an assemblage of hydrologies, soils, animal and plant communities, and landscapes that, over time, develop their own unique ecologies. Using a variety of data sets –historical, material, biological– archaeologists investigating modern cities are able to chronicle both the establishment, and the unfolding changes, that shaped their emergent ecologies. The results provide a provocative comparison with the ideologies and abstract plans that went into the production of these cities. My own research has focused extensively on the production of urban industrial spaces that often involved the purposeful incorporation of natural
PREFACE LIST OF FIGURES NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS PART I: HISTORIES OF PREHISTORY PART II: PERSPECTIV... more PREFACE LIST OF FIGURES NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS PART I: HISTORIES OF PREHISTORY PART II: PERSPECTIVES ARISING OUT OF AFRICA AND INDIA PART III: PERSPECTIVE ARISING OUT OF THE AMERICAS APPENDIX: SWAHILI CHRONICLES BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2009
... H. Herbster Public Archaeology Laboratory, 210 Lonsdale Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA e-ma... more ... H. Herbster Public Archaeology Laboratory, 210 Lonsdale Avenue, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA e-mail: [email protected] ... this study, the work of historian Jean O'Brien (1997) focused on Native responses to the missionary experience at Natick, and Thomas Doughton (1997 ...
L'Homme et la société, 2012
Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour Association pour la Recherche de Synthèse en Sciences H... more Distribution électronique Cairn.info pour Association pour la Recherche de Synthèse en Sciences Humaines (ARSSH). © Association pour la Recherche de Synthèse en Sciences Humaines (ARSSH). Tous droits réservés pour tous pays. La reproduction ou représentation de cet article, notamment par photocopie, n'est autorisée que dans les limites des conditions générales d'utilisation du site ou, le cas échéant, des conditions générales de la licence souscrite par votre établissement. Toute autre reproduction ou représentation, en tout ou partie, sous quelque forme et de quelque manière que ce soit, est interdite sauf accord préalable et écrit de l'éditeur, en dehors des cas prévus par la législation en vigueur en France. Il est précisé que son stockage dans une base de données est également interdit.
This paper explores some of the theoretical issues surrounding the commodification of nature and ... more This paper explores some of the theoretical issues surrounding the commodification of nature and its value as a research topic. In particular it examines the relationship between European colonization, the rise of capitalism and the increased use of abstract space. An appeal is also made for adding environmental history to the research agenda of historical archaeology. Case studies from South Africa and Virginia illustrate the manner in which abstract notions of space and the environment contributed to the Commodification of nature. The Virginia case study from Jamestown Island provides a particularly vivid example of how microand macro-level environmental changes can be linked to important political and economic events.
This multi-authored case study of three Nipmuc sites is an introductory archaeology text that inc... more This multi-authored case study of three Nipmuc sites is an introductory archaeology text that includes a tribal member as one of the scholars. Collaboration between the authors over two decades is a key theme in the book, serving as a model for a primary topic of the book. Historical Archaeology and Indigenous Collaboration engages young scholars in archaeology and Native American history, teaching them about respecting and including indigenous knowledge and perspectives on colonization and indigenous identity. A key asset is access by indigenous peoples whose past is explored in this book. The case study offers an arena in which Nipmuc history continues to unfold, from the pre-Contact period up to the present, and stresses the strong relationships between Nipmuc people of the past and present to their land and related social and political conflicts over time. A double narrative approach (the authors sharing their experiences while exploring the stories of individuals from the past ...
The Center for Cultural and Environmental History conducted a Phase I archaeological intensive su... more The Center for Cultural and Environmental History conducted a Phase I archaeological intensive survey of the Hassanamesitt Woods property in Grafton, Massachusetts from October 2004 through January 2005. Documentary evidence has suggested that the property may contain remains of the church for the Praying Indian village of Hassanamisco, established by John Eliot in 1660. Historical deed research has also placed several Nipmuc families on the property in the early 18th century, suggesting the area was resettled by the original inhabitants of Hassanimisco in the aftermath of King Philip's War. Throughout the course of the 18th and 19th centuries the property was subsequently parceled out for agricultural purposes to white landowners. Nipmuc presence on the property however endured until the end of the 19th century. During the 20th century the property was utilized predominantly for orchards before reverting to its current state of woodland. The survey of the 203+ acre property on ...
Between 2003 and 2013 the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachus... more Between 2003 and 2013 the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston conducted an intensive investigation of the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston Farmstead on Keith Hill in Grafton, Massachusetts. The project employed a collaborative method that involved working closely with the Town of Grafton, through the Hassanmesit Woods Management Committee, and the Nipmuc Nation, the state recognized government of the Nipmuc people. Yearly excavation and research plans were decided through consultation with both the Nipmuc Tribal Council, their designated representative, Dr. D. Rae Gould, and the Hassanamesit Woods Management Committee. Dr. Gould also played a continuous and active role in reviewing and collaborating on research activities including scholarly presentations at national and international academic meetings and public presentations at the community level. Large scale excavation between 2006 and 2013 focused on the Sarah Burnee/Sarah Boston farmstead that was occupied intensively between 1750 and 1840. Sarah Burnee and Sarah Boston were two of four Nipmuc women to own and possibly reside on the 206 acre parcel that today comprises Hassanamesit Woods. The other two, Sarah Robins and Sarah Muckamaug, were Sarah Burnee's grandmother and mother respectively. Excavation, archaeogeophysical survey, soil chemistry, and micromorphological and macrobotanical analysis were combined with the analysis of material culture and faunal material to generate a detailed picture of Nipmuc life during the 18th and 19th centuries. Excavation also found evidence of earlier indigenous occupations spanning some 6,000 years. The most intensive period of occupation covered the period 1750 to 1840, but with a significant spike the period 1790 to 1830. This appears to coincide with the coming of age of Sarah Boston who continues to live in the household with her mother Sarah Burnee Philips. Based on a combination of the documentary, architectural and archaeological data, it seems that an addition was made the structure between 1799 and 1802. A rich material assemblage of more than 120,000 artifacts was recovered from the site that provides detailed information on cultural practices including foodways, exchange networks, agricultural activities and other work-related activities such as basket making. A wealth of foodways related artifacts as well as faunal and floral remains provide ample evidence of daily meals and feasting. The latter conclusion is particularly important because of the implications is has for demonstrating that the Hassanamisco Nipmuc were regularly engaged in political activities. We believe the findings of the project provide empirical evidence that counters arguments made by the Bureau of Indian Affairs that the Hassanamisco Nipmuc did not persist as a politically and culturally continuous community.
Society for Historical Archaeology, 2013
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Papers by Stephen Mrozowski