| RZ-255645-17 | Research Programs: Collaborative Research | St. Mary's College of Maryland | Indigenous Borderlands of the Chesapeake: The Lower Rappahannock Valley Landscape, 200-1850 CE | 10/1/2017 - 12/31/2020 | $240,000.00 | Julia | A. | King | | | | St. Mary's College of Maryland | St. Mary's City | MD | 20686-3001 | USA | 2017 | Archaeology | Collaborative Research | Research Programs | 240000 | 0 | 240000 | 0 | Excavation and artifact
analysis at eleven Native American sites along the lower Rappahannock river in
Virginia, leading to the development of interpretive print and online
publications and GIS datasets. (26 months)
The project seeks NEH support to develop a baseline history of an understudied but key watershed in the Chesapeake region of North America. The Rappahannock River valley, located between the better known Potomac and James rivers, was, circa 1608, densely populated with well-organized polities, presupposing a dynamic but still unknown history. Using collections- and fieldwork-based methodologies along with GIS technologies, Saint Mary's College of Maryland and its collaborators will explore this borderland river drainage, addressing questions of migration and mobility, political development, the forging of group identities, and responses to colonialism. Our approach is rooted in landscape, the digital humanities, and a perspective that emphasizes the long durée. |