CHEROKEE ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES AS COMMUNITY ACTION

Abstract

An ongoing, partnered program of research and education by the authors and other members of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians contributes to economic development, education, and the creation of identities and communities. Landscape archaeology reveals how Cherokees navigated the pivotal and tumultuous 16th through early 18th centuries, a past muted or silenced in current education programs and history books. From a Cherokee perspective, our starting points are the principles of gadugi, which translates as “town” or “community,” and tohi, which translates as “balance.” Gadugi and tohi together are cornerstones of Cherokee identity. These seemingly abstract principles are archaeologically detectible: gadugi is well addressed by understanding the spatial relationships of the internal organization of the community; the network of relationships among towns and regional resources; artifact and ecofact traces of activities; and large-scale “non-site” features, such as roads and agricultural fields. We focus our research on a poorly understood but pivotal time in history: colonial encounters of the 16th through early 18th centuries. Archaeology plays a critical role in social justice and ethics in cultural landscape management by providing equitable access by First Nations to the potential benefits of cultural landscapes and meaningful participation in plans and actions regarding them.