Journal Article

French Colonial Archaeology in the Southeast and Caribbean

Lenik, Stephan

2012

Overview

The volume's twelve chapters offer a series of archaeological case studies which complement the tradition of research in the northern Mississippi River area, the Great Lakes and Canada, which has dominated archaeological literature on the French New World presence. [...]John de Bry's commentary provides concluding remarks about each chapter. [...]despite this apparent lack of Caribbean case studies, many of the themes and approaches referenced in the studies of North American sites apply to the Caribbean, even though the authors may not state this possibility. [...]discussions of colonoware and French faïence ceramics, theories of creolisation, and cuisine apply to the Caribbean, where there are traditions of low-fired earthenware pottery, historic and contemporary investigations of creolisation theory, and foodways derived from French traditions. Additional contributions from the French Caribbean would be welcome, but the low frequency of such case studies indicates a need to include English-language accounts of works by French-speaking colleagues, as the chapter by Bain et al. demonstrates, because there is an active archaeological service in the overseas départements of France.

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subject: 18th century / Archaeology / Colonialism / French language / Imperialism / Material culture / Multiculturalism & pluralism / Native peoples / Plantations / Traditions