OPPORTUNITIES AND ADVERSITIES: DAILY LIFE IN TURBULENT TIMES AT THE SENECA
IROQUOIS WHITE SPRINGS SITE, CIRCA 1688-1715 CE
Kurt A. Jordan
The White Springs Project was initiated by researchers from Cornell University and Ithaca College in 2007 to examine the local
consequences of turbulent times, particularly the impact of warfare and challenging political-economic conditions on community
structure, house forms, and material practices at the site. The project extends the domestic-context archaeological database for the
eastern principal Seneca community, bridging the copious (but understudied) data from the preceding Ganondagan site (circa
1670-1687) and information from the subsequent Townley-Read site (circa 1715-1754), as reported in Jordan’s The Seneca Restoration,
1715-1754: An Iroquois Local Political Economy (University Press of Florida, 2008). The record from these three sites documents
thoroughgoing cultural changes in the history of a single community, and in fact changed practices by the same individuals living in two
or three different locations.
Documents and artifactual evidence suggest that White Springs was founded in a forced relocation after a French-led force burned all
four major villages in the Seneca homeland in 1687. Warfare between the Five Nations Iroquois (or Haudenosaunee), European
colonists, and other Native groups continued during the first decade at White Springs. Major peace treaties concluded in 1700-1701
improved the situation, but sporadic violence continued into the eighteenth century. In about 1715, the White Springs Senecas moved to
a series of smaller neighborhoods to the southwest. This relocation was prompted both by improving regional political conditions and
diminishing local resources, particularly firewood.
Fieldwork has consisted of excavation, surface collection, and a multi-instrument, high-resolution archaeogeophysical survey of an area
of over 5 hectares. The site was a densely-occupied, nucleated town that likely occupied an area of 2-3 hectares and housed 1000-2000
residents. Future fieldwork will try to determine whether a palisade was constructed at the site, and improve understanding of residential
architecture.
Senecas left copious traces of their daily practices at the site, including hearths, pits, post molds, and trash deposits; artifacts; and animal
bone and plant remains. Although upper soil levels across the site have been disturbed by plowing and post-1800 Euroamerican activity,
well-contextualized Seneca archaeological specimens have been recovered from intact sub-plowzone deposits. Artifacts recovered from
our domestic-context excavations include glass beads, bottle and mirror fragments; brass items (including gun parts, bangles, bells,
awls, kettle parts and sheet brass of all sorts, tubular beads, Christian-themed items, and projectile points); smoking pipe fragments (both
Native and European-made); iron items (including tools, nails, and gun parts); marine shell adornment items; red stone artifacts and
manufacturing debris; and some chipped stone, including gunflints. We have recovered less than ten sherds of Native-made pottery
overall, and little imported European ceramic material that would have been used by the Senecas.
Seneca community participation has been vital to the White Springs project since its outset. Senecas helped determine which sections of
the site have been excavated and the field methods used. Cornell’s American Indian Program has provided scholarships and funding that
have allowed eight Native undergraduates (five of Haudenosaunee descent) and nine graduate students (three of Haudenosaunee descent)
to work with the project.
Kurt A. Jordan, Department of Anthropology and American Indian Program, Cornell University, kj21@cornell.edu
Michael B. Rogers, Ithaca College
Peregrine A. Gerard-Little, Cornell University
Jon W. Parmenter, Cornell University
Adam S. Watson, American Museum of Natural History
Brian Broadrose, Binghamton University
Keywords: Iroquois, Haudenosaunee, Seneca, indigenous, collaboration, historical archaeology, New York State, Finger Lakes, Iroquoia
Permanent URI: http://www.saa.org/CurrentResearch/pdf/saa_cro_147_Opportunities_and_Adversi.pdf
External Links: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440312001124
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/06/students-dig-iroquois-culture-field-archaeology-course
Current Research Online No: 147:1
Copyright ©2013 Society for American Archaeology
Bounding coordinates (decimal degrees):
West: 42.3 North: -76.24 East: 43.07 South: -77.3
Citation Example: Kurt A. Jordan (2013) Opportunities and Adversities: Daily Life in Turbulent Times at the Seneca Iroquois White Springs Site, circa 1688-1715 CE.
SAA Current Research 147, http://www.saa.org/CurrentResearch/pdf/saa_cro_147_Opportunities_and_Adversi.pdf, accessed (current date)
Cornell University Field School participants at Work, White Springs Site, 2008. Photograph by Michael Rogers.
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Copyright ©2013 Society for American Archaeology
Cornell University graduate student Beth Ryan exposes a preserved Seneca feature, White Springs Site. Photograph by Jason Koski.
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Cornell University Field School students excavate a large Seneca pit feature, White Springs site. Photograph by Nick McAfee.
Current Research Online No: 147:4
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Cross-section of Feature 2, a large Seneca pit feature, White Springs Site. Photograph by Kurt Jordan.
Current Research Online No: 147:5
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Glass beads from the White Springs Site. Photograph by Jason Koski.
Current Research Online No: 147:6
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