The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeake by Martin D. Gallivan (review)

Landscapes exist at the intersection of human society and the material world. They are constructed through interlocking political, cultural, and environmental processes. In his classic environmental history Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England(New York, 1983), William Cronon argues that English colonists did not encounter a "virgin" environment but one profoundly shaped by Native American practices. Written sources produced by English colonists offer limited insights into Native environments and make it difficult to analyze change and conflict prior to contact with Europeans. Martin D. Gallivan draws on archaeological evidence from his own work with the Werowocomoco Research Group, on a reevaluation of the earlier Chickahominy River Survey, and on the findings of the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research at Kiskiak, Virginia, "to shift the frame of reference from English accounts of the colonial era toward a longer narrative describing Virginia Algonquians' construction of places, communities, and connections in between" (p. 8). To do so, he supplements archaeological work with a skillful analysis of diverse documentary, visual, and material sources, including contemporary maps, colonists' accounts, and, most notably, Powhatan's Mantle, a deerskin garment held by the University of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum.

Gallivan begins with two chapters uncovering conceptions of space in the Chesapeake. First, his analysis of Native and European representations of the geography of Tsenacomacoh/Virginia reveals how colonists, Pamunkey priests, and the makers of Powhatan's Mantle sought to project power, claim sovereignty, and incorporate outsiders into a complex world that resisted "a totalizing or all-encompassing vision" (p. 51). He then convincingly argues that Virginia Algonquian "place-names" reveal "a waterborne frame of reference that viewed places from the perspective of a canoe moving through the Chesapeake estuary" (p. 55). The next three chapters dig into archaeological evidence to provide a long history of settlement, migration, and shifting political structures in the Chesapeake. Through a thorough but accessible examination of pottery, pollen, shells, and other material evidence, Gallivan shows that the peoples of the region moved, traded, learned from each other, and altered their physical environments. Yet, as his close analysis of the Chickahominy people shows, important distinctions among Virginia Algonquians remained. Through diverse techniques ranging from site excavations to stable isotope analysis, the author reconstructs distinctive diet and burial practices as well as the construction of a unique landscape that led the Chickahominy to resist Powhatan and English colonial efforts. Finally, Gallivan turns to Werowocomoco, examining its long-standing role as a site of social, cultural, political, and religious significance to connect its deep past to its history as a "space of colonial entanglements" (p. 171).

The Powhatan Landscape: An Archaeological History of the Algonquian Chesapeakeis an important work for historians of Native American peoples, Virginia, and the environment. Gallivan presents technical archaeological and linguistic evidence in terms that are accessible to nonspecialists. His broad and inclusive but nonetheless coherent definition of landscapeoffers a model for historians seeking to integrate seemingly disparate accounts of cartography, environmental change, cultural and political geography, and histories of the built environment. Finally, The Powhatan Landscapeis a model for rigorous, politically engaged scholarship that addresses current issues. Gallivan concludes with an epilogue on the successful struggle of the Mattaponi and other Virginia tribes to block a reservoir that threatened to destroy sacred places. The Powhatan Landscapeshows how historical and archaeological work that recognizes Native expertise and voices provides an important tool for Native peoples to "link the past to the present, and the present to the future" (p. 197).