Continuity in the Face of Change: A Case Study of the Mashantucket Pequot

This lecture focuses on the historical dynamics of Native American environmental interactions under the challenges of colonization. Indigenous plant use is examined at one of the oldest and most continuously occupied reservations in the United States, the Mashantucket Pequot, located in southeastern Connecticut. Two complementary data sets are intertwined to explore the adaptive strategies related to plant use: 1) archaeobotanical data from ten Mashantucket Pequot sites dating between 1675-1800 A.D; and 2) historical accounts which include colonial documents and Mashantucket Pequot oral histories. Through an analysis of the use of different ecosystems and food, medicine and fuel resources, I draw attention to the continuities and transformations of “traditional” Native American plant strategies. This type of synergistic and collaborative research turns our attention to how different cultures, when faced with conflict and competition for resources, make decisions and (re)conceptualize their socio- natural world.