New histories of village life at Crystal River

Abstract

Yamasee migrations into Spanish Florida in the period 1667–1683. Because the Yamasee quickly adopted the local coastal ceramic tradition, their archaeological presence is hard to identify. Ashley reviews past research and presents the results of his own work. Eric Poplin and Jon Bernard Marcoux focus on archaeological remains of the Yamasee in Georgia and South Carolina. They note that “Each Yamasee town appears to have been an independent community” (p. 84). I would point out that each town was essentially the remains of a former chiefdom. Although the Yamasee quickly adopted coastal ceramic styles, the authors suggest several ceramic modes (for example, modes of application of line block stamped motifs) that distinguish the Yamasee from their coastal neighbors. Alexander Sweeney looks at archaeological remains of the Yamasee in South Carolina. He demonstrates continuity in house forms, activity areas, and burial practices from the Oconee Valley to South Carolina. Historian Denise Bossy analyzes the 1713 trip to England by the Yamasee Prince, the only southeastern native to travel to England between 1672 and 1730. The Prince clearly hoped to make diplomatic connections in England; however, his sponsors, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, severely limited his access to government officials. They were more interested in making the Prince a missionary. Although the Prince did eventually meet King George in 1715, as a whole the diplomatic journey was a failure from the native perspective. Jane Landers considers the connections between the Yamasee and Africans in Carolina and Florida. Africans helped the Yamasee during the Yamasee War and in their move to Florida, but Africans were treated differently by Christian Yamasee and non-Christian Yamasee. The former saw them as allies, while the latter treated them as “disposable property.” Landers provides a clear outline of the fate of Africans in Spanish Florida. Steven Hahn demonstrates that the Yamasee War dragged on for years after the 1715 date some consider as the end. He sees Native-English antagonistic relations continuing until 1763, when Spanish-allied Natives were removed to Cuba. Amanda Hall looks at the historical evidence and archaeological remains of Yamasee towns in St. Augustine following the retreat of the Yamasee to Spanish Florida after 1717. The Yamasee continued to make San Marcos pottery. Their subsistence remains indicate that they preferred hunting to agriculture or fishing, but that they also had a few domesticated animals. Andrea White looks at the La Punta Yamasee community in St. Augustine after 1715. La Punta actually increased its population during the eighteenth century despite overall loss of Native American population in St. Augustine. White suggests that people coalesced here. La Punta people made round houses (but Map 13 is not entirely convincing), adopted Christian burial practices, continued to make San Marcos ceramics, and used a community well (certainly not aboriginal practice). Susan Richbourg Parker traces the lineage of Chief Francisco Jospogue through historical records. The chief was a Christian, spoke Spanish, received a pension for his service to Spain, and lived in St. Augustine rather than in a native community. In short, he, his wife, and later her second husband became full members of the Spanish colonial society. In the final chapter, John Worth summarizes historical evidence of the Yamasee in West Florida from St. Marks to Pensacola. The Yamasee settled on their own near Spanish settlements, yet maintained their distance and independence from the Spaniards. I would note that two of the authors incorrectly place the location of the prehistoric Ichisi chiefdom on the Oconee River instead of the Ocmulgee; I was surprised that none of the conference participants cited research by Charles Hudson (Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun 1997) for information on the early chiefdoms that were to become the Yamasee. Mark Williams’s research on the Shoulderbone mound site would also have been relevant to sixteenth and early seventeenth-century archaeological remains of the Altamaha. In spite of these omissions, this is an excellent volume bringing together new information on the Yamasee in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It focuses on themes of Yamasee independence and adaptability. It is highly recommended.