Kurt Jordan, Cornell University

Associate Professor Ithaca, New York kj21@cornell.edu Office: (607) 255-3109

Expert In

Archaeologists and Indigenous Communities Colonialism Cultural Entanglement Historical Archaeology of Indigenous Peoples Indigenous archaeology in New York Indigenous Autonomy Iroquois Archaeology Iroquois History Red Pipestone Red Slate Seneca people Shell Bead Wampum

Bio/Research

Archaeology provides a perspective on Postcolumbian indigenous lives that both supplements and challenges document-based histories. My research centers on the archaeology of Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) peoples, emphasizing the settlement patterns, housing, and political economy of seventeenth- and eighteenth- century Senecas. The empirical evidence provided by archaeology can do much to combat inaccurate narratives of Indian decline and powerlessness that pervade scholarly and popular writing about Native Americans. For example, fieldwork at the 1715-1754 Seneca Townley-Read site near Geneva, New York, recovered data indicating substantial Seneca autonomy, selectivity, innovation, and opportunism in an era usually considered to be one of cultural disintegration.

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