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Population History of the Onondaga and Oneida Iroquois, A.D. 1500–1700

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Eric E. Jones
Eric E. Jones*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109 ([email protected])
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Abstract

Much of the discussion about North American precontact and contact-period populations has focused on continent-wide estimates. Although the associated work has produced valuable information on the demographic and cultural history of the continent, it has failed to generate agreed-upon estimates, population trends, or detailed demographic knowledge of Native American cultures. Using archaeological settlement remains and methods developed in recent research on Iroquoian cultures, this study estimates and examines population trends for the Onondaga and Oneida cultures of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) from A.D. 1500 to 1700. Onondaga population appears to have increased until the mid—seventeenth century, when drastic declines in settlement area and population size occurred. This depopulation event is both several decades after first contact with Europeans and at least a decade after the first known depopulation event among the Haudenosaunee. Oneida populations show a much more complex history that suggests the need for more detailed analyses of contact-period Native American population data. In conjunction with archaeological evidence and ethnohistoric information, the population trends generated by this study create a model of two precontact Native American populations and display the effects of European contact on those populations.

Resumen

Resumen

Gran parte de las estimaciones sobre los números de las poblaciones en norte América pre- y durante el contacto con europeos se basan en discusiones poblacionales a nivel continental. Aunque estos estudios han producido información importante sobre la historia demográfica y cultural del continente, no han logrado generar un consenso acerca de los patrones de población o conocimiento demográfico detallado de las culturas norteamericanas. Por medio del análisis de material arqueológico de asentamientos y métodos desarrollados en investigaciones recientes sobre las culturas Iroquois, este estudio genera y examina patrones de población para las culturas Onondaga y Oneida del Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) del periodo de 1500 a 1700 d.C. La población Onondaga parece haberse incrementado hasta la mitad del siglo diecisiete cuando se registra un declive drástico en el área del asentamiento y en la población. Este decrecimiento poblacional parece haber ocurrido varias décadas después del primer contacto con europeos y por lo menos una década después del primer decrecimiento poblacional de los Haudenosaunee. Las poblaciones Oneida muestran una historia mucho más compleja que requiere de análisis más detallados del periodo de contacto con europeos. El análisis conjunto del material arqueológico y la información etnohistórica de este estudio generan patrones de población que permiten crear un modelo de dos grupos poblacionales de norte América antes del contacto con grupos Europeos y cuales fueron los efectos poblacionales de dicho contacto.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 387 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2010

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