Overview

In the 250 years before the Civil War, the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia and North Carolina was a brutal landscape—2,000 square miles of undeveloped and unforgiving wetlands, peat bogs, impenetrable foliage, and dangerous creatures. It was also a protective refuge for marginalized communities, including Native Americans, African-American maroons, free African Americans, and outcast Europeans. Here they created their own way of life, free of the exploitation and alienation they had escaped. In the first thorough examination of this vital site, Daniel Sayers examines the area’s archaeological record, exposing and unraveling the complex social and economic systems developed by these defiant communities that thrived on the periphery. He develops an analytical framework based on the complex interplay between alienation, diasporic exile, uneven geographical development, and modes of production to argue that colonialism and slavery inevitably created sustained critiques of American capitalism. Published in cooperation with the Society for Historical Archaeology.

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9780813060187

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Reviews

The most comprehensive archaeological research completed on the Dismal Swamp area. Highly recommended. --Choice Lays the foundation for a predictive model that may fruitfully be applied to future investigations of communities of resistance, radical praxis and alternative modes of production. --Social Anthropology These communities represent a largely unrecognized, alternative declaration of independence. They are a part of world history that is truly revolutionary. --Mark P. Leone, author of The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital Sayers and the maroons he studies force us to ask questions about the definition of liberty. . . . Sayers's perspectives are fresh and brilliant. --Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology

The most comprehensive archaeological research completed on the Dismal Swamp area. Highly recommended. --Choice Lays the foundation for a predictive model that may fruitfully be applied to future investigations of communities of resistance, radical praxis and alternative modes of production. --Social Anthropology These communities represent a largely unrecognized, alternative declaration of independence. They are a part of world history that is truly revolutionary. --Mark P. Leone, author of The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital Sayers and the maroons he studies force us to ask questions about the definition of liberty. . . . Sayers's perspectives are fresh and brilliant. --Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology These communities represent a largely unrecognized, alternative declaration of independence. They are a part of world history that is truly revolutionary. Mark P. Leone, author of The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital Sayers and the maroons he studies force us to ask questions about the definition of liberty. . . . Sayers s perspectives are fresh and brilliant. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology Lays the foundation for a predictive model that may fruitfully be applied to future investigations of communities of resistance, radical praxis and alternative modes of production. Social Anthropology The most comprehensive archaeological research completed on the Dismal Swamp area. Highly recommended. Choice

These communities represent a largely unrecognized, alternative declaration of independence. They are a part of world history that is truly revolutionary. Mark P. Leone, author of The Archaeology of Liberty in an American Capital

Author Information

Daniel Sayers is assistant professor of anthropology at American University, USA.

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