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Archaeological and Other Evidence: A Fresh Look at the “Laurentian Iroquois”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Bruce G. Trigger
Bruce G. Trigger*
Affiliation:
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
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Abstract

Prehistorians frequently must depend on archaeological evidence alone in forming judgments. It is evident from prehistoric studies, however, that difficulties are likely to arise when archaeological evidence is credited as being, of itself, a completely adequate basis for reconstructing every aspect of prehistory. This paper outlines the challenge that historical and linguistic evidence have posed to one explanation based solely on archaeological data. The problem concerns the ethnic identity of the so-called Laurentian Iroquois, who inhabited the St. Lawrence Valley in the 16th century. The archaeological material from this period has been identified as “Onondaga” or “Onondaga-Oneida,” but the vocabularies that were collected by early explorers in this area do not appear to be those of any of the languages of the Five Nations Iroquois. This particular confrontation of archaeological and linguistic evidence has resulted, not in the confirmation of current archaeological theories, but in the awareness of a broader range of alternative hypotheses than has been entertained hitherto.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 1968 , pp. 429 - 440
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1968

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