The Built Environment of the Berry Site Spanish Compound

Beck, Robin A.; Moore, David G.; Rodning, Christopher B.; Sherwood, Sarah C.; Horton, Elizabeth T.

doi:10.5744/florida/9780813061597.003.0004

Cited by 4 publications

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“…Excavations in two of these buildings, Structures 1 and 5, have provided a broad range of data on construction techniques and practices (Beck et al. ; Newsom ). Structure 1, the larger of the two, measured about 7.5 meters on a side (56 m²) and was one of four structures built in semi‐subterranean basins.…”

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Compounding this structure's relative instability was the fact that many of its exterior posts were set in postholes that were likely dug with metal shovels such that the holes were much wider than the posts themselves (Beck et al. :102); in Structure 1, however, the wall and center posts were set into postholes excavated by digging sticks and by ramming the posts into place, creating postholes with about the same diameter as the posts. Both buildings contained large quantities of carbonized wooden posts and timbers, many of which had been harvested and prepared using distinctly European carpentry techniques and metal tools such as adzes, axes, and cross‐cut saws—tools that were listed among the supplies carried by members of the Pardo expedition (Newsom ).…”

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Its physical characteristics and spatial location suggest that it may have served as a formal cocina (kitchen) throughout the compound's second phase of occupation, replacing the informal kitchen associated with Feature 76 (Beck et al. :139).…”

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significantly, all of the bone in these samples was calcined (Beck et al. :142). The presence of this burned bone cannot be explained by the fire that destroyed the building.…”

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Beck et al. ). We had just begun the excavation of several exterior posts along the southeastern wall of Structure 5 when a member of the crew, Cricket Hefner, shouted out, “Hey guys, there's a piece of metal in this one!” The rest of us quickly gathered around Cricket, and with a precise flick of her brush, she removed a bit of soil from the top of her posthole.…”

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The Iron in the Posthole: Witchcraft, Women's Labor, and Spanish Folk Ritual at the Berry Site

Beck

2016

American Anthropologist

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Apotropaic devices-folk ritual objects and deposits intended to ward away witchcraft or ensorcellment-were often deliberately concealed near the vulnerable parts of a structure (doors, windows, hearths, and chimneys). Because such devices typically consisted of otherwise mundane materials, they can be difficult to identify in archaeological deposits. It is the unusual context of the deposit that alerts us to the potential of its apotropaic meaning and intent. Here, I discuss the social and spatial contexts of an iron jack plate fragment concealed near the doorway of a Spanish colonial kitchen at the Berry site. Berry, located in present-day western North Carolina, was the site of Fort San Juan de Joara (1566-1568), the first European settlement in the interior of what is now the United States. Recognizing the iron jack plate fragment as a potential apotropaic device opens a window onto Spanish male anxieties about women's labor, especially the domestic labor associated with food. Spaniards and other Europeans believed that "wild" women regularly used ensorcelled food to entrap or punish male victims.Nowhere were fears of ensorcelled food more pronounced than along the frontiers of colonial America, where indigenous women usually prepared meals for Spanish men as wives, servants, and concubines. [colonialism, witchcraft, gender, food, folk ritual, the Berry site, colonial America] RESUMEN Los objetos apotropaicos-objetos y depósitos rituales populares con el propósito de protegerse contra hechicería o encantamiento-fueron a menudo deliberadamente ocultos cerca de las partes vulnerables de una estructura (puertas, ventanas, fosos del fuego, y chimeneas). Desde que tales objetos típicamente consistieron de materiales por lo demás mundanos, pueden ser difíciles de identificar en depósitos arqueológicos. Es el contexto inusual del depósito lo que nos alerta del potencial de su significado e intento apotropaico. Aquí, discuto los contextos sociales y espaciales de un fragmento de una placa de hierro de una armadura oculto cerca de la entrada de una cocina colonial española en el sitio Berry. Berry, ubicado en la parte Oeste de la actual Carolina del Norte, fue el sitio del Fuerte San Juan de Joara (1566-1568), el primer asentamiento europeo en el interior de lo que es ahora los Estados Unidos. Reconociendo el fragmento de la placa de hierro de una armadura como un potencial objeto apotropaico abre una ventana hacia las ansiedades de los hombres españoles acerca del trabajo de la mujer, especialmente el trabajo doméstico asociado con la comida. Los españoles y otros europeos creyeron que las mujeres "salvajes" regularmente usaban comida "encantada" para atrapar o castigar a las victimas hombres. En ninguna parte fueron los miedos de comida encantada más pronunciados que a lo largo de la frontera de la América colonial, donde mujeres indígenas usualmente prepararon alimentos para los hombres españoles como esposas, sirvientas, y concubinas. [colonialismo, brujería, género, comida, ritual popular, el sitio Berry, América ...

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Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Significantly, all of the bone in these samples was calcined (Beck et al. :142). The presence of this burned bone cannot be explained by the fire that destroyed the building.…”

Section: A Colonial Kitchen At the Berry Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 98%

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The Iron in the Posthole: Witchcraft, Women's Labor, and Spanish Folk Ritual at the Berry Site

Beck

2016

American Anthropologist

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Spaces of Entanglement: Labor and Construction Practice at Fort San Juan de Joara

et al. 2017

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A Road to Zacatecas: Fort San Juan and the Defenses of Spanish La Florida

et al. 2018

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From 1565 to 1570, Spain established no fewer than three networks of presidios (fortified military settlements) across portions of its frontier territories in La Florida and New Spain. Juan Pardo's network of six forts, extending from the Atlantic coast over the Appalachian Mountains, was the least successful of these presidio systems, lasting only from late 1566 to early 1568. The failure of Pardo's defensive network has long been attributed to poor planning and an insufficient investment of resources. Yet recent archaeological discoveries at the Berry site in western North Carolina—the location of both the Native American town of Joara and Pardo's first garrison, Fort San Juan—warrants a reappraisal of this interpretation. While previous archaeological research at Berry concentrated on the domestic compound where Pardo's soldiers resided, the location of the fort itself remained unknown. In 2013, the remains of Fort San Juan were finally identified south of the compound, the first of Pardo's interior forts to be discovered by archaeologists. Data from excavations and geophysical surveys suggest that it was a substantial defensive construction. We attribute the failure of Pardo's network to the social geography of the Native South rather than to an insufficient investment of resources.

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The Built Environment of the Berry Site Spanish Compound

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

The Iron in the Posthole: Witchcraft, Women's Labor, and Spanish Folk Ritual at the Berry Site

The Iron in the Posthole: Witchcraft, Women's Labor, and Spanish Folk Ritual at the Berry Site

Spaces of Entanglement: Labor and Construction Practice at Fort San Juan de Joara

A Road to Zacatecas: Fort San Juan and the Defenses of Spanish La Florida

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