Moriarty Science Seminar: Building a Practice of Community Archaeology at Indian Run/Pandenarium

R.W. Moriarty Science Seminar Presents: Building a Practice of Community Archaeology at Indian Run/Pandenarium (Site 36ME253)

Speaker: Angela Jaillet-Wentling, PA DCNR

At the Indian Run or Pandenarium settlement site (36ME253), archaeology helps shine a light on the story of a free African American community in the Antebellum North. Twentieth century histories focused heavily on the enslavers and the white community surrounding the settlement, but the archaeological insight provided by the work undertaken by graduate students at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Angela Jaillet-Wentling, 2011 and Samantha Taylor, 2018) has begun to tell the stories of the Black community itself. By fleshing out the history lying underfoot, archaeological investigation has helped to generate descendant interest and involvement moving forward, as well as bridge the gap from past to present peoples. As one of several collaborators, work has focused not on a retelling but on developing a more nuanced and in-depth understanding of the settlement’s history. By adding more context to our understanding, a far more complex picture emerges of how the inhabitants fashioned a life of their own making from a structured landscape.

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