TRANSLATING ARCHAEOLOGY INTO STORIES: CREATING A DIGITAL RESOURCE FOR THE ONÖNDOWA'GA:' (SENECA) TOWNLEY-READ AND WHITE SPRINGS SITES, OCCUPIED CIRCA 1688-1754
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The goal of this project is to digitize and present archaeologically-recovered materials from two Onöndowa’ga:’ (Seneca) Haudenosaunee sites— the circa 1688-1715 White Springs and circa 1715-1754 Townley-Read sites, both located near Geneva, New York— in an online platform in a way that will be useful to researchers and descendant communities. An initial partnership with the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts and Cultures (GRASAC) opened the door for discussions on the inadvertent assumptions held by non-Native researchers, the role of collaboration with Indigenous communities, and the utility of multivocality and digital media in creating a useful and meaningful resource. Collaboration with Onöndowa’ga:’ community partners through a workshop at the Seneca Art and Culture Center in Victor, New York, identified how the descendant community wished to organize and present the wide variety of locally-produced materials, trade goods ultimately derived from Europeans (including those locally-reworked for different functions), commodities that were produced and exchanged by other Indigenous groups, and their spatial information. In conjunction with the Cornell University Library through the Digital Collections for Arts and Science Grants Program, the project is currently digitizing items to be presented through a multivocal website with a nested structure. This thesis focuses on the process of creating this resource, dealing especially with the ways myself and my advisor, Kurt Jordan, have chosen to rectify assumptions and missteps made during the beginning stages of the project.