The Archaeology of Clothing and Bodily Adornment in Colonial America: The American Experience in Archaeological Perspective

"Highly readable but also innovative in its approach to a broad array of material from diverse colonial contexts."--Carolyn White, University of Nevada, Reno "Loren brings together a sampling of the extensive literature on the archaeology of clothing and adornment to argue that artifacts of the body acquire their meaning through cultural practice. She shows how dress serves as social discourse and a tool of identity negotiation."--Kathleen Deagan, Florida Museum of Natural History Dress has always been a social medium. Color, fabric, and fit of clothing, along with adornments, posture, and manners, convey information on personal status, occupation, religious beliefs, and even sexual preferences. Clothing and adornment are therefore important not only for their utility but also in their expressive properties and the ability of the wearer to manipulate those properties. Diana DiPaolo Loren investigates some ways in which colonial peoples chose to express their bodies and identities through clothing and adornment. She examines strategies of combining local-made and imported goods not simply to emulate European elites, but instead to create a language of new appearance by which to communicate in an often contentious colonial world. Through the lens of historical archaeology Loren highlights the active manipulation of the material culture of clothing and adornment by people in English, Dutch, French, and Spanish colonies, demonstrating that within Northern American dressing traditions, clothing and identity are inextricably linked. Cvr......Page 1 Table of Contents vii......Page 8 List of Figures ix......Page 10 Foreword xi......Page 12 A Short Preface and Some Acknowledgements xv......Page 16 1 Clothing and Adornment in Colonial North America 1......Page 20 2 Discerning Artifacts of Clothing and Adornment 14......Page 33 3 Enclosing the Body 35......Page 54 4 Attaching Adornments 55......Page 74 5 Clothed in the Colonial World 73......Page 92 6 Conclusions and a Backward Glance 89......Page 108 References Cited 97......Page 116 Index 119......Page 138 Clothing And Adornment In Colonial North America -- Discerning Artifacts Of Clothing And Adornment -- Enclosing The Body -- Attaching Adornments -- Clothed In The Colonial World -- Conclusions And A Backward Glance. Diana Dipaolo Loren ; Foreword By Michael S. Nassaney. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [97]-117) And Index.