The First Americans: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Perspectives

This talk will survey the archaeological and ethnohistory of the Ojibwa (Chippewa), who are one of largest groups of the Algonquian speakers, currently located in Canada and the US. The Algonquian language group is the most populous and widespread of the Native American indigenous peoples and covers an area from the Atlantic Ocean, into the interior along the St Lawrence River and around the Great Lakes. The experience of the Ojibwa, specifically, enables us to gain an understanding of the centuries’ old conflicts with white settlers, governments and corporations over land, water, and mineral resources. Even if different lines of evidence (genetic, linguistic, archaeological, anthropological, ethnohistoric) are considered, the identification of the homeland of the Ojibwa remains a challenge.