Historical ecology is an applied research program that focuses on the intermingling of people and
the environments in which they live. Research applications involve studying and understanding this
relationship in both time and space in order to gain a full picture of all of its accumulated effects.
Through this interaction humans manipulate the environment and further the transformation of landscapes.
The research program can be applied to understanding changes among community landscapes from the
past to the present that can assist strategies for the future.
Historical Ecology studies human culture and the environment in various scales, that is, from the specific
to the general. Culture and environments are in constant dialogue. Rather than linear change, people and
environments influence and respond to one another in continuous cycles. Examining variations within
ecosystems and their continual complexity is more possible to study with advanced technologies.
The complexity can be examined, not just by archaeologists, historians and environmental scientists but
with an interdisciplinary team. Having a diverse and integrated team, which will share information,
allows for more complex interactions of culture and the environment to be examined and considered for
future applications.
It is this research program, which the team of the Historical Ecology of Albemarle Sound, is pursuing
with its projects, education efforts and public outreaches. The region consists of changing landscapes
with waterways, wetlands and watersheds that are part of the Pasquotank River Basin and the Roanoke River
in Northeast North Carolina. The Albemarle Sound has had over 400 years as a living history community.
From the military expeditions to seek resources and the Roanoke Colony, the explorations of the English
encountered a challenging wetland environment and began interactions with the Algonquians who resided in the vicinity.
It was at this intersection of five waterways with the Atlantic Ocean, where the English and American
settlements contributed to the changing landscapes, already extant from the local tribes. This community
relied on watersheds, as port towns, and continued the traditions of the tribes as fishermen, traders and
farmers. And it is this unique wetland and waterway environment that enabled the indigenous population
to remain in their homelands and slave runaways to seek refuge and routes to freedom.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_ecology#cite_note-balee1-0
Current Research
Historical Ecology Perspectives of Refuges and Routes from Runaway Slave Advertisements
Maritime skills and watersheds were the context for slaves realizing potential freedom. Refuges and escape
routes were provided by the maritime slaves, who learned about networks that could assist. From historical
records, they got training about the watersheds from relations with Indians. Runaway slave ads in the Albemarle
Sound newspapers are being studied for geographic contexts of how the watersheds were used. As an example,
the Pasquotank Watershed is being investigated. Geospatial technologies can compare historical maps, remote
sensing images and soil data with locations from the slave ads. It is hypothesized that these comparisons
can locate refuges and routes, that refuges were resourceful communities among the Indians and were locations
for opportunities of interaction. Sites will be selected for field surveys based on soil, vegetation, and
elevation criteria (e.g., sandy loam, mesic mixed hardwood forests, ridges), which are habitable, among
the vast wetlands of the Albemarle Sound.
This project is a collaboration of ARIES with the University of Maryland, College Park, the Department
of Anthropology. Project Directors: Anne Garland (ARIES ) and Paul Shackel (UM)
Contact Project Directors at ariesnonprofit@yahoo.
