[OR_Archaeology] Dr. Ken Ames to speak on Archaeology of Contact on Lower Columbia River, Nov. 18 at OHS

[Susan White]

FUR TRADE ENTANGLEMENTS FEATURED IN FUR TRADE TALK

At 5:30 p.m. Nov. 18, the Center for Columbia River History and the Oregon Historical Society will present Portland State University anthropologist Kenneth Ames talking about  "Entangled in the Fur Trade: Or, The Archaeology of Contact on the Lower Columbia River". The talk will take place at OHS, 1200 SW Park Ave., Portland.

This free illustrated public talk will focus on entanglements  between archaeologists and Native people, past and present. Until recently, understanding of the fur trade era on the Lower Columbia River came primarily through the written words of Euro-American explorers and traders. These journals and diaries often paint a romanticized picture of untamed wilderness and passive response by indigenous people to new
modes of exchange and culture. Archaeological scholarship since 1987, however, provides significant evidence of entanglement between Native people of the Lower Columbia and the Euro-Americans who entered an ancient, well-established system of trade, exchange, and values on the Lower Columbia.

The word "entanglement" indicates complexity, intricacy and inextricable linkages. Anthropologists use this term to describe the two-way contact in which Native people actively participated and often directed relations. Entanglement also describes relations between modern archaeologists and Native communities. No longer do archaeologists traverse a one-way scholarly street, running from archaeologists to descendant communities. Rather, their work has become
collaborative and interactive.

Ames' talk is the annual Castles Lecture of the Center for Columbia River History. 

For more about this program, see http://ccrh.org/calendar.php or www.ohs.org call 360-258-3289