Monacan Millennium: A Collaborative Archaeology and History of a Virginia Indian People

by Jeffrey L Hantman

While Jamestown and colonial settlements dominate narratives of Virginia’s earliest days, the land’s oldest history belongs to its native people. Monacan Millennium tells the story of the Monacan Indian people of Virginia, stretching from 1000 A.D. through the moment of colonial contact in 1607 and into the present.

Written from an anthropological perspective and informed by ethnohistory, archaeology, and indigenous tribal perspectives, this comprehensive study reframes the Chesapeake’s early colonial period—and its deep precolonial history—by viewing it through a Monacan lens. Shifting focus to the Monacans, Hantman reveals a group whose ritual practices bespeak centuries of politically and culturally dynamic history. This insightful volume draws on archeology, English colonial archives, Spanish sources, and early cartography to put the Monacans back on the map. By examining representations of the tribe in colonial, postcolonial, and contemporary texts, the author fosters a dynamic, unfolding understanding of who the Monacan people were and are.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2018

Reviews

[Mary L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though Monacan Millennium is frequently repetitive, I honestly don’t really care because the information itself is quite good and hopeful.

I currently live on land historically pertaining to the Monacan people, so, seeing as it’s November, I decided that it would behoove me to educate myself about the Monacan people and culture.

The author argues against colonial views that label the Monacan people as unknowable, irrelevant, or disappeared. Though colonists didn’t record extensively about the Monacan people, much can be gleaned through archaeological study and Monacan oral traditions.

Minimum contact between the Monacans and the colonists was an intentional choice made by the Monacans in response to colonialism. Prior to colonialism, the Monacan people lived in small settlements and the leaders of the people lived close to the communities’ burial mounds. The burial mounds served as a second burial place for their deceased ancestors, and the mounds could hold up to a thousand bodies. The leaders showed their power and authority through their proximity to the burial mounds.

Anyway, the book ends on a hopeful note. The author posits that a tribe is a flexible entity. Native American peoples are the epitome of survival and adaptation in their continued struggles against colonialism.

[Melissa Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a resident of Charlottesville, which is ancestral Monacan land, it was important to me to read this book and I’m glad I did. I definitely recommend it to folks who enjoyed 1491 or similar books and are looking to learn more about indigenous people in Virginia.

I appreciated the author’s perspective and willingness to challenge popular but incomplete or inaccurate historical narratives. He certainly debunked a lot of myths I had believed about indigenous peoples in the eastern U.S. and particularly in Virginia. The writing is accessible even with complex archaeological topics and effectively synthesizes the research, but at times it’s repetitive. I’ve saved a couple of books the author referenced throughout this work in my To Read list and I’m looking forward to getting to them!

[Lindsey Tyree · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the few resources readily available about the Monacan people. I learned a lot from this one. Resources like these are so important when so much of our history has been erased by Plecker era legislation. I hope many more books are written to preserve Monacan knowledge.