ARCHITECTURE AND ETHNICITY: ETHNOHISTORIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL
EVIDENCE FOR FRENCH ARCHITECTURE AT THE CICOTT TRADING
POST SITE (12 Wa 59)
Following the social unrest of the 1960s, social scientists in America began to
examine the persistence of ethnic identity among groups previously viewed in terms
of their assimilation into the dominant culture or their geographical, and thus
cultural, isolation. In 1969 social anthropologist Frederick Barth published his
seminal essay on the subject. Ethnic identity, he claimed, can persist despite
contact with and interdependence on other ethnic groups. This idea has since been
picked up and utilized by historical archaeologists and ethnohistorians.
This paper will attempt to effectively combine data from both the ethnohistoric
and archaeological records in order to better understand the ethnic identity of
Zachariah Cicott, a 19th century fur trader living in the central Wabash Valley.
Zachariah was born to French Canadian parents living in Detroit in 1776. At this
time the French families living in what was soon to become the United States had
managed to maintain a separate sense of being.
This separate sense of being, or ethnic identity, can be defined as the "subjective,
symbolic or emblematic use of any aspect of culture to differentiate" oneself
from other individuals or groups (G. De Vos, "Ethnic Pluralism: Conflict and Accomodation",
in Ethnic Identity, edited ty G. De Vos and L. Romanucci-Ross, p. 16, Mayfield
Publishing, 1975.) The architectural style of an individuals residence has long
been regarded as a reflection of the occupants ethnicity. An individuals home,
in the words of James Deetz, "can be a strong reflection of the needs and minds
of those who built it" (J. Deetz, In Small Things Forgotten, p. 92, Anchor Press,
1977.) French colonists arriving in North America brought with them a distinct
architectural style characterized by the use of hand hewn vertical logs. As French
communities spread across the North American landscape this style changed in response
to the environment and raw materials at hand.
In the Illinois Country three basic house types energed. In the Detroit River
region, the poteau en solage or post on sill method
(Figure 13) had replaced the earlier poteau en terre or post in ground method
(Figure 12) by the last quarter of the 18th century.
The interstices between the vertical timbers were filled with either a clay and
straw mixture (bouzillage) (see Figure 13)
or a stone and mortar mixture (pierrotage). The entire exterior was then whitewashed.
In the Detroit River region pierrotage seems to have been the preferred infilling.
A third style of French architecture, piece-sur-piece (Figure
14), may have been predominate in the Detroit River region from the mid 18th
to the early 19th centuries.
It is likely that Zachariah lived in one or more of these house types prior to
settling along the central Wabash River during the early 19th century. Sometime
between 1817 and 1824 he had done well enough in the fur trade to replace an earlier
"rude building" with a more substantial structure. It was in this structure that
Zachariah would raise his family, conduct his trade, experience the death of at
least one wife and finally expire in 1850 at the age of 74. The cultural significance
of this structure should not be underestimated.
Three ethnohistoric accounts of Cicott's house make a convincing case for the
presence of French architecture at the Cicott Trading Post Site. Each of these
accounts make mention of evidence suggesting the use of French building techniques
such as prefabrication and the use of Roman numerals to mark adjoining timbers
(see Figure 13).
Archaeological excavations at the Cicott Trading Post Site this past summer have
provided further evidence for French architecture. Found in association with a
linear concentration of limestone (which appears to be the partial remains of
the house foundation), were several fragments of pierrotage. It is identical in
appearance to the pierrotage used in an early 19th century post on sill house
in Ste. Geneveive, Missouri. Many of the pierrotage fragments recovered at Cicott's
were still covered with a coat of whitewash, which was the French tradition.
Taken in conjunction with the ethnohistoric accounts, this limestone foundation
and the associated pierrotage may be seen to represent the remains of either a
post on sill or piece-sur-piece structure both of which set on a stone foundation.
The architectural style of Zachariah Cicott's house was the product of a conscious
decision. It was the most outwardly visible manifestation of the personal and
ethnic identity he chose to display to the world. This structure, as reflected
in the ethnohistoric and archaeological records, reveals that the French people
of North America retained a separate sense of being, an ethnic identity, nearly
a century after the Treaty of paris ended French control of this region. [return to 1992 abstracts menu][continue to next]