archaeological and textual records - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell ...

with the presence of missions or priests. She also echoes Cleland’s earlier suggestions
about the rings becoming secular trade items after a certain point, and is similarly
critical of inferring too much in the way of religious connotations (Mason 2010:9-10).
Until this thesis was written, the religious medals from Seneca sites had never
been studied. Similarly, a “new” primary source known as the Clark Manuscript,
which helped me to identify and translate the medals has never, until now, been
introduced to scholarly audiences. Additional kinds of Christian-themed artifacts, such
as crosses and crucifixes, are also counted and documented here for the first time. As
such, this thesis aims to fully incorporate both the material and the written records in
hopes of generating a clearer image of the Seneca missions, their historical context,
and the context of the artifacts.
I will begin with a brief history of the Jesuit order, followed by biographies of
individual Jesuit priests whose contributions and writings were crucial to the missions.
The next section of the chapter provides a detailed account of the history of the Seneca
Iroquois, their identity within the Five Nations, settlement patterns and customs. A
separate section is devoted entirely to Iroquoian cosmogony, soul mysteries, and
spiritual beliefs, with special attention paid to dreams, magic and healing. The chapter
ends with a comprehensive historical account of the Jesuit missions to the Seneca, as
well as the political circumstances that ultimately brought about the end of the
missions.
Chapter two focuses primarily on the archaeology of the Seneca missions.
Beginning with a detailed look at the major scholarly contributions of archaeologists
past and present, the first part of the chapter discusses how the interpretation,
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