Elusive Forever?

In the late-eighteenth century, during the Spanish control of colonial Louisiana, Maroon settlements surrounding New Orleans reached its pinnacle in terms of expanse, population, and permanence. According to historic governmental letters and legal records, Maroons were part of an extensive communication network, spanning at least 100 km from the German Coast (around Lac des Allemands) to Bas du Fleuve (east of Lake Borgne). Despite this evidence, no one has attempted to locate these settlements archaeologically since one of the largest issues within Maroon archaeology is that Maroon sites are difficult to locate. This thesis evaluates the role of least-cost networks (LCNs) in locating Maroon archaeological sites around the Bas du Fleuve region.In part, this thesis argues that, by considering attractiveness of the landscape as a “cost” instead of time or energy expenditure, least-cost analyses can inherently incorporate more culturally determined travel factors as the costs associated with each are dependent on cultural priorities. Considering travel factors such as waterbodies, water depth, slope, soil type, and visibility, I converted the resulting least-cost network into an archaeological potential model (APM) to highlight popular areas of travel and, therefore, areas that may yield Maroon archaeological remains. When compared to Louisiana cultural resources, the APM was successful in locating two suspected Maroon archaeological sites, but more research into addressing environmental changes in modern datasets, what defines a Maroon archaeological site, and general LCN construction is required. Overall, this thesis indirectly works to broaden the geographic and historical scope of Maroon archaeology and adds to the more holistic account of the African diasporic experience that is developing within African diaspora archaeology.