Evaluating Sekakawon/Wicocomico Persistence Throughout the Potomac and Rappahannock River Valleys Through the Identification of Communities of Practice

In 1719, the Virginia colonial government dissolved the Wicocomico Indian Nation after the death of its werowance (chief), William Taptico Jr. In the eyes of the colonial settlers, this marked the end of the Wicocomico as a polity, people, and culture. However, the over 200 members of the modern Wicocomico Nation Heritage Association have challenged this claim through extensive genealogical research. This contradiction reflects the tension felt between Indigenous descendant communities and individuals who have been educated and influenced by traditional historical narratives today. A central factor associated with Indigenous persistence that scholars previously overlooked, but descendant populations have embraced, is the coalescence and ethnogenesis of Indigenous populations during the colonial period. In this dissertation, I use the Wicocomico as a case study to identify instances of Indigenous coalescence within the Potomac and Rappahannock River Valleys through archaeological analysis of Indigenous-manufactured ceramic and tobacco pipe attributes and genealogical evidence from the Late Woodland Period into the 18th century. By performing these analyses, I identified the presence of two communities of ceramic practice that I argue reflect extended kinship networks within the Lower Potomac and Rappahannock River Valleys. Whereas pipe attributes, specifically decorative motifs, indicate each group within these communities of practice maintained group specific social connections. The patterns I identify throughout this dissertation highlight the ways in which the Wicocomico persisted and reorganized themselves within the “Chesapeake” Shatter Zone.