Historical Archaeology and the New Acadia Expedition of Discovery:
A Cultural Manifesto
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| Dolores del Río as Evangeline. |
In 1929 Evangeline Bellefontaine, a.k.a. Emmeline Labiche, arrived in
St. Martinville, Louisiana, in fulfillment of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic saga and as portrayed by Mexican actress Dolores del Río. Although
del Río lost standing years later as an accused communist and was killed while
portraying Kiowa Indian Neddy Burton in Flaming
Star with Elvis Presley, her beauty and celebrity inspired decades of
Evangelinization.
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| Del Río's monument to Evangeline in St. Martinville. |
Forty-two years later, the State of Louisiana officially
recognized 22 parishes as the Heart of Acadiana, cementing the popularity of
the Ragin’ Cajuns over the Bulldogs at Université
des Acadiens. While Evangeline became renowned for sliced
bread and horse races, the statue of del Río cast in her image continues to
draw the sympathy and curiosity of tourists who also frequent one of her
several Oak trees and a State Historic Site she shares with the poet.
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| One of Evangeline's Oaks. |
Dolores del Río passed away in
Newport Beach, California in April of 1983. Only six months later, discovery of the first
Acadian settlements was recognized as a major research goal in the State of Louisiana’s Comprehensive Archaeological Plan. Over
the past 30 years, however, support for both Evangeline and archaeology in Louisiana have declined. State
funding for archaeology has been drastically reduced, leading to the
termination of university and regional archaeology programs, further stagnation of research, and expulsion of archaeologists from Louisiana.
While the
Evangeline monument has remained an empty tomb, annual re-enactments of her disembarking have increased interest in canoeing and keeping the Bayou Teche clean. Meanwhile, the original, lost settlements and unmarked
graves of Acadian émigrés may be inadvertently destroyed by development.
The expedition of discovery to find
the original settlements of New Acadia is scheduled to begin in the Summer of
2014. History is destined to be re-written. Historical archaeology examines
material traces of the past and offers unique and contrasting sources of
information in critique of historical narratives, identity creation, founding
myths, and the reproduction of cultural traditions.
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| “The Arrival of the Acadians in Louisiana.” Detail of the color mural by Robert Dafford, at the Acadian Memorial in St.
Martinville. |
In 1765 the freedom-fighter Joseph “Beausoleil”
Broussard led a group of Acadian families to the Attakapas District in
present-day Iberia and St. Martin parishes. The émigrés from Acadie were part
of the Grand Dérangement or forced
expulsion of Acadians from Nova Scotia that would inspire Longfellow’s epic
poem Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie.
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Land Patents of the 1770s at Fausse Pointe on the
Teche Ridge.
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Many of the Acadian exiles died soon after their arrival, including
Beausoleil and his brother, Alexandre. The
founders of New Acadia were buried at the places they settled, on the Teche Ridge
in the vicinity of present-day Loreauville. Two and a half centuries later, in
the Heart of Acadiana, their gravesites and homesteads remain unmarked and
unknown.
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| A view of the Bayou Teche south of Loreauville. |
The New Acadia Project combines public archaeology, public
history and applied anthropology in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative
investigation of eighteenth-century Acadian settlement of Louisiana. No
previous study has located or attempted to discover the places where the
founders of New Acadia actually settled.
The long-term goals of the New
Acadia Project are:
(1) To promote development of the cultural economy by engaging
communities in cultural resource management planning and heritage conservation.
(2) To advance existing knowledge of the history of Acadian
settlement by locating and examining the original homesteads and associated
unmarked burials.
(3) To delineate and understand the settlement patterns and
households of New Acadia.
(4) To examine the variable relationships between history, identity,
and landscape.
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| A sugarcane field on the Teche Ridge in Iberia Parish. |
Support is currently being sought
to accomplish the above goals through archival research, interviews, community
engagement, archaeological survey, and geophysical remote sensing. Preliminary
research has already identified two historic family cemeteries and the location
of a third nearby area with a potential for human burials. One of these sites
may contain the unmarked graves of the brothers Beausoleil or other Acadian
émigrés of 1765.
Anyone interested in supporting or assisting
the New Acadia Project may contact the NAP Steering Committee at:
P. O. Box
53597, Lafayette, LA 70505
(337)
233-5832
The New Acadia Project is also online
at:
