MEANING IS IN THE MAKING: A RELATIONAL ANALYSIS OF GROUND STONE BELONGINGS ON THE LOWER COLUMBIA RIVER

Abstract

Archaeologists often study Indigenous artifacts or belongings as static objects of classification, comparison, and interpretation often emphasizing style, form, and typology. This dissertation approached Lower Columbia River belongings as relational material culture that carried connections among past and present makers, materials, and technologies. With particular attention to ground stone production processes and carving traditions from the Lower Columbia River region (1000BC – AD 1875), this project asks: How can collaborative, low-impact archaeological methods document, renew, and extend relationships among people, practices, and places important to Grand Ronde history and culture? In doing so, this dissertation demonstrates that legacy collections remain important sites of archaeological research when approached through relational methods and with accountability to the communities and relationships that give those belongings meaning. In partnership with cultural advisors from the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Cultural Resources Department (CTGR), this research prioritized CTGR’s generations of lived knowledge and community guidance into the study and curation of Tribal belongings. Employing a low-impact research design and digital imaging techniques such as multispectral photography and reflectance transformation imaging, these methods provided a framework for reassociating surface modifications on ground stone with systemic and lived contemporary practices. Drawing from Black Feminist and Indigenous scholarship, this dissertation used intersectionality and relationality as critical paradigms for examining belongings and interrogating archaeological practice. These approaches revealed how race, gender, and coloniality shape what was collected, how it was interpreted, and the connections to lived experiences today. This research treats belongings as living relations and active archives, envisioning a future grounded in responsibility to our communities, land, and collective liberation.