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Commoners, Tribute, and Chiefs: The Development of Algonquian Culture in the Potomac Valley

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Potter combines findings from ethno-history, archaeology, and anthropology to trace the living patterns of natives occupying the Potomac Valley during the years from 200 to 1700. In particular, Potter uses these findings to trace the Chicacoan political organization, social behavior, and settlement patterns as they changed over time showing how and why the Chicacoans went from being a distinct group before contact with Europeans to moving to new land and merging with two other tribes and becoming the Wicocomoco by the latter 1600s and finally becoming landless tenants living on an English plantation. Potter shows that Chicacoan life (as well as the living patterns of other native groups in the region) was affected by changing subsistence patterns (increasing importance of agriculture), increasing population, conflicts with neighboring tribes, changing climate, and finally contact with Europeans.