White ethnogenesis and gradual capitalism: perspectives from colonial archaeological sites in the Chesapeake

The piecemeal development of capitalist socioeconomic systems in the colonial Chesapeake was deeply intertwined with projects of white ethnogenesis. Crafting a sense of 'groupness' along lines perceived as racial required free 'whites' to remain economically and socially interdependent. A variety of strategies and material forms--including reciprocal exchanges, hall-parlor house plans, and earthfast construction--facilitated this cohesion. Such integrative tactics coexisted in colonists' behavioral repertoires with more 'capitalistic' strategies that prioritized private profit over social obligation. Colonists' deployment of diverse social strategies reflects a complex calculus assessing the benefits of economic autonomy against the benefits of ethnic ('white') solidarity. These dynamics can be illustrated through an 18th-century archaeological site at Flowerdew Hundred in the Chesapeake. [Keywords: ethnogenesis, capitalism, race, colonial sites]