This is really fascinating. My father's ancestors, on both sides, were Huguenots (note my surname, which I inherited from my father's father; my father's mother's family were Witts). A close friend, whose ancestry is also Huguenot, is writing a series of historical novels on the Huguenot experience based on her family. I have been sharing your posts with her in hopes that she can obtain information on material culture for her writing.
I have the impression that more is known archaeologically about Huguenots from this side of the pond than from the other. Yes, Geoff and Paul? Is this because, as Geoff suggests, immigrants can be difficult to trace materially in city settings?
In turn, is that because of the processes and results of acculturation, or because of existing material similarities?
Is it because groups like the Huguenots were not necessarily materially distinct from their Catholic neighbors in France except at their places of worship? How about their neighbors in low-country settings or in England? I note that Paul mentions that they may be difficult to identify in English settings because of the high rate of import of Dutch ceramics.
Were Huguenots prone to setting themselves apart in more far-flung diasporic situations like the Americas (I had no idea there was a colony in Brazil, Rich)?
 
Next question for all: how about written records of the Huguenot diaspora and experience? Diaries? Wills, estate, or probate documents? Shipping records or manifests? Biographies or (even better) autobiographies? Town planning (someone earlier mentioned that, I think)? Observations by neighbors?
 
Mil gracias,
Jeff
 
Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
Project Director
Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico
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