Graftombe van de leiders van de Powhatan uit Tsenacommacah (Virginia) 1721

Bernard Picart made this print of the Powhatan leaders' tomb in Virginia, sometime around the early 18th century. It's a scene rendered with the etched line, a printing process that allowed for the relatively easy distribution of images. Here, we see a structure built from woven reeds and thatch – materials gathered directly from the landscape. The walls are constructed using the technique of wattle and daub, which is a mixture of sticks, woven together and covered with a sticky substance usually made of clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Inside the tomb are the preserved bodies of leaders, resting above a fire tended by a woman. Consider the labor involved in constructing this tomb: gathering, weaving, preserving. The process has imbued this architecture with cultural significance, connecting it deeply to the Powhatan people and their way of life. Picart, of course, was an outsider, looking in. His print gives us a glimpse into a world where craft and ritual were inseparable, long before the arrival of European industrialization.