Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia

Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia PDF Author: Patricia Samford
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817354549
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book discusses the daily life and culture of enslaved Africans and their descendants. Enslaved Africans and their descendants comprised a significant portion of colonial Virginia populations, with most living on rural slave quarters adjacent to the agricultural fields in which they labored. Archaeological excavations into these home sites have provided unique windows into the daily lifeways and culture of these early inhabitants. subfloor pits be-neath the houses. The most common explanations of the functions of these pits are as storage places for personal belongings or root vegetables, and some contextual and ethnohistoric data suggest they may have served as West African-style shrines. Through analysis of 103 subfloor pits dating from the 17th through mid-19th centuries, Samford reveals how data on shape, location, surface area, and depth, as well as contextual analysis of artifact assemblages, can show how subfloor pits functioned for the enslaved. Archaeology reveals the material circumstances of slaves' lives, which in turn opens the door to illuminating other aspects of life: spirituality, symbolic meanings assigned to material goods, social life, individual and group agency, and acts of resistance and accommodation. about how West African, possibly Igbo, cultural traditions were maintained and transformed in the Virginia Chesapeake.

Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia

Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia PDF Author: Patricia Samford
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
ISBN: 0817354549
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
This book discusses the daily life and culture of enslaved Africans and their descendants. Enslaved Africans and their descendants comprised a significant portion of colonial Virginia populations, with most living on rural slave quarters adjacent to the agricultural fields in which they labored. Archaeological excavations into these home sites have provided unique windows into the daily lifeways and culture of these early inhabitants. subfloor pits be-neath the houses. The most common explanations of the functions of these pits are as storage places for personal belongings or root vegetables, and some contextual and ethnohistoric data suggest they may have served as West African-style shrines. Through analysis of 103 subfloor pits dating from the 17th through mid-19th centuries, Samford reveals how data on shape, location, surface area, and depth, as well as contextual analysis of artifact assemblages, can show how subfloor pits functioned for the enslaved. Archaeology reveals the material circumstances of slaves' lives, which in turn opens the door to illuminating other aspects of life: spirituality, symbolic meanings assigned to material goods, social life, individual and group agency, and acts of resistance and accommodation. about how West African, possibly Igbo, cultural traditions were maintained and transformed in the Virginia Chesapeake.

World of a Slave [2 volumes]

World of a Slave [2 volumes] PDF Author: Kym S. Rice
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 0313349436
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 634

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Book Description
This two-volume encyclopedia is the first to focus on the material life of slaves. Although many encyclopedias discuss slavery, enslaved blacks, and African American life and culture, none focus on the material world of slaves, such as what they saw; touched; heard; ate, drank, and smoked; wore; worked with and in; used, cultivated, crafted, played, and played with; and slept on. The two-volume World of a Slave: Encyclopedia of the Material Life of Slaves in the United States is a landmark work in this important new field of study. Recognizing that a full understanding of the complexity of American slavery and its legacy requires an understanding of the material culture of slavery, the encyclopedia includes entries on almost every aspect of that material culture, beginning in the 17th century and extending through the Civil War. Readers will find information on animals, documents, economy, education and literacy, food and drink, home, music, personal items, places, religion, rites of passage, slavery, structures, and work. There are also introductory essays on literacy and oral culture and on music and dance.

Archaeology for Young Explorers

Archaeology for Young Explorers PDF Author: Patricia Samford
Publisher: Colonial Williamsburg
ISBN: 9780879350895
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Learn how archaeologists discover treasures in the ground and preserve them in the lab.

The Historical Archaeology of Virginia from Initial Settlement to the Present

The Historical Archaeology of Virginia from Initial Settlement to the Present PDF Author: Clarence R. Geier
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781541023482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 232

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Book Description
The book includes six chapters that cover Virginia history from initial settlement through the 20th century plus one that deals with the important role of underwater archaeology. Written by prominent archaeologists with research experience in their respective topic areas, the chapters consider important issues of Virginia history and consider how the discipline of historic archaeology has addressed them and needs to address them . Changes in research strategy over time are discussed , and recommendations are made concerning the need to recognize the diverse and often differing roles and impacts that characterized the different regions of Virginia over the course of its historic past. Significant issues in Virginia history needing greater study are identified.

Living Ceramics, Storied Ground

Living Ceramics, Storied Ground PDF Author: Charles E. Orser Jr.
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813072972
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
The role of historical archaeology in the study of African diaspora history and culture Exploring the archaeological study of enslavement and emancipation in the United States, this book discusses significant findings, the attitudes and approaches of past researchers, and the development of the field. Living Ceramics, Storied Ground highlights the ways historical archaeology can contribute to the study of African diaspora history and culture, as much of the daily life of enslaved people was not captured through written records but is evidenced in the materials and objects left behind. Including debates about cultural survivals in the 1920s, efforts to find “Africanisms” at Kingsley plantation in the 1960s, and the realization—as late as the 1970s—that colonoware pottery was created by enslaved people, Charles Orser looks at the influential and often mistaken ideas of prominent anthropologists, archaeologists, and historians. Extending to the present, Orser describes how archaeology better recognizes and appreciates the variety and richness of African American culture during slavery, due in large part to the Black archaeologists, past and present, who have worked to counter racism in the field. While acknowledging the colonial legacy of archaeology, Charles Orser outlines the ways the discipline has benefitted by adopting antiracist principles and partnerships with descendant communities. This book points to the contributions of excavators and researchers whose roles have been overlooked and anticipates exciting future work in African American archaeology. Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

New Life for Archaeological Collections

New Life for Archaeological Collections PDF Author: Rebecca Allen
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 1496213769
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
New Life for Archaeological Collections explores solutions to what archaeologists are calling the “curation crisis,” that is, too much stuff with too little research, analysis, and public interpretation. This volume demonstrates how archaeologists are taking both large and small steps toward not only solving the dilemma of storage but recognizing the value of these collections through inventorying and cataloging, curation, rehousing, artifact conservation, volunteer and student efforts, and public exhibits. Essays in this volume highlight new questions and innovative uses for existing archaeological collections. Rebecca Allen and Ben Ford advance ways to make the evaluation and documentation of these collections more accessible to those inside and outside of the scholarly discipline of archaeology. Contributors to New Life for Archaeological Collections introduce readers to their research while opening new perspectives for scientists and students alike to explore the world of archaeology. These essays illuminate new connections between cultural studies and the general availability of archaeological research and information. Drawing from the experience of university professors, government agency professionals, and cultural resource managers, this volume represents a unique commentary on education, research, and the archaeological community.

Early Modern Virginia

Early Modern Virginia PDF Author: Douglas Bradburn
Publisher: University of Virginia Press
ISBN: 0813931703
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This collection of essays on seventeenth-century Virginia, the first such collection on the Chesapeake in nearly twenty-five years, highlights emerging directions in scholarship and helps set a new agenda for research in the next decade and beyond. The contributors represent some of the best of a younger generation of scholars who are building on, but also criticizing and moving beyond, the work of the so-called Chesapeake School of social history that dominated the historiography of the region in the 1970s and 1980s. Employing a variety of methodologies, analytical strategies, and types of evidence, these essays explore a wide range of topics and offer a fresh look at the early religious, political, economic, social, and intellectual life of the colony. Contributors Douglas Bradburn, Binghamton University, State University of New York * John C. Coombs, Hampden-Sydney College * Victor Enthoven, Netherlands Defense Academy * Alexander B. Haskell, University of California Riverside * Wim Klooster, Clark University * Philip Levy, University of South Florida * Philip D. Morgan, Johns Hopkins University * William A. Pettigrew, University of Kent * Edward DuBois Ragan, Valentine Richmond History Center * Terri L. Snyder, California State University, Fullerton * Camilla Townsend, Rutgers University * Lorena S. Walsh, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

The Archaeology of Slavery

The Archaeology of Slavery PDF Author: Lydia Wilson Marshall
Publisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 080933397X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
The Archaeology of Slavery grapples with both the benefits and complications of a comparative approach to the archaeology of slavery. Contributors from different archaeological subfields, including American, African, prehistoric, and historical, consider how to define slavery, identify it in the archaeological record, and study slavery as a diachronic process that covers enslavement to emancipation and beyond. Themes include how to define slavery, how to identify slavery archaeologically, enslavement and emancipation, and the politics and ethics of slavery-related research.

Jamestown Archaeology

Jamestown Archaeology PDF Author: William M. Kelso
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003825281
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Book Description
This book showcases the latest information and newly discovered seventeenth-century artifacts from Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in America. Jamestown Archaeology: Remains to be Seen uses archaeological discoveries to greatly augment what we know about the settlement from written records. It discusses how the archaeological revelations recreate the backdrop where, amid Jamestown's growing fortifications, its houses, government buildings, churches, graves and village streets, the rule of law, representative democratic government, and venture capitalism took root in America. The volume examines the archaeological discoveries that date from the time of the first fortifications (James Fort 1607–1624) to the middle of the eighteenth century. It includes a chapter devoted specifically to how the fort was built, then redesigned and enlarged. It also addresses the archaeological examination of sites and artifacts relating to the Virginia Indians including a discussion of Pocahontas and the location of her lost grave in England. The 1676 "Bacon's" Rebellion is explored along with various episodes of destruction and the building of the first Virginia Capitol building, the Ludwell Statehouse Complex. The last chapter presents a comparative review of Jamestown Island maps drawn every century since the town was founded showing photographically and cartographically how much of the Island and its archaeological sites have been lost to erosion and rising water for 400 years, ending with thoughts about the need for rescuing sites today in the face of climate change, sea level rise, and more Island land erosion. This book is for historical archaeologists and historians as well as readers with an interest in the beginnings of America.

Simplicity, Equality, and Slavery

Simplicity, Equality, and Slavery PDF Author: John M. Chenoweth
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 168340016X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
"A significant empirical contribution to the transdisciplinary study of eighteenthcentury Atlantic history and the colonial history of the Christian Church."--Dan Hicks, author of The Garden of the World: An Historical Archaeology of Sugar Landscapes in the Eastern Caribbean "Thoughtfully applies practice theory to the concept of Quakerism as a religion, while simultaneously examining how Quaker practices shaped the lives not only of practitioners but those they enslaved."--James A. Delle, author of The Colonial Caribbean: Landscapes of Power in the Plantation System "A nuanced look at Quakerism and its relationship with slavery."--Patricia M. Samford, author of Subfloor Pits and the Archaeology of Slavery in Colonial Virginia Inspired by the Quaker ideals of simplicity, equality, and peace, a group of white planters formed a community in the British Virgin Islands during the eighteenth century. Yet they lived in a slave society, and nearly all their members held enslaved people. In this book, John Chenoweth examines how the community navigated the contradictions of Quakerism and plantation ownership. Using archaeological and archival information, Chenoweth reveals how a web of connections led to the community's establishment, how Quaker religious practices intersected with other aspects of daily life in the Caribbean, and how these practices were altered to fit a slavery-based economy and society. He also examines how dissent and schism eventually brought about the end of the community after just one generation. This is a fascinating study of the ways religious ideals can be interpreted in everyday practice to adapt to different local contexts. A volume in the Florida Museum of Natural History: Ripley P. Bullen Series