October 22, 2024
Southeastern Archaeological Conference holds its 80th Annual Meeting in Williamsburg in November. We are excited to be contributing six presentations on current research in the Archaeology Department. For more on SEAC and the Annual Meeting, see: https://www.southeasternarchaeology.org/.
Three of our presentations feature our ongoing efforts to develop new methods that will yield new insights into archaeological data from Monticello Plantation, based on both current and past fieldwork.
Distinguishing Boundaries Between Households on Plowzone Sites: An Example from Monticello. Crystal O'Connor and Fraser Neiman.
Abstract. We explore reproducible methods to define spatial and temporal boundaries between households on plowzone sites. Such methods are essential if we hope to use archaeological data to advance our understanding of community dynamics. We use sites occupied by enslaved workers and overseers in the 18th and early 19th-century at Monticello. One approach segments continuous artifact density surfaces into discrete zones in geographical space. The second identifies clusters of assemblages from plowzone samples in high-dimensional space of artifact type frequencies. Understanding relationships between these artifact clusters allows us to discover how these units point to separate households.
Reassessing the Chronological Boundaries of Monticello’s Mulberry Row. Derek Wheeler and Corey A.H. Sattes.
Abstract. Updated approaches to dating can help reassess legacy assemblages. This paper discusses ways to parse out stratified deposits to define chronological boundaries. We apply this preliminary research to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Mulberry Row dwellings and working structures. A historic road adjacent to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Mulberry Road was home 133 to enslaved and white laborers. Our current study adds to past archaeology and analyses of this community by testing different analytical approaches for clarifying stratigraphic groupings. Identifying the most accurate variables for occupational phasing will expand our understanding of how Mulberry Row changed over time.
Using American Coarse Earthenware Types as a Tool for Site Interpretation and Intrasite Comparison at Monticello. Christine S. Devine.
Abstract. A growing body of scholarship on locally made coarse earthenwares in Virginia and the MidAtlantic has provided archaeologists with important comparative data and insights into the regional production, marketing, and use of coarse earthenwares. Recent excavations at Site 30, a late 18th-century quarter site for enslaved agricultural workers at Monticello, have uncovered various types of American coarse earthenware, including a distinctive lead-glazed variety currently unaffiliated with any regional workshop. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of this coarse earthenware type by comparing its visual characteristics to those from previous studies of coarse earthenwares at Monticello and other sites. It also will explore several possible explanations for why it is found across the plantation landscape on sites with different dates of occupation.
We'll also be presenting a paper and a scientific poster on recent work in the DAACS lab on pre-contact and 17th-century settlement at Flowerdew Hundred, funded by a grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities. For more on the grant, see: The Origins of a Slave Society: Digitizing Flowerdew Hundred.
Coarse Earthenware at Flowerdew Hundred: Tools of Colonization in the 17th Century Chesapeake. Lindsay Bloch and Elizabeth Bollwerk.
Abstract. The production and role of imported and locally-made lead-glazed coarse earthenware in 17th century Chesapeake communities has received little attention compared to the 18th century. A recent analysis of ceramic assemblages from Flowerdew Hundred provides an opportunity to examine the roles of imported and local coarse earthenware during the early years of colonization, and how those roles changed over time. We use the identification of nearly 30 distinct types of 17th and 18th-century coarse earthenware, demonstrating how variations in types and their quantities provide insight into the development of economic relationships and local industries in the Chesapeake.
Digging Deeper into Tsenacommacah: A Temporal and Spatial Analysis of the PreContact Archaeological Record at Virginia’s Flowerdew Hundred Plantation. Catherine E. Garcia and Iris O. Puryear
Abstract. Decades of archaeological investigation at Flowerdew Hundred, an early 17th century Virginia tobacco plantation, attest to the presence of the Weanock (a Late Woodland people situated in the political territory of Tsenacommacah) and other Native groups prior to European colonization. This poster explores Flowerdew’s 10,000 years of indigenous habitation using artifact and contextual data from three sites cataloged into the Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery (www.daacs.org). We present an overview of the change and continuity that characterized pre-contact settlement patterns at Flowerdew Hundred and establish a baseline for future research into the evolution of this complex site throughout the colonial period.
Workshop: An Introduction to Digging Through Archaeological Data. Jolene Smith and Elizabeth Bollwerk.
Abstract. This two-hour workshop will provide a high-level introduction to best practices, tools, and challenges of working with data including collecting, cleaning, managing and analysis. It will introduce the concepts of Data Lifecycles and Management plans and provide resources for successfully completing these vital components of archaeological work that ensure data are properly prepared for future sharing and reuse. We’ll also review tools to clean, manage, and analyze data like OpenRefine, R and RStudio. Finally, we will discuss ethics of Open Science and Open Data. This workshop will provide practical resources for getting organized, handling messy data, and reducing common data-handling errors. We welcome participants with all levels of technical ability.
All six presentations are imbedded in larger, ongoing research initiatives. You will be hearing more about several of them in our DAACS Conversations seminar series next year. We'll be posting details in the Monthly ICJS Newsletter and on the DAACS website then, see:https://www.daacs.org/research/daacs-conversations/ . Stay tuned!
Finally, the Monticello and DAACS Archaeology teams are each hosting a table at the Celebrate Virginia Archaeology Day hosted by the Council of Virginia Archaeologists. This is a public and free event - see details here: https://www.cova-inc.org/events/celebrate-virginia-archaeology/