How much can we learn by analyzing ceramics, the most commonly found artifact type at an archaeological site? During the mid-eighteenth century, English potters introduced creamware, a white-bodied earthenware with a yellow tinted glaze. Creamware is a useful tool in understanding the social, cultural, and economic changes that took place during the late eighteenth century. Creamware was one of the first fashionable wares that was affordable to the "middling sorts." At the Narbonne House in Salem, Massachusetts, a large quantity of creamware was recovered through archaeological excavations, including over 13,000 sherds, comprising over 250 vessels, most of which were owned by the widow Mary Andrew and her family who lived there from 1780–1820. After conducting a minimum vessel count and analysis of style, I concluded that Mary Andrew and her children were purchasing creamware to appear genteel to their family and neighbors. Appearance was important since the Andrews were related to some of Salem's most elite merchant families including the Gardners, Derbys, and Hodges. Being well connected—though not wealthy—Mary Andrew purchased stylish goods that she could afford in larger quantities rather than spending her money on smaller sets of more expensive wares. This conscious decision illustrates that creamware was not only an important mark of gentility, but was also a way to create identity, especially for a well-connected, but not affluent widow. Her husband's final request was that his legacy be used to improve the home, presumably to continue his family's upward mobility in society. Though creamware cannot answer all of the questions we have about the past, it provides us with answers to issues relating to consumer choice and creation of identity through material goods. Many consumer studies in historical archaeology terminate in interpretations of economic status; creamware in particular allows archaeologists and other scholars to explore other motivations concerning consumption and what ownership meant to the family and for people whose voices may otherwise be unheard in history, such as widowed women.

Archaeological investigations of Indian Key Historic State Park in the Florida Keys have uncovered a wide range of historical artifacts from throughout the nineteenth century that reveal how the site was reused and reoccupied through time. This thesis focuses on the glass component recovered from a house cistern complex (Feature F) and a warehouse (Features A and C) during the 1998 to 2002 field seasons. Glass artifacts range from a variety of bottle glass including alcohol bottles and proprietary medicines, to cut glass such as tumblers and decanters, to window glass. Feature F's analysis has shown that it maintained a primarily domestic nature despite having been reused by different groups at different times. Glass recovered from Feature F was primarily alcohol bottles, but large numbers of food bottles, medicines, and window glass was also found. The warehouse was used commercially and appears to have been continuously reused. The most abundant item recovered from the warehouse was window glass; however large quantities of alcohol bottle fragments were also recovered. Also included in the glass analysis is a study of window glass dating techniques using glass thickness. By using a formula originally developed by Randall Moir (1982), and following an example set by Grant L. Day (2001), I was able to illustrate a process for dating nineteenth century window glass that is fairly accurate for determining periods of transition, addition, and reconstruction to buildings occupied over long time periods. Comparison of the glass from these two features using window glass dating formulas and other comparative evaluations as well as dating and functional analysis is revealing useful information about each of these structures individually, as well as about activity on the island as a whole.

Historic tenant farmsteads are often thought to be redundant archaeological resources because of their limited temporal range and function which acts to limit the diversity of their archaeological assemblages. However, work has not been done that confirms this equivalence, and archaeologists often write off tenant farmsteads as being too modern or too disturbed to warrant investigation. This is a problematic approach as tenant farmsteads are quickly eroding from the American landscape and a representative sample of sites need to be investigated and preserved before they’re gone. This thesis tests different sampling strategies and field methods that may allow for the efficient investigation of tenant farmsteads without jeopardizing historical knowledge. The results show that the sites studied in this thesis are in fact redundant and a number of different methods can be used to investigate them in a much more efficient manner.

During the winter of 2011–2012, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and Office of Public Archaeology (OPA) at Brigham Young University (BYU) conducted archaeological explorations in urban Provo, Utah. The purpose of the research was to uncover and document the extant remains of the Original or Old Provo Tabernacle (OPT; 42UT1844). The data recovered from that excavation was the impetus for the current study. Through a combination of documentary and archaeological evidence, and using Mormon theology as a lens through which to interpret the actions of nineteenth century Latter-day Saints, this thesis demonstrates the important role played by the OPT in the project of Mormon Zion in the American West. The OPT was the first proposed and eighth completed tabernacle in the LDS Church. In the OPT, Brigham Young initiated a dynamic new building form which was intended to accommodate both the political and economic needs of LDS settlements at a distance from Salt Lake City and the central hierarchy of the Church while simultaneously providing space for Mormon worship and ritual practice. These buildings sought to prepare the Saints of early Utah for the eventual construction of temples throughout the region and, like the Tabernacle of the Congregation anciently, served to build strong communal ties in outlying Mormon settlements.

The extraction and distillation of pine sap for the naval stores industry reached its apex of production in the early decades of the twentieth century. Post-emancipation, the industry employed African American labor in the long leaf pine forests of the southeastern United States under a system of debt peonage that replaced the master-slave dynamic with a similar circumscriptive construct. Laborers rented company housing and were paid in scrip, a monetary system that limited their purchase of the basic goods of subsistence to the company commissary at inflated prices, resulting in an endless cycle of debt. Despite the oppressive circumstances of debt peonage labor, African Americans developed venues known as “jook joints” for the expression of agency through leisure. The jook was a structure where laborers congregated on weekends to socialize, dance, drink, gamble, and fight. The Polk County, Florida turpentine camp of Nalaka was in operation from 1919 until 1928. In 1942, the Nalaka site, and thousands of surrounding acreage, were purchased by the United States Government for use as an Air Force training range in anticipation of US involvement in World War Two. Although no structures survive, artifact scatters from the 1920s remain in situ. No known records exist to document the spatial arrangement of the structures at Nalaka. This study reconstructs the layout of the camp based upon artifact provenience, secondary iii ethnographic sources, and historical documents, to determine whether or not Nalaka supported a jook joint, and if so, where was its location.

No description available.

<p>This study explores the history of Niagara settlement and settlers through the changing patterns of burial and commemoration visible in historical family cemeteries established following Euro-American settlement in the 1790s. Data collected from a combination of site survey and archival research demonstrate three clear phases of: 1) early cemetery creation and use 2) the transition to burial in public cemeteries throughout the late 1800s; and 3) the closure of family cemeteries by the early 1900s followed by periods of neglect and renewal characterized by inactive cemeteries being repurposed by descendants as sites of heritage display.</p> <p>There is incredible variation in burial data and the overall patterns speak to changing identity relating to family, land, community, memory, and history. More specifically, the results of this study demonstrate a shift from an identity created through the experience of family place and burial to a community-based identity that emphasizes the nuclear family and their history within their wider social network. More recent heritage displays have explicitly introduced a narrative of settlement, Loyalist identity, and land ownership that was inherent when cemeteries were in use.</p> <p>This cemetery-based history approach demonstrates the potential of mortuary material culture to address questions of social change within the historical context in which it was created and used. It also highlights the value of variability in cemetery data and the consideration of the circumstances of cemetery creation, use, neglect, and renewal to inform the range of personal and collective histories that are visible over generations.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation focuses on the human experience during enslavement in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico, one of the last three localities to outlaw the institution of slavery in the Americas. It reviews the history of slavery and the plantation economy in the Caribbean and how the different European regimes regulated slavery in the region. It also provides a literature review on archaeological research carried out in plantation contexts throughout the Caribbean and their findings. The case study for this investigation was Hacienda La Esperanza, a nineteenth-century sugar plantation in the municipality of Manatí, on the north coast of the island. The history of the Manatí Region is also presented. La Esperanza housed one of the largest enslaved populations in Puerto Rico as documented by the slave census of 1870 which registered 152 slaves. The examination of the plantation was accomplished through the implementation of an interdisciplinary approach that combined archival research, field archaeology, anthropological interpretations of ‘material culture’, and geochemical analyses (phosphates, magnetic susceptibility, and organic matter content as determined by loss on ignition). Historical documents were referenced to obtain information on the inhabitants of the site as well as to learn how they handled the path to abolition. Archaeological fieldwork focused on controlled excavations on four different loci on the site. The assemblages recovered during three field seasons of archaeological excavations served to examine the material culture of the enslaved and to document some of their unwritten experiences. The study of the material culture of Hacienda La Esperanza was conducted through the application of John C. Barrett’s understanding of Anthony Giddens’ theory of structuration, Douglas Armstrong’s cultural transformation model, and Paul R. Mullins’ notions of consumerism and identity. Research results showed that the enslaved individuals of Hacienda La Esperanza were active yet highly restricted participants and consumers of the local market economy. Their limited market participation is evidence of their successful efforts to exert their agency and bypass the administration’s control. As such, this dissertation demonstrates that material life, even under enslavement, provides a record of agency and resistance. The discussion also addressed the topics of social stratification and identity. / Anthropology

This dissertation focuses on the African American community of Timbuctoo, Westampton, New Jersey. Timbuctoo was founded circa 1825 by formerly enslaved and free born African Americans. The community operated as a "station" along the Underground Railroad. At its peak Timbuctoo had over 125-150 residents and supported a general store, "colored" school, AMEZ church, cemetery and several homesteads. Today the only standing markers of the nineteenth century community are the gravestones in the cemetery. In 2007, Westampton Township acquired roughly four acres of the nearly forty arces that once comprised Timbuctoo. From 2009-2011, Christopher Barton and David Orr conducted archaeological work at the community. The focus of this dissertation was the excavation and analysis of 15,042 artifacts recovered from the Davis Site, Feature 13. The Davis Site was purchased by William Davis 1879. Davis and his wife Rebecca raised their five children in a 12x16ft home constructed on the 20x100ft property. Between the 1920s to the 1940s the foundation of the Davis home was used as a community trash midden. Specifically, this dissertation looks at the practices of yard sweeping, architecture, construction materials, home canning and the consumption of commodified foods. A practice theory of improvisation is posited as a working model to explaining the reflexive practices used by marginalized residents to contest social and economic repression. This theory of improvisation seeks to complicate narratives of poverty through underscoring the dynamic disposition of material culture and everyday life. / Anthropology

Both academic and professional archaeologists have realized the need to include the public in their work, whether it be volunteers in the field and/or laboratory, or outreach programs that aim to engage the public in new and innovative ways. Ten excavations were conducted at Graeme Park from 1958 to 1997, yet none of the projects utilized a Public Archaeology approach in the methodology. Although some of the data was used to reconstruct outbuildings and features as well as supplement the way the site is presented to the public, no efforts were made to directly include the staff, volunteers, and/or visitors. There are three glaring reasons as to why the archaeology and site interpretation have lacked synergism over the last fifty years. The first issue is a dearth of academically driven research. The majority of excavations were under the management of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museums Commission; Public Archaeology was not a goal of the state department given limited time and finances. Secondly, the budget of the PHMC has been drastically cut and historic sites across the state have been shut down or forced to function on very limited budgets. This has resulted in the creation of anachronistic or irrelevant programming that brings in revenue, but veer from the mission statement of Graeme Park. Finally, as a result of the budget cuts, the historic site lacks a full-time staff member to oversee programs and archaeological projects. I propose a plan for future site interpretation that brings together archaeology and historic site interpretation, citing Stenton House as an example of successful integration between the two. / Anthropology