Louisiana (Other Keyword)
1-10 (10 Records)
The environmental processes of erosion and subsidence are key post-depositional factors affecting the formation of the archaeological record along coastal Louisiana. These factors contribute to terrestrial archaeological site loss and present researchers with a unique set of challenges for understanding past human behavior at both local and regional scales. From 2010 to 2014, HDR visited a total of 212 sites across 5,293 km during a survey of the Louisiana coast. This paper provides new insights...
Expanding the Carceral State: The Early Penitentiaries of Louisiana and Arkansas (2021)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Shifting Borders: Early-19th Century Archeology in the Trans-Mississippi South" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. As the United States expanded westward the frontier attracted new settlers, including criminals. Throughout the early 1800s state legislatures revised their criminal codes and shifted from corporal punishment to incarceration. In early 1832, Louisiana Governor Andre B. Roman called for a new...
Historical Archaeology of the Marsh Sugar Plantation, Avery Island, Louisiana (2016)
The Marsh Plantation was a sugar plantation on Avery Island, Louisiana, established in 1818 by northeastern transplants John Marsh and William Stone. Enslaved and "indentured" African Americans were brought from New York and New Jersey by the partners to work the sugar fields and mill. Through two field seasons, we learned more about the lives of the enslaved and free people, as well as the early sugar industry in Louisiana. Issues of heritage tourism, namely, the elision of slavery and the...
Living the Not So Sweet Life: Archaeological Investigations in the Chatsworth Plantation Quarters (2015)
Southern Louisiana was home to one of the largest cash crops cultivated during antebellum times. Sugarcane was grown in a relatively small area in South Louisiana, but had far reaching impacgts at both the local and regional level. This poster will discuss the archaeology taking place at the Chatsworth Plantation site. I will also examine the spatial layout of Chatsworth, a sugar producing plantation, and discuss possible reasons for the use of the particular layout. In addition, I will...
MICROSCOPIC EXAMINATION OF POLLEN, PHYTOLlTH, AND STARCH REMOVED FROM POVERTY POINT OBJECTS, POVERTY POINT, LOUISIANA (2001)
Poverty Point Objects are "hand-molded backed clay cooking objects" (Gibson 1999:2). Because the area around Poverty Point contained few rocks, Poverty Point Objects are thought to have been used much like rocks that are heated and used to heat or boil foods in a container. Thirteen Poverty Point Objects and one steatite fragment were examined for pollen, phytoliths, and starches that might point to foods cooked using Poverty Point Objects as heat sources. In addition, two pollen samples...
Protecting the Past From the Future: The Effects of Climate Change on Archaeological Sites in Louisiana's Coastal Zone (2018)
Archaeological sites around the world are threatened by the effects of climate change. Oceans are encroaching inland due to sea level rise, with daily tides and waves imperiling coastal archaeological sites. Inland torrential rains can lead to flooding and higher temperatures can lead to droughts that kill off vegetation, both of which can expose middens and other subsurface features to erosion. This paper will focus on Louisiana’s coastal zone; current impacts to archaeological sites from...
Public Perception of Louisiana Voodoo: Eighteenth Century Practices In The Digital Age (2018)
Louisiana has long been known for its participation in various African and Caribbean rituals and Voodoo practices. However, over three centuries of Louisiana’s history, public perception has changed a myriad of times, reflecting the cultural changes at large of the United States. Currently, the practice of Voodoo and other religions have made a popular resurgence, particularly in the digital age. Members of all religions can find common interest groups and obtain materials needed for rituals and...
"Superior to Any Other House in the South or West": The Daniel Edwards Foundry of New Orleans. (2018)
Archaeological recovery efforts at the site of CSS Georgia revealed brass and copper instruments known as gun sights. These gun sights facilitated the aiming of naval guns and are relatively rare in archaeological settings. After the American Civil War, material composed of cupreous metals, such as these sights, was melted and repurposed. A maker’s mark stamped on one of these instruments indicates that the manufacturer of these items was a certain Daniel Edwards whose foundry business was in...
When in Drought: An Exposed Shipwreck Along the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, LA (2024)
This is a poster submission presented at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. When the Mississippi River dropped significantly in the Fall of 2022, the Louisiana Division of Archaeology received numerous calls and emails from citizens stumbling across exposed structures and vessels, some of which turned out to be shipwrecks. The low water levels and the proximity to the Division of Archaeology’s office allowed staff and volunteers to further document the exposed...
The Wickedest City: Ecological History and Archaeological Potential at La Balise (2018)
La Balise was a French outpost in the Southeast Pass of the Mississippi River -- one of the most geologically dynamic landscapes on earth. The fort was built in 1723 to defend the waterway from encroaching armies and to justify relocating Louisiana’s capital from Biloxi to New Orleans. La Balise’s geographical position led it to become the colony’s port of call, and its frontier environment fostered a profusion of cultural and technological adaptations. However, the same environmental conditions...