Colonoware as Cottage Industry: Household Production and the Internal Economy at Dean Hall Plantation, South Carolina

Summary

Research into the slave settlement at Dean Hall Plantation uncovered substantial evidence for the on-site production of Colonoware. Archaeology of household production and the anthropology of households provide us with frameworks for investigating the individual strategies of different homes as they engaged in the internal economy. Each household was a productive unit and their ability to produce their own wares affected their needs, access, and exchange within local markets. Identifying the different economic strategies employed in these enslaved African households allows me to ask questions concerning how the family units spent their profits. Unlike typical Colonoware studies that focus on core West African elements of the pottery itself (i.e. religion, medicine, African foodways) I focus on how it was made, who was involved, and how Colonoware fits in with the site’s entire material assemblage; Colonoware is not studied in isolation. A better incorporation of Colonowares within household assemblages highlights similarities and differences between households at Dean Hall providing a richer interpretation of how the enslaved worked to both support themselves and maintain a strong community.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Beyond the Ethnicity Debate: Examining the Many Contexts of Colonoware

Keywords

Spatial Coverage