Hold Your Horses: Systematic metal detection survey as a methodology to reveal horseshoe and animal shoe typologies across 18th and 19th Century cultural landscapes in Georgia including battlefield sites of the American Revolution

Summary

Using 21st Century remote sensing technology and a systematic approach, recent archaeological investigations in Georgia have revealed a remarkable collection of animal shoes from the 18th and 19th Century. Among the cultural landscapes of farmsteads and battlefields, lay in context the material culture of the farrier and animal husbandry. This paper seeks to examine the stylistic variations and produce an overview of typological and chronological data through comprehensive material analysis of representative samples collected during the metal detection surveys conducted on sites from these periods. The paper will examine contextual evidence and associative qualities of these artifacts to the related sites and place heavy emphasis on the relationship these animal shoes have to the battlefields of the American Revolution in the South. The paper will also explore the connection between the provenience of these artifacts in relation to early transportation and subsistence patterns across these landscapes. The aim is to demonstrate the effectiveness of applying advanced scientific analysis and new technologies of the 21st Century to enhance archaeological interpretation of material culture.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Revelatory Power of an Artifact in Context   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-14,10