Life on the Farm: The Environmental Archaeology of Harriet Tubman’s Home

Summary

Harriet Tubman was an African American slave, activist, and American heroine. In 1859 she purchased a farm in Auburn, NY and over the fifty-six years of her residence she opened her home to family and to the public. The farm is just a small part of Tubman’’s legacy but it allows us to connect with her and those who also lived on the property. Years of archaeological excavation on Harriet Tubman’’s farm have yielded a wealth of data, however only recent excavations have utilized environmental archaeological data. This paper focuses on the preliminary analysis of environmental data from the Harriet Tubman farm, specifically the yard surrounding her brick home. The faunal, macrobotanical, and microbotanical remains provide new data sources for the interpretation of the site and will hopefully better elucidate life for Tubman and the African American community in central New York during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014   •
• Environmental Archaeology: Building from Successes

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-55,04