Up and Down the Mountain: Exploring differential access within Monticello’s enslaved community

Summary

Recent research at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello demonstrated marked differences between the late 18th century household assemblages of enslaved laborers living in the fields and enslaved domestic and artisan workers living by the mansion. Ceramics from Mulberry Row’s mountaintop quarters exhibited more variety in ware and decoration, while those at the Site 8 field quarter included high proportions of costly decorated Chinese porcelain. Expanding the original analysis, we incorporate additional data from early 19th century occupations near the mansion and the Site 6 field quarter, allowing us to test if the initial pattern resulted from historic spatial and labor differences or variable periods of site occupation. Using archaeological data, we can further understand the effect of a divided plantation landscape on the access different enslaved communities had to goods, networks, and ideas, which is pivotal in the reinterpretation of Mulberry Row and the unseen quarter sites once spread across the plantation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Reckoning: Landscapes and Legacies of Slavery   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 718