Architectural Conformity vs. Slave Identity: An Example in Late Antebellum Georgia

Author(s): Carolyn Rock

Year: 2018

Summary

In 2015, Brockington and Associates conducted Phase III Data Recovery at a middle-nineteenth century field slave settlement within the Colonel’s Island Plantation in Glynn County, Georgia. Excavations at five slave dwelling footprints showed that all exhibited nearly identical dimensions and construction techniques. Dwellings appeared to be double-pen wood frame with central chimneys and wooden floors. Rather than set off the ground by wood or brick supports, each dwelling was marked by a perimeter trench and series of eight-inch diameter vertical posts. The architectural landscape consisted of the placement of the double-pen dwellings in two rows of three, separated by an open activity area with open-air structures at either end. The architectural style was consistent with late antebellum efforts to improve slave health and productivity by providing better housing such as wood floors and sturdier dwellings. At the same time, settlement configuration and location were consistent with increased perceived need for control of the slave population amid more frequent news of slave runaways and rebellions. Despite the owners/overseers’ efforts at control, our excavations uncovered noticeable differences in artifact distributions among the dwellings excavated, revealing individuality within a slave community that is rarely if ever revealed in the historical record.

Cite this Record

Architectural Conformity vs. Slave Identity: An Example in Late Antebellum Georgia. Carolyn Rock. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 442919)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Spatial Coverage

min long: -93.735; min lat: 24.847 ; max long: -73.389; max lat: 39.572 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20341