Signs of Life: Towards a Holistic Archaeology of Building Deposits

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Documenting the Built Environment (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Concealed building deposits and related apotropaic practices like “witch bottles” have received increasing attention in recent years from both archaeologists (e.g. Manning, et al 2014) and the public (Jamison 2020). Research in North American contexts has broadened understandings of such finds, challenging clear-cut associations between “folk magic” or “-custom” and group identity. Overall, however, artifacts found within recent standing structures are rarely treated as “archaeology.” Analysis of an assemblage recovered from 17th- to 19th-century features at the Bacon’s Castle plantation complex in Surry County, Virginia, demonstrates the potential of approaching building deposits as archaeological contexts, whether or not they index ritualistic, or even intentional, activity. Expanding the focus to include the ambiguous material that comprises most of the literal- and figurative stratigraphy of old buildings affords crucial insights into the material worlds and lived experiences of generations of diverse residents—including those often obscured in the archaeological and historical records.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Documenting the Built Environment (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology