The Bathtub in the Garden: The Challenge Identifying Enslaved African Muslims in an Urban Context

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Urban Preservation Challenges in a Global Perspective", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2015, the District of Columbia’s Historic Preservation Office and a team of professional and volunteer archaeologists excavated 3324 Dent Place, NW in an affluent neighborhood in Upper Georgetown. The property was purchased by Yarrow Mamout, an emancipated African Muslim in 1800. Mamout lived on the property until his death in 1823 and was reportedly buried in the garden where he was known to pray. The only archaeological potential for Mamout’s garden was a 25 ft. by 23 ft. section of the property, affectionately known as the bathtub, located three feet below an extant garden. Did we find Mamout’s remains? Or did we find complex stratigraphy demonstrating the impact of 200 years of disturbance on an urban site. This paper presents the strange case of the bathtub in the garden to discuss the challenges and potentials of missing data and the global implications of identifying enslaved African Muslims in an urban context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Urban Preservation Challenges in a Global Perspective   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow