Crushing Steps: Finding paths in broken artifacts at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Plantation

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This study will examine excavations around the Historic Core of Mount Vernon, searching for patterns in the size of artifacts to infer where high traffic areas, like desire paths or work spaces, may have existed. Multiple historic lanes lie on the landscape today, but were not always used by all parts of the population at all times. These areas may be identified through the presence of smaller artifacts dropped and broken under foot. Who was using them may also be determined based on location and artifact type. These areas can be tracked temporally through the artifacts and historically recorded changes to the landscape. A spatial analysis in the concentration and distribution of artifacts by size including least-cost path models will be performed. This project will create a better understanding of how the landscape was viewed and navigated, and establish a stronger footing for future research into pathways across the property.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow