As a preliminary step toward re-creating as nearly as possible a working eighteenth-century plantation at Carter's Grove on the James River near Williamsburg, some two years of archaeological work has been devoted to the areas surrounding the great house. This is the record of the archaeologists' successes and disappointments, and an indication of how their evidence will be used. -- Back cover.
The Archaeology of Martin's Hundred explores the history and artifacts of a 20,000-acre tract of land in Tidewater, Virginia, one of the most extensive English enterprises in the New World. Settled in 1618, all signs of its early occupation soon disappeared, leaving no trace above ground. More than three centuries later, archaeological explorations uncovered tantalizing evidence of the people who had lived, worked, and died there in the seventeenth century. Part I: Interpretive Studies addresses four critical questions, each with complex and sometimes unsatisfactory answers: Who was Martin? What was a hundred? When did it begin and end? Where was it located? We then see how scientific detective work resulted in a reconstruction of what daily life must have been like in the strange and dangerous new land of colonial Virginia. The authors use first-person accounts, documents of all sorts, and the treasure trove of artifacts carefully unearthed from the soil of Martin's Hundred. Part II: Artifact Catalog illustrates and describes the principal artifacts in 110 figures. The objects, divided by category and by site, range from ceramics, which were the most readily and reliably datable, to glass, of which there was little, to metalwork, in all its varied aspects from arms and armor to rail splitters' wedges, and, finally, to tobacco pipes. The Archaeology of Martin's Hundred is a fascinating account of the ways archaeological fieldwork, laboratory examination, and analysis based on lifelong study of documentary and artifact research came together to increase our knowledge of early colonial history. Copublished with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Archaeologist Ivor Noël Hume chronicles his life, describing events and experiences both personal and professional from his childhood in England in the 1930s to his life on North Carolina's Roanoke Island, and discussing his thirty-five-years career in academia, along with excursions to Egypt, Jamaica, Haiti, and shipwrecks in Bermuda.
This comprehensive reference book addresses the questions and problems of cultural resource archaeology for graduate students and practicing archaeological field workers. Neumann and Sanford use their decades of field experience to discuss in great detail the complex processes involved in conducting a CRM project. Dealing with everything from law to logistics, archival research to zoological analysis, project proposals to report production, they provide an invaluable sourcebook for archaeologists who do contract work in the United States. After introducing the legal and ethical aspects of cultural resources management, the authors describe the processes of designing a proposal and contracting for work, doing background research, conducting assessment, testing, mitigation work (Phase I, II, and III), laboratory analysis, and preparing reports for project sponsors. The volume's emphasis on practical problems, use of extensive examples, and detailed advice on a host of subjects make it an ideal training manual and reference tool for archaeologists and field schools.
In Creating Colonial Williamsburg, Anders Greenspan examines the restoration and re-creation of the structures and gardens of Virginia's colonial capital beginning in 1926. The restoration was undertaken by the Rockefeller family, whose aim was to promote a twentieth-century appreciation for eighteenth-century ideals. Ironically, those ideals, including democracy, individualism, and representative government, were often promoted at the expense of a more complete understanding of the town's true history. The meaning and purpose of Colonial Williamsburg has changed over time, along with America's changing social and political landscapes, making the study of this historic site a unique and meaningful entry point to understanding the shifting modern American character. In recent years, financial struggles and declining attendance forced a new interpretation of the town, extending the presentation into the period of the American Revolution, while adding new interpretive approaches such as street theater and a greater emphasis on technology. Over its eighty-year history, says Greenspan, Colonial Williamsburg has grown and matured, while still retaining its emphasis on the importance of eighteenth-century values and their application in the modern world.
Williamsburg archaeology proves that careful excavation and study can produce an unsuspected wealth of data on garden fences and walls, steps and garden houses, flower pots and urns, tools and equipment, and sometimes about the plants and the planters of colonial times.
