Historical archaeology of the Chesapeake

About this book

The Chesapeake Bay area's economy, ecology, and history have made it an extraordinarily rich area for archaeological study for nearly a century. Ranging across many methods of historical archaeology, this volume represents current work on the Chesapeake's western shore dealing with early European settlements, plantations and landscapes, and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century life. Historical Archaeology of the Chesapeake presents a history of past excavations, as well as a sampling of recent historical archaeological discoveries. The essays include an examination of seventeenth-century decorated tobacco pipes as evidence of possible African-made material culture, a detailed analysis of the decline of Alexandria's sugar industry, and a comparison of household objects from a working-class neighborhood with those of the nearby Hooker's Division, once the red-light district of Washington, D.C. Using an array of theoretical orientations, the contributors analyze relationships among Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans, as well as among economic and occupational groups. Their findings illuminate changing social and political situations, including stratification within cities, between urban and rural areas, and between the Old and New Worlds.