Exploring African American Contexts in New York Archaeology
Although information about the lives of enslaved people in New York is too often missing from the written record, archaeology can provide important insight into the daily life, values, and traditions of enslaved people. Recent investigations show there are ways of “seeing” enslaved African Americans in diverse households, even when they did not live in separate quarters from their enslavers.
In partnership with the New York Archaeology Council and the New York State Museum, visiting archaeologists present new research based on their work within plural households and communities in New York.
The following presentations were recorded on October 1, 2022, at the New York Archaeology Council Fall Meeting
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Cobbler’s Cellar Fireplace Cosmogram with Offerings Underneath Altar Hearthstones
Christoph Lindner, Ph.D.
Archaeologist in Residence, Bard College; Director of the Bard Archaeology Field School
It is probable that Henry Person was a farmer in bondage on a Dutch-American estate, and that his wife, born Mary Barber in 1805, was enslaved to a nearby minister’s family. The couple bought at mid-century a house now known as the Parsonage, built in the 1760s probably by their forebears. Emma Jane Persons, the last of their children, died there in 1911, ending a decades-long African American neighborhood of several families in Germantown, New York. The Parsonage was located in the religious epicenter of the community. Archaeology at the site is focused on the cellar and the buried foundation of an earlier dwelling, where people emplaced concealments in key positions relative to architectural elements.
Archaeology at River Lea
Ann Morton, Ph.D.
Owner, Morton Archaeological Research Services and Adjunct Lecturer, Finger Lakes Community College
What began as a one-day survey for a new septic system became a multi-year investigation at the Villa at River Lea, Beaver Island State Park, New York. The Villa, built about 1873 by Lewis Allen, is located at the southern tip of Grand Island, with beautiful views of the Niagara River. The location was important much earlier for the Seneca ancestors who were here from the late Archaic into the early Historic period. Excavations in 2019 discovered two possible Middle-Late Woodland structures, along with a quantity of lithics and ceramics. Mixed in was historic material, presumably from the Allen family. But recent analysis of the faunal assemblage suggests this location may have attracted others—enslaved or formerly enslaved persons.
The Point of Worked Bone from Historic Sites: Markers of Cultural Identity
Marie-Lorraine Pipes, Ph.D.
Zooarchaeologist and Adjunct Lecturer, SUNY Geneseo
Faunal remains are typically considered in terms of subsistence practices, animal husbandry, or resource exploitation. Pre-18th century Indigenous faunal assemblages commonly yield worked faunal specimens, far fewer in later times. When worked specimens are recovered from historic contexts, they present an enigma which to date has resulted in their relegation to invisibility. Without a conceptual frame for their interpretation, their cultural association and significance remains unknown. The analyses of faunal assemblages from multi-component and Euro-American sites present an opportunity for framing these types of objects as having been made and used by African Americans.
What I Learned from the Hemphill Site in Malta, New York
Ed Curtin, Ph.D.
Owner, Curtin Archaeological Consulting
Preconceptions regarding African American sites archaeology such as “enslaved Africans quickly lost African culture as a consequence of slavery,” “there is little distinctive early African American material culture in the Northeast,” and “the enslaved lived in peripheral spaces in the enslaver’s house,” need to be recognized and challenged. As excavation was underway at the Hemphill site, I became aware that there was a ca. 1816–1827 earth fast house behind the White Hemphill house, and the material record of this unexpected residence included several elements such as knapped glass tools, collected Native American chert bifaces, chicken burials, and iron-rich sand concretions that are almost unprecedented in the Northeastern literature. More information is needed to learn in order to interpret African American life at the Hemphill site.
The Powell Family Farmstead and the Importance of Place
Michael Lucas, Ph.D.
Curator of Historical Archaeology at the New York State Museum
The story of Thomas and Betty Powell is one filled with triumph, pain, joy, and loss. Like most African Americans living in New York during late 18th century, they were enslaved at birth. The couple was able to purchase a 5-acre farm in Colonie, New York, just north of Albany in 1818, eventually expanding their holdings to 40 acres by 1850. Three generations of the Powell family farmed this land that provided a gathering point for African Americans in the area. The ruins of the Powell family farmstead remain today as a scarce extant reminder of rural African American heritage. Limited archaeological excavations to document its significance and ongoing efforts to preserve the farmstead in perpetuity as a tangible African American heritage place on the land for future New Yorkers are important steps toward acknowledging what we have already lost and what we might still recover.
Dr. Thomas Elkins: Material Expressions of a 19th-Century Medical Provider
Matt Kirk, M.A.
Principal Investigator, Hartgen Archeological Associates
This presentation explores the documentary sources and artifact assemblages of a renowned Black abolitionist from Albany, New York. Public archaeology has brought to light a unique and varied collection from the 1850s and 1860s, when Dr. Elkins was caring for the community, as well as travelers along the underground railroad. How do archaeologists interpret and present these materials so deeply intwined in notions of race, class, personal identity, and freedom? What new research questions emerge as we (as scholars) wrestle with the data and such highly charged conceptual constructs?
Seeing, but Also Listening: Archaeologies of BIPOC sites on Long Island
Allison McGovern, Ph.D.
Director of Undergraduate Studies (Interdisciplinary Archaeology Major), Columbia University Center for Archaeology
Archaeological research at nineteenth-century sites on Long Island has revealed the complexities of investigating the contexts of people of color, the limits to archaeological methodologies (particularly in phased approaches), and the challenges of developing inter-site comparisons. Through data from the Crippen and Fowler sites, this presentation highlights the complexity of BIPOC site types on Long Island and makes an appeal for consideration of alternative approaches to archaeological research designs.
Archaeology and Public Engagement
Douglas J. Perrelli, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Director, Archaeological Survey at the University at Buffalo
This presentation focuses on the archaeological work of the Archaeological Survey, University at Buffalo, at the Cataract House Hotel and its importance with the Underground Railroad, and the public archaeology program involved with the African American community and collaboration with the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center, Niagara Falls, New York.
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