Archaeological Examination of Electromagnetic Features: An
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2004 Archaeological Examination of Electromagnetic Features: An Example from the French Dwelling Site: A Late Eighteenth Century Plantation Site in Natchez, Adams County, Mississippi Charles F. Lawson Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC FEATURES: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE FRENCH DWELLING SITE. A LATE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PLANTATION SITE IN NATCHEZ, ADAMS COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI. By CHARLES F. LAWSON A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2004 The Members of the Committee approve the thesis of Charles F. Lawson defended on March 23, 2004. ________________________ Glen Doran Professor Directing Thesis ________________________ Bruce Grindal Committee Member ________________________ David Anderson Committee Member Approved: _____________________________________________________________________ Dean Falk, Chairperson, Anthropology Department The office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Jill Halchin of the Southeast Archeological Center for generously allowing me to use not only her field research, but also her time throughout the production of this manuscript. Her attention to detail during artifact analysis and when reading drafts has allowed me to produce a better document. I would also like to thank John Cornelison who graciously provided me with a computerized spreadsheet for use in my statistical analysis. Over the past few years John has also taught me many of the computer and archeological skills I needed to complete this document. I would also like to thank the members of my committee for the time they spent reading the document and preparing comments. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ..................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures..................................................................................................................viii Abstract.............................................................................................................................. xi 1. Introduction..................................................................................................................... 1 2. Natchez Cultural and Historic Background.................................................................... 5 Prehistoric Natchez......................................................................................................... 5 French Settlement 1699 to 1763 ..................................................................................... 7 British Settlement 1763 to 1779 ................................................................................... 10 Spanish Administration 1779 to 1798 .......................................................................... 12 United States Territory 1798 to 1817 ........................................................................... 13 3. Previous Archaeological Investigations at 22AD557................................................... 15 4. 2001 Geophysical Survey ............................................................................................. 19 Magnetometer ............................................................................................................... 21 Conductivity Meter....................................................................................................... 22 The Surveys .................................................................................................................. 23 5. Re-Examination of the 1977 Archaeological Survey ................................................... 28 6. 2001 Archaeological Survey and Excavations ............................................................ 35 Surface Collection......................................................................................................... 35 Excavation Units........................................................................................................... 36 7. Material Culture............................................................................................................ 53 Ceramics ....................................................................................................................... 60 Glass.............................................................................................................................. 72 Personal Items............................................................................................................... 78 Building Components ................................................................................................... 78 Faunal Materials ........................................................................................................... 84 iv 8. Site Interpretation ......................................................................................................... 86 Artifact Distribution by Functional Group ................................................................... 86 Robinson’s Index of Agreement for Intra-site Comparisons........................................ 92 Mean Ceramic Dating................................................................................................. 103 Functional Interpretation of Features.......................................................................... 104 9. Conclusions................................................................................................................. 110 References....................................................................................................................... 116 Biographical Sketch........................................................................................................ 123 v LIST OF TABLES 1. Preliminary Artifact Categories.................................................................................... 54 2. Historic Artifacts Collected by Function...................................................................... 55 3. Prehistoric Artifacts Collected by Function.................................................................. 56 4. Prehistoric Artifacts Collected at the French Dwelling Site......................................... 57 5. Ceramics recovered during the testing at 22AD557..................................................... 64 6. Glass artifacts sorted by category classification and object. ........................................ 72 7. Personal Items Recovered During Testing at the French Dwelling Site. ..................... 79 8. Building Components Recovered by Weight. .............................................................. 83 9. Faunal Material Recovered by Type............................................................................. 85 10. Biomass Estimates Based on the Faunal Collection from 22AD557. ........................ 85 11. Site Proveniences Chosen for Index of Agreement Analysis..................................... 95 12. The Artifact Categories Used to Produce the IA Matrix for the Site Features by Object Name. ............................................................................................................ 96 13. The Artifact Categories Used to Produce the IA Matrix for the Site Features by Functional Group. ..................................................................................................... 97 14. Index of Agreement Matrix Produced for Site Proveniences from 22AD557 by Object Name and Artifact Weight........................................................................................ 98 15. Index of Agreement Matrix Produced for Site Proveniences from 22AD557 by Functional Group and Artifact Weight. .................................................................... 99 vi 16. Mean Ceramic Dates for the French Dwelling Site.................................................. 105 17. Artifact Categories by Percent of Weight from Each Feature. ................................. 109 18. Possible and Known French Period Ceramics Compared to Later Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Ceramics Collected in 2001. .................................................. 113 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1. Location of the project area in Natchez, Mississippi...................................................... 3 2. Broutin's map depicting Natchez in 1728....................................................................... 9 3. Location of Bonath's 1977 project grid and excavation units (blue) in relation to the 2001 project area (red) that is the subject of this thesis............................................ 16 4. The geophysical grid at the French Dwelling Site, displaying which areas were surveyed using the FM-36 gradiometer and the EM-38 conductivity meter............ 20 5. Four displays of the magnetic data recovered during the FM-36 survey ..................... 26 6. Three displays of the conductivity data recovered during the EM-38 survey at the French Dwelling Site.. .............................................................................................. 27 7. The brick distribution collected during the 1977 survey.............................................