ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT FOSCUE PLANTATION: IDENTIFYING THE STRUCTURE IN THE VAULT FIELD by Amanda Keeny Stamper December, 2014 Director of Thesis: Dr. Charles R. Ewen Department of Anthropology During the 2007 Craven Community College archaeological field school, a dense concentration of brick was discovered at the Vault Field site (31JN112**) on Foscue Plantation in eastern North Carolina. This feature was determined to be a chimney fall during the 2008 field school. The structure associated with the chimney fall continued to be excavated through 2012, with the 2011 and 2012 field schools being co-directed by the author. The goal of these excavations was to determine the identity of the structure in the Vault Field. The hypothesis tested for this thesis was that the structure was Simon Foscue, Jr.’s original house as mentioned in two deeds dated 1801 and 1803. Historic deeds and maps revealed that the structure in the Vault Field was not Simon Foscue, Jr.’s 1803 home. The parcel on which the 1803 home was located was sold in 1810, and the parcel on which the Vault Field site is located was not purchased until 1811. Archaeological and historical research were used to evaluate the likelihood that the structure in the Vault Field was a detached kitchen, slave quarter, overseer’s house, or a Foscue family dwelling. Archaeological research revealed that the house was likely on the Vault Field land before the Foscue family owned it, but that it continued to be utilized during their occupation of the land. It was concluded that the structure was most likely used as a residence by various members of the Foscue family. ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT FOSCUE PLANTATION: IDENTIFYING THE STRUCTURE IN THE VAULT FIELD A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Anthropology East Carolina University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Anthropology by Amanda Keeny Stamper December 2014 © Amanda Keeny Stamper, 2014 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT FOSCUE PLANTATION: IDENTIFYING THE STRUCTURE IN THE VAULT FIELD by Amanda Keeny Stamper APPROVED BY: DIRECTOR OF THESIS _________________________________________________________ Dr. Charles R. Ewen COMMITTEE MEMBER ________________________________________________________ Dr. Tony Boudreaux COMMITTEE MEMBER ________________________________________________________ Dr. I. Randolph Daniel, Jr. COMMITTEE MEMBER ________________________________________________________ Dr. Wade Dudley CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY _________________________________________________________ Dr. I. Randolph Daniel, Jr. DEAN OF GRADUATE STUDIES ________________________________________________ Dr. Paul Gemperline ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Charles R. Ewen, for his continuous support, not only during the thesis writing process, but also throughout my entire collegiate experience at ECU. I am thankful for all of the encouragement and opportunities he provided, without which I would likely not be an archaeologist today. I am also grateful to my other thesis committee members, Dr. Tony Boudreaux, Dr. I. Randolph Daniel, Jr., and Dr. Wade Dudley, for their patience, support, and feedback during the thesis-writing process. I would like to thank Mr. Jim Foscue and the Foscue Plantation board of directors for opening up the plantation to archaeological investigations, and for their sincere commitment to preserving the Foscue family’s history. I am also grateful to the many Craven Community College students and ECU students involved in the excavations at the Vault Field, especially Aimee Bouzigard and Courtney Page, who served as my co-directors in 2011 and 2012. Without their help, this thesis project would not have been possible. I would also like to thank my historical archaeology cohort, Courtney Page, Valerie Robbins, and Jennifer Gabriel, for allowing me to discuss my ideas with them and for helping with excavations. A special thanks to Courtney Page whose continuing friendship and support was one of the best results of my graduate experience. I would especially like to thank my parents for making my transition to archaeology possible, and without whose endless love and support I would not be who I am today. Finally, I would like to thank my husband for making me laugh when the stress was overwhelming, encouraging me when I was discouraged, and just loving me through it all. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................3 Hypothesis............................................................................................................................3 Contents ...............................................................................................................................4 CHAPTER TWO: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................5 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................5 Eastern North Carolina through the Antebellum Period ......................................................5 Jones County ......................................................................................................................11 Foscue Plantation ...............................................................................................................13 Antebellum Plantations in Eastern North Carolina ............................................................19 Plantation Crops ....................................................................................................22 Plantation Organization and Management ...........................................................25 Family Life of the Planter Class ............................................................................32 Slave Life ................................................................................................................42 Planter-Slave Relations .........................................................................................50 CHAPTER THREE: PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGY ............................................................54 Introduction ........................................................................................................................54 2005 Field School Excavations ..........................................................................................54 2006 School Excavations ...................................................................................................57 2007 School Excavations ...................................................................................................58 2008 School Excavations ...................................................................................................59 2009 School Excavations ...................................................................................................65 2010 School Excavations ...................................................................................................67 2010 Burial Vault Excavations ..........................................................................................70 CHAPTER FOUR: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..........................................................73 Introduction ........................................................................................................................73 Plantation Archaeology ......................................................................................................74 Archaeological Studies of Plantations in Eastern North Carolina .....................................77 Somerset Place Plantation .....................................................................................78 Hope Plantation .....................................................................................................82 Artifact Patterns and Formulas ..........................................................................................87 The Carolina Artifact Pattern ................................................................................88 The Brunswick Pattern of Refuse Disposal ............................................................91 Mean Ceramic Date Formula ................................................................................92 CHAPTER FIVE: METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................94 Introduction ........................................................................................................................94 Historical Methods .............................................................................................................94 Archaeological Methods ....................................................................................................95 CHAPTER SIX: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................102 Introduction ......................................................................................................................102