Federal Archeology Report Volume 7, No. 1 Spring 1994 ISSN 1057-1582 The Hidden Heritage of Africa's Descendants OR MANY YEARS, regardless of the culture studied, archeolo- Fgists tended to focus on those in power. Buildings, roads, and monu­ ments were seen as evidence of the so­ cial and political elite, not as the imprint of those who actually made them. Over the past two decades, a sea change in this view—abetted by links with other disciplines—has inspired a new look at America's peoples of African descent. Con­ sequently, researchers of all kinds are con­ fronting the constraints of the written record. As Leland Ferguson says in Un­ common Ground: Archeology and Early African America, "Unfortunately we can­ not look directly at early African American communities. Historical documents help, but are heavily skewed toward the white Children work a cotton field with overseers at the ends of the rows. From Beneath These Wa­ side of plantation life. The archeological re­ ters: Archeological and Historical Studies of 11,500 Years Along the Savannah River. cord is more democratic." The new perspective, which weds ar­ The change has spawned other con­ even in the post-Civil War era, Afri­ cheology with archival research and nections as well. American archeolo­ can Americans have left a fleeting and oral history, is bringing together gists are beginning to work with peers fragile image of their presence on the archeologists, related professionals, in Africa to expand the limits of look­ landscape. and the public itself in a quest for cul­ ing at evidence cut off from its root. Ultimately, the new approach con­ tural identity that binds the past with Archeologist Pat Garrow, for exam­ fronts questions that transcend the con­ the present and future. In his article, ple, examines the vanishing culture of cerns of any one group. What is Warren Barbour shows the process Africans in the Revolutionary War sacred? Who defines it? Do the re­ from the inside, viewing the excava­ era. Many are calling for more study mains of past cultures merit protection tion of Manhattan's 18th century Afri­ of these trans-Atlantic ties. by law? Which ones? The issues are can burial ground from his perspective Especially given the sparse archeo­ universal, whether one's ancestry is as an African American archeologist. logical record. With few possessions, Asian, European, or African. U.S. Department of the Interior * National Park Service * Cultural Resources Departmental Consulting Archeologist E_ FEDERAL ARCHEOLOGY REFfJHT SPHING 1994 FORUM More Than Cops and Robbers Francis P. McManamon Departmental Consulting Archeologist Chief, Archeological Assistance National Park Service recent controversy has been Since the beginning of the 20th cen­ public agencies, museums, or aca­ Aswirling around a Federal tury, archeological sites on Federal demic institutions. In fact, these ac­ "sting" of artifact looters in the and tribal land have been protected tivities are widely seen as essential to Southwest (see the September/Octo­ for the scientific and educational the long-term protection and preser­ ber 1993 Archaeology and the letters benefit of all Americans. Recent vation of sites. to the editor in the January/February years also have seen the recognition 1994 issue). Some criticize under­ of some sites as the final resting ne of the specific challenges cover operations like this one as en­ place of Native Americans and oth­ Ofacing professional archeolo­ trapment by overzealous law ers. As burial places, protecting these gists these days is developing programs officers. The officials in this case are places from looters takes on addi­ that provide opportunities for people quite capable of justifying their ac­ tional importance. who have more than a casual interest tions; that is not my intent here. Public agencies employ a wide reper­ in archeology, but do not wish to pur­ Rather, I want to focus on the fact toire of tools to protect these sites. sue a career in it. Such programs, by that such activities are only one of Law enforcement officers from the Na­ offering opportunities to participate in many means for protecting our ar­ tional Park Service, Bureau of Land legitimate, sound archeological activi­ cheological heritage. Management, Forest Service, Fish and ties, are another means of accomplish­ Enforcement of the criminal and Wildlife Service, Indian tribes, and ing protection and preservation goals. civil penalty sections of the Archae­ state and local governments patrol Several public agencies and half a ological Resources Protection Act is these properties and promote their dozen nationally known educational or essential to save our heritage from preservation through interpretation pro­ research organizations now provide op­ wanton destruction. Some people, for­ grams, signs, and publications. Agen­ portunities for members of the general tunately only a small number overall, cies remind visitors of the legal public to take part in careful, profes­ consider archeological sites to be protection afforded the sites, encourag­ sionally supervised excavations. In­ places from which they should be al­ ing them to tread lightly and to report creasingly, programs supported by lowed to extract artifacts for profit or any looting and vandalism. U.S. attor­ local and regional governments em­ personal satisfaction. While a very neys and Federal judges also work for ploy interested community members small percentage of these artifacts may protection when they prosecute offend­ as a motivated volunteer force to ac­ have commercial value, the vast major­ ers and hand down judgements. complish resource interpretation, pro­ ity do not. The greater value of a site is tection, and preservation. Information the information it holds. That informa­ hese examples are only the about these activities is summarized in tion can be extracted only through Tmost visible means of getting the brochure Participate in Archeol­ careful, often painstaking, scientific ex­ the protection message across. Be­ ogy, available from a number of public cavation, recording, and analysis. hind the scenes, agencies, officials, agencies. and preservation organizations em­ It is unfair and misleading to charac­ t is clear that the vast majority of ploy a range of interpretive pro­ terize the enforcement of laws that pro­ f Americans are law-abiding when it grams and media. Recent surveys by tect archeological sites as "cops and comes to archeological resource pro­ the National Park Service identified robbers." In fact, agency efforts are tection law, as they are with all other over 2,000 of these initiatives, from broad and deep, involving a great deal laws. Once the public is made aware public lectures to brochures to class­ of public education and participation— that it is illegal to disturb or collect ma­ room exercises. For archeologists, coupled with an array of law enforce­ terial from sites on public land, they public outreach has come to the ment initiatives—to protect America's are more than willing to conform. fore, whether they are employed by archeological heritage. SPRING 1994 FEDERAL AHCHEDLDGY REPORT _s The Remains of a Vanished Culture PATRICK H. GARROW ' HE MOST COMPLETE and unbi­ an excellent summary of research on Thereafter the lives of the residents ased archive of African Ameri­ ethnicity in archeology. proved to be very different. Prior to Tcan history lies in the ground. Ferguson's article came when his­ the war, they made most of their own Through sites of all periods and types, torical archeologists were beginning pottery, which was identical to Afri­ this evidence in many cases is the only to focus on the South Carolina coast can American ware found in many direct historical statement African as a result of construction projects parts of the Caribbean from the same Americans have left for posterity. mandating archeological investiga­ time period. That pottery, called Almost without exception, the writ­ tions. I was directing the largest of "colonoware," appeared to be a direct ten record of the pre-Civil War period these projects, with Thomas R. Whea- link with West Africa, as evidenced was not compiled by African Ameri­ ton as field director and Amy Friedlan- by both its form and method of manu­ cans. This is particularly true in the der as historian, for a consulting firm facture. It was used for cooking as South, where prior to the Civil War contracted by the National Park Serv­ well as for serving food. some states even made it illegal to ice. The purpose of the investigation teach African Americans to read and was to excavate slave quarters at­ HE YAUGHAN and Curriboo write. Such institutionalized illiteracy tached to Yaughan and Curriboo plan­ excavations offered the first means that prior to 1865 their history tations, which faced destruction from Tirrefutable proof that survives mainly through oral accounts. the building of the planned Cooper colonoware was actually made by African American archeology in the River Rediversion Canal. The planta­ African American slaves. The evi­ United States dates to at least the early tions contained three slave quarters oc­ dence also documented the demise 1940s, when Adelaide K. and Ripley cupied from approximately 1740 to of its manufacture and use as planta­ P. Bullen excavated the Black Lucy's 1826, sites that proved critical to un­ tion residents began to adopt iron Garden site in Andover, MA, occu­ derstanding the early history and cul­ cooking pots and English-made ce­ pied from 1815 to 1845. Encountered tural change endured by enslaved ramics after the war. The slaves also by accident, it remained one of the African Americans in coastal South began to use pottery made by Native very few African American sites stud­ Carolina. Americans, notably Catawbas. Both ied by archeologists until the 1970s. Yaughan and Curriboo, both located types of colonoware were found in The modern study of African Ameri­ in the same area in Berkeley County, the later slave quarters.