Montpelier begins slave site excavation
At James Madison’s house, Montpelier, archaeologists are unearthing the undisturbed remains of slave dwellings.
The actual dwellings of house, stable, garden and field slaves were abandoned abruptly in about 1840. But the sites on which they had stood were never dug up again, leaving a trove for researchers.
Researchers are in the first year of a three-year program backed by a $250,000 We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The digging has begun with stable and garden slave quarters, which were closer to the main house than the quarters of field slaves, but not as close as those of house slaves.
In an article this year in the Journal of Archaeological Research he reported that researchers are approaching the question of African experiences outside of Africa in a variety of ways and from a variety of angles....
Read entire article at Daily Progress
The actual dwellings of house, stable, garden and field slaves were abandoned abruptly in about 1840. But the sites on which they had stood were never dug up again, leaving a trove for researchers.
Researchers are in the first year of a three-year program backed by a $250,000 We the People grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The digging has begun with stable and garden slave quarters, which were closer to the main house than the quarters of field slaves, but not as close as those of house slaves.
In an article this year in the Journal of Archaeological Research he reported that researchers are approaching the question of African experiences outside of Africa in a variety of ways and from a variety of angles....