Georgia excavations yield look at slave life
Slavery left its scars — physical and psychological — on generations of Americans. Now, Georgia archaeologists are discovering that it left indelible marks in the landscape as well.
In scattered excavations, from the Sea Islands to downtown Columbus, new glimpses of African-American culture before the Civil War are emerging. They are fragmented but tangible hints of a lifestyle that, until now, has been only thinly documented.
"Not a lot is known about what it was like to be an African-American before the Civil War because historians either didn't record it or they did it with prejudice," says Joe Joseph, vice president of New South Associates, one of several Atlanta-based firms that do contract archaeology for developers and government agencies.
"By looking at the landscapes, the architecture and the material culture that remains, we are getting a more complete picture of what it was really like," he says. "The emerging picture is one of a culture that had much more depth to it than we used to believe."
Read entire article at Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In scattered excavations, from the Sea Islands to downtown Columbus, new glimpses of African-American culture before the Civil War are emerging. They are fragmented but tangible hints of a lifestyle that, until now, has been only thinly documented.
"Not a lot is known about what it was like to be an African-American before the Civil War because historians either didn't record it or they did it with prejudice," says Joe Joseph, vice president of New South Associates, one of several Atlanta-based firms that do contract archaeology for developers and government agencies.
"By looking at the landscapes, the architecture and the material culture that remains, we are getting a more complete picture of what it was really like," he says. "The emerging picture is one of a culture that had much more depth to it than we used to believe."