Date of Award

Spring 5-8-2021

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Historic Preservation

Department Chair or Program Director

Spencer, Michael

First Advisor

McMillan, Lauren

Major or Concentration

Historic Preservation

Abstract

The Oval Site (44WM80) is located on the grounds of Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia and was excavated by the Department of and Center for Historic Preservation at Mary Washington College/the University of Mary Washington between 2001- 2014. The Oval Site was one component of a larger eighteenth-century plantation and is comprised of four structures. These buildings are currently interpreted as an overseer’s house, a barn, a kitchen, and an unidentified building. The kitchen had also served as a quarter for the enslaved Africans and/or African Americans that worked on this site. Using methods developed in landscape archaeology studies, I will be examining the relationship between these buildings and by extension the relationship the inhabitants had with one another through an analysis of refuse disposal patterns, as shown through artifact distribution analyses. This research can aid in highlighting and expanding the narrative of historically excluded and/or underrepresented groups in studies focused on 18th century Virginia.

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