THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090451
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: JAMESTOWN LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
The site doesn't look impressive - a 50-foot-long, muddy patch in the middle of the woods along the James River. Black plastic sheets, held down by rocks and bags of dirt, cover most of it.
But what lies below may be a major piece in the puzzle of how slaves lived in 18th century Virginia.
Archaeologists believe they have found the remains of 24 slaves who died between 200 and 300 years ago - slaves who labored in tobacco fields near Kingsmill Plantation and were buried in simple wooden coffins along the river bank.
``This is going to be as big a chapter as is ever written in the history of slavery in the Chesapeake region,'' said Nick Luccketti, president of the James River Institute for Archaeology in Williamsburg, which is conducting the dig.
``There are very few accounts of slave life in this period. So little has been written down. Archaeology is the only way we have to understand what their lives were like.''
The graveyard lies next to a series of excavations on a 10-acre site called the Utopia Quarter, part of the Kingsmill on the James housing development. Over the past two years, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of huts and outbuildings dating between 1660 and 1780.
The list of artifacts they have found could fill a book. There are tobacco pipes, animal bones, shoe buckles, hoes, colored beads, pewter spoons, shells indigenous to West Africa, pottery made of local red clay, marbles - even 200-year-old corncobs and peach pits.
``We can finally put flesh and bones on the people who lived in these homes,'' said Garrett Fesler, a senior archaeologist with the James River Institute.
``We can look at rings of enamel on their teeth to see a history of diseases. We can tell if they were malnourished. If they had to work particularly hard, their bones will be worn at certain junctures. We are really going to be able to say something about these slaves.''
The inside of the burial shafts, placed about 150 feet apart, reveal small, dark stains in the soil left behind by the decay of wooden coffins. The nails which once held those coffins together also are visible.
The condition of the remains, which lie below, is unknown. Archaeologists are waiting on a permit from the Virginia Department of Historic Resources to remove the bones, which are in danger of being swept away by river bank erosion.
The excavation should be completed in two to three weeks, Fesler said. Bone fragments will be analyzed by two physical anthropologists from Radford University - and reburied on the Kingsmill property.
``We will take them out, study them and then bury them in a place where they will never be bothered again,'' Fesler said. ``We will do everything we can to preserve them. We can never forget that they are someone's relatives.''
According to local experts on black history, the opportunity to study slave remains is rare.
``How slaves were buried in the 18th century is one of the biggest mysteries of all,'' said Christy Coleman Matthews, director of African-American Interpretive Programs at Colonial Williamsburg.
``We don't know whether there was one-spot burial or if slaves were just placed in the ground somewhere. So few 18th century sites have been found.''
``Graves are difficult to find, since they were often put on marginal grounds and woodlands, not near the main plantation,'' said Ywone Edwards, coordinator of African-American Archaeology at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. ``This would be a major find.''
Kingsmill has been a rich source for archaeologists since the early 1970s, when digs began soon after developer Anheuser-Busch bought the property in 1970.
A number of sites have been excavated since then, including various slave quarters and a two-story, brick plantation house that once served as the seat for Kingsmill Plantation.
Kingsmill was one of the largest tobacco plantations in Virginia in the 18th century. According to Matthews, the plantation could have been home to up to 150 slaves at any given time.
Utopia - named for John Utie, one of the first people to purchase land at Kingsmill - was an outpost for both Kingsmill and another nearby plantation, Littletown, at different times in its history, Fesler said.
Excavations first began at Utopia 20 years ago, when archaeologists found a house and a small outbuilding, as well as a single human grave. The remains were judged to be those of a young black female, age about 25.
After a long pause, work started up again in 1993. Archaeologists have since uncovered another three sites, each with buildings dating from a different time period.
Utopia likely housed white indentured servants in its earliest years and groups of slaves in later years, he said. While numbers are uncertain, a 1751 will shows that 27 slaves were living at Utopia at one point.
There is also evidence that a black overseer may have lived in one of the buildings later in the 18th century. The richer artifacts found in that building points to possible social difference between slaves, Luccketti said.
Most of the artifacts are found in holes dug in the earthen floors of the homes, known as ``root cellars.'' There, slaves stored valuable possessions - such as jewelry and wine bottles - along with the roots of various plants.
Each of the artifacts has a story to tell, Fesler said. A large pewter spoon, for example, may indicate that slaves ladled out stew from a communal pot. Testing the chemicals in soils will reveal whether they cooked indoors or outdoors.
``We're really at the starting line,'' Fesler said. ``These artifacts are telling us a lot. It's up to us to let them speak as loudly as they can to us. We think they're going to be able to tell us some really big things.'' ILLUSTRATION: Associated Press photo
David Givens of the James River Institute for Archaeology digs
through 200- to 300-year-old root cellars for signs of how slaves
lived in the Williamsburg area. The cellars and graves of 24 slaves
are expected to write a new chapter on Colonial living.
by CNB