Hi John:
Regarding your question about measuring wealth for archaeological
interpretation, in my dissertation on the Gibbs farmstead (E. Tennessee
near Knoxville) I used landholdings, agricultural production, and wealth
held at death in probate inventories to reconstruct wealth trends in the
surrounding study community. I then compared my specific study
household to reconstructed community data sets. This exercise indicated
the study household was in the middle compared to their neighbors.
The above methods were replicated in a subsequent study of Bush Hill
plantation in Aiken, SC. We used landholdings, slaveholdings, crop
production, livestock, and wealth held at death in probate inventories
to quantitatively reconstruct community level economic trends and then
compared our study household (an extended planter family) to the
community data sets. The results indicated the Bush family was an
extreme economic outlier compared to the surrounding community, but they
were noticeably frugal regarding discarded material culture recovered
archaeologically.
The results in both studies suggest that for rural households, the means
of production (land, etc.) and the built environment (the house lot,
dwelling size/style) are relatively reliable indicators of socioeconomic
class. If you are looking at Quakers that are farmers, then the above
methods might be applicable for grounding your study subjects in a
quantitative economic context.
Conversely, the results of the above rural studies suggest that most
archaeologically recovered items, such as ceramics, are not so reliable
indicators of wealth. In most inventories, kitchen and other
consumption items usually comprise only 1 to 2% (or less) of the total
enumerated probate value. Consequently, for sites with adequate
historical records, it is sometimes more productive to start with
documents and craft quantitative household/community context and then
project the archaeology against this documentary baseline, rather than
using the archaeology as a baseline, which can be problematic.
Here are refs for the Gibbs farmstead and Bush Hill plantation. The
Bush report is free on CD from the SCIAA contact listed below.
Hope this helps,
Mark
Groover, Mark D.
2003 An Archaeological Study of Rural Capitalism and Material Life:
The Gibbs Farmstead in Southern Appalachia, 1790-1920. Academic
Press/Plenum Publishers, New York.
1988 The Gibbs Farmstead: An Archaeological Study of Rural Economy
and Material Life in Southern Appalachia, 1790-1920. Doctoral
dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville.
The triple volume excavation monograph Plantations without Pillars:
Archaeology, Wealth, and Material Life at Bush Hill by Melanie Cabak and
Mark Groover is currently available from the University of South
Carolina. Data recovery excavations conducted at Bush Hill near Aiken,
South Carolina uncovered the remains of a planters residence occupied
from circa 1810 to 1920. Printed copies of Volume 1 (Context and
Interpretation) are available for $18.00 including shipping. Volumes 2
and 3 are included with Volume 1 on a CD in pdf format. The CD versions
of the report containing all three volumes are also available for free.
To obtain the report in printed or CD format, contact Gary Coleman,
South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of
South Carolina, Columbia 803-777-8170.
________________________________________
Mark D. Groover
Assistant Professor
Department of Anthropology, BB 305
2000 W. University Avenue
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47306
phone: 765-285-3567
fax:765-285-2163
email: [log in to unmask]
web page: http://mdgroover.iweb.bsu.edu
_____________________________________________
-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John
Chenoweth
Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 9:15 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Help on Quaker Sites and Wealth Measures
I'm looking for help on two questions and I hoped the
world of HistArch might be able to lend a hand.
First, I am looking for ways to measure the wealth of
individuals in the past. I figure comparing tax and
insurance records are starting point, and I have the
ceramics ideas of George Miller to consider, but am
looking for other ideas too.
Second, I am looking for excavated sites associated
with known, active members of the Religious Society of
Friends, i.e. Quakers (primarily 18th century on the
Northeast Corridor of the US, but I'd be interested to
hear about such sites world wide in any period).
Published articles and leads on where I might find
grey literature are both appreciated.
Respond to [log in to unmask], or on list.
Thanks much!
John
----------
John M. Chenoweth
Graduate Student
University of Pennsylvania
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