With apologies for cross postings - We'd like to let you know about the new
Levi Jordan Plantation Web site, http://www.webarchaeology.com. Although
this web site has a "com" address, it is NOT a commercial site.
 
The Levi Jordan Plantation web site focuses on an archaeological and
historical site in Brazoria, Texas. Research at the site has been underway
for some 14 years, under the direction of Kenneth L. Brown at the University
of Houston. The plantation was built in 1848 by Levi Jordan, his family, and
the people who worked for them as slaves and, later, as tenant farmers and
sharecroppers.
 
This web site is the result of a collaboration between historical
archaeologists, African American descendants and European American
descendants (and other community members) to create an ongoing conversation
to discuss the diverse archaeologies and histories of this plantation. The
major focus of the site is to discuss how people (many of whom were born in
Africa) used African beliefs and ways of using material culture to deal with
the oppression of slavery and its aftermath, tenancy. There is also much
about how the descendants of the people who lived on this site continue to
interact and work with each other to present the histories of their
ancestors.
 
It is also a web site that is designed to help archaeologists, historians
and community members learn more about how people communicate about
archaeology and history on the Internet. We hope that other archaeologists
and teachers will participate in our research in various ways - with the
questionnaire, discussion groups and feedback forms as well as by direct
communication with us.  If you are a teacher or college instructor we would
welcome the opportunity to expand this "virtual conversation" by developing
collaborative online projects with you and your students. Please send me an
off-list message if you'd like to pursue that idea.
 
Thanks very much,
 
Carol McDavid
University of Cambridge Department of Archaeology
and
Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society
[log in to unmask]
http://www.webarchaeology.com
 
Address in UK:
Clare Hall
Cambridge CB3 9AL
+44 (0)1223 328832
 
Address in US:
1406 Sul Ross
Houston, TX 77006
+001 (713) 523-2649
 
cc:  Kenneth L. Brown, Ph.D., University of Houston and Archaeological
Director, Levi Jordan Plantation Historical Society