As we toil away on our slave quarter site here at Poplar Forest,
we've come up with the inevitable questions about artifact dating time lag
on slave sites.  Our ceramic and nail assemblages strongly suggest a late
18th-early 19th century date for the site, and our current speculation is
leaning towards c.1790-c.1810 (maybe I should replace "speculation" with
"theory"!).
        We did, however, find an 1810 coin in plowzone, which has raised
some questions about the occupation termination date.  Now, one artifact
in plowzone won't necessarily change our perception of the site, but we
were wondering if anyone knew a way to distinguish between assemblages
terminating in 1810 from those terminating in 1815.  I realise that this
is post is probably going to garner answers in the negative, but it can't
hurt to ask.
Ta,
Alasdair M. Brooks
Archaeology Lab Supervisor
Jefferson's Poplar Forest
 
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