A Comparative Archaeological Study of Colonial Chesapeake Culture (www.chesapeakearchaeology.org)

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• About the Project
• Site Summaries
  • Sandys
  • Carter’s Grove CG8
  • Reverend Buck
  • Rich Neck Plantation
  • Jordan’s Journey
  • Old Chapel Field
  • Clifts Plantation
  • Camden
  • Posey
  • Mattapany
  • Compton
  • Patuxent Point
  • King’s Reach
  • Chaney’s Hills
  • Chalkley
  • Burle's Town Land
  • Homewood's Lot
  • Bennett’s Point
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On Living and Dying in the Colonial Chesapeake

by Catherine L. Alston

Paper Presented at the 2005 Annual meeting of the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

A group of scholars interested in the daily lives and social and cultural relationships of the inhabitants of the Colonial Chesapeake developed the project A Comparative Archaeological Study of Colonial Chesapeake Culture, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. Beginning in the fall of 2003 we began collecting information from 18 rural 17th to 18th century archaeological sites in Maryland and Virginia into digital form. Through analysis of material culture, particularly its spatial organization, and the architectural layout of the sites, we are studying patterns to discern the ways in which the people living at and visiting these sites created social boundaries and forged new identities in a radically new natural and cultural environment. These social boundaries grew out of existing cultural practices now shaped by this new environment in an attempt to define the appropriate behavior of and between planters and laborers, men and women, and individuals of different social, economic, and ethnic groups.

Human burials were associated with eight of the 18 sites included in this project, and remains were recovered from six. Analysis of human remains can help us ‘bring to life’ the individuals of the past as perhaps no other archaeological material can. The skeletal and dental information is incredibly powerful because through it we can gain a real sense of the demography, health and diet, of a population and the resulting social implications. In this presentation I will discuss and compare the human remains and mortuary patterns uncovered at these sites in hope that we might have a better understanding of the individuals’ lives and their colonial experiences.

Sites/Population

Before I continue I should stress two points. First, that the population in this presentation is, of course, a biased sample of Chesapeake colonial society. We have to keep in mind while discussing the statistical patterns of age, sex, ethnicity, and health of the population that we are limited to the individuals that died and were buried at each site. Secondly, the information presented today is largely derived from published reports by the archaeologists and physical anthropologists working on each site.

The Jordan’s Journey site was a community established by Samuel Jordan around 1620. Archaeologists uncovered a fortified compound with 11 structures and 24 graves scattered along the northern and western walls of a palisade. Two individuals were buried in one grave, bringing the total to 25 individuals. The Reverend Richard Buck site, named after the property’s first owner, was occupied from c. 1630 to c. 1650 by a series of individuals, many of them descendents of Buck. Archaeologists excavated nine graves and recovered the remains of five individuals. Of the four graves devoid of skeletal or dental material, coffin nails were found in three. Based on the size of these graves, the interred individual had been children at the time of death.

In 1658 Captain John Obder owned and probably occupied the land that the Patuxent Point site is located on, and after his departure to the Eastern Shore, tenants took up residence at the site. Archaeologists uncovered 18 graves approximately 80 feet west of the primary dwelling. Two individuals, a woman and fetus or newborn, were buried in one grave bringing the total number of individuals to 19. The Rich Neck plantation was occupied by a series of wealthy and prominent owners; the remains of one individual were found between two quarters.

Nathanial Pope first patented the land on which the Clifts site is located in 1651, and the property stayed within the Pope family until it was sold to Thomas Lee in 1716. There is no documentary evidence that individuals of either family resided at the Clifts; presumably tenants occupied the site. Excavations revealed a primary dwelling surrounded by a palisade, quarter/kitchen, a number of outbuildings, and a series of fence lines; two burial groups were located east of the dwellings. Archaeologists uncovered 16 individuals and one small empty grave, were presumably an infant had been buried. At the Bennett’s Point site, which was owned and occupied by the very wealthy Richard Bennett, archaeologists located but did not excavate a cemetery south of the dwelling. During excavation of a feature that was interpreted to be a refuse pit archaeologists uncovered the remains of two individuals.

Doug Owsley analyzed the individuals recovered from Jordan’s Journey, Buck, Rich Neck, and Bennett’s Point. The remains from Patuxent Point were identified by Douglas Ubelaker, and J. Lawrence Angel studied the individuals excavated at The Clifts. I had the opportunity to revisit the Patuxent Point and Clifts remains.

Total Demography

The conventional model for colonial society has always suggested a decisively biased sex ratio favoring male immigrants to females. Yet if we compare the populations of the four sites with multiple burials we see that the majority of the communities did not exhibit a clear biased sex ratio. The exception is at the Clifts site, where of the 11 males only three adults were identified as Europeans. If grouped together, the adult populace from these four sites comprise of 27 males and 21 females, a sample population with a more balanced sex ratio than that found in some documents. When comparing the average age at death by sex between the four sites, the evidence suggests that during the 17th and 18th century life expectancy increased for both sexes (males from 25 to 29, females from 18.5 to 38). Also it appears that the average age of death for females is younger than that of their male counterparts in the 17th century, but by the 18th century the reverse occurs.

Diet/Health

Overall the total population was in relatively good health. One of the most common skeletal pathologies was arthritic lesions, and the frequency of individuals with osteoarthritis increased over time as the population started to live longer. As the rate of arthritis went up, so too did the occurrence of Schmorl’s nodes. Schmorl’s nodes develop as a result of trauma and inflammation of the vertebral disc, and the men were more likely to exhibit this pathology, suggesting they had tasks that would increase their susceptibility to back trauma, such as heavy lifting.

The second most common pathology was dental caries or cavities, and no group was immune. Males, females, adults, children, Europeans, and Africans all exhibited carious lesions. The only apparent pattern is that the rate of individuals with cavities increases over time. This might suggest that access to foods that raises ones risk to caries, such as sugar, increased not with economic status, but through time. At Clifts, which has the highest percentage of individuals with carious lesions, those of the southern group, mostly Africans, were just as likely to have cavities as the Europeans of the northern group. This further suggests that we can not equate carious lesions with wealth, particularly after the 17th century.

While the percentage of individuals having cavities increases over time the proportion with enamel hypoplasias decreases. Enamel hypoplasias are lines or pits on the teeth produced when deposition of the enamel was arrested during development. This is understood to be caused by extreme stress, such as malnutrition or disease, during childhood. Therefore, the apparent decrease in the frequency of enamel hypoplasias over time suggests an improvement in the diet and health of children over time.

The pathologies just described were the most prevalent, but certainly not the only occurrences. A few had cribra orbitalia, which results from anemia such as iron deficiency in ones diet. Some of the population expressed bone infections such as osteomyelitis and periostitis, which often occurs from open wounds. In each case the results of the infection had nearly completely healed prior to death.

Society

For me, the most interesting aspect of studying human burials is the evidence of social rules that they reveal. By studying the way in which people were buried, we can learn a great deal about colonial culture and how individuals were viewed by their society.

Burial Spatiality

The most obvious pattern in this sample is the spatial separation of the planter and labor classes. At Patuxent Point there are two distinct burial groups. In Group B there are four individuals: a young adult European male and female, a sub-adult of unknown sex or ethnicity, and an adolescent male of African ancestry. While we can’t say with any real certainty that the two European adults or the sub-adult of unknown ethnicity were of the laborer class, we can assume that the African individual was either a servant or slave, and his close proximity to the other three suggests some level of equality in life and death. The African was buried with clothing, indicated by a button found in his pelvic area, and a white clay tobacco pipe in his hands. As reported by King and Ubelaker (1996), interment with a tobacco pipe was not an uncommon occurrence in colonial burials of Africans, which possibly suggests there were other Africans in the Patuxent Point household who would know to follow this practice.

There are two distinct burial groups at Clifts as well. Two adult European males, one adult European female, and two children are buried in the North group, while eight adult males of African or probable African ethnicity, two adult African females, and two sub-adults of presumed African ancestry, along with one adult European male were interred in the South group. Auferheide and colleagues (1981) examined the lead continent of the individuals in the two groups. What they found was that those buried in the southern group had less exposure to lead than those of the northern group (South 8-96ppm, north 128-258 ppm). Furthermore, the one adult European in the South group exhibited the same low lead content as his African counterparts, suggesting that he lived a similar lifestyle as his fellow laborers, and that society segregated him by class, not ethnicity, in life and in death. One individual, identified as a young adult African female had a significantly higher lead content than the others in the south group; suggesting that she had a greater access to lead in her diet, possibly as a household servant. Similar to Patuxent point, the only grave goods recovered at Clifts were buttons associated with three adult African males, again suggesting they were buried with clothing.

The other interesting burial isolation again occurred at Patuxent Point. Here the individual recovered from Grave 15 was buried well outside Group A or B. During the excavation archaeologists uncovered the remains of a fetus or newborn in the pelvic area of the adult European female. We can presume that mother and child died either before, during, or shortly after childbirth. There was an old Christian ceremony known as ‘churching’. The tradition seems to have varied between societies, but essentially once a woman discovered she was pregnant she was spiritually separated from her Christian ‘community’ and her access to the Church could be limited. After a certain number of days following birth, the churching ceremony essentially re-introduced her into the Christian community. If this tradition was followed by the Patuxent Point household, and the woman of Grave 15 and her child did not survive long enough to go through the ceremony, this possibly explains why they were buried apart from the rest of the interments. One other, an adult European male, was located between the two main burial groups. There was no evidence to suggest why this individual was isolated.

Another curious feature concerning the internment of individuals at Patuxent Point was the number of times the colonists cut into an old grave to bury another individual. Grave 4 cuts into Grave 5, Grave 9 into Grave 11, and Grave 10 intrudes both Grave 12 and 11. Following the placement of the individual in Grave 10, the colonial excavators carefully placed the disturbed remains of Grave 11 and 12 at the head of the individual in Grave 10. At Clifts, however, once the gravediggers reached an old burial they appear to have filled in the new shaft and selected another area. This occurred twice at Clifts.

There is no clear separation at Buck or Jordan’s Journey. Jordan’s Journey was a community and the seemingly random scatter of burials might be indicative of family groupings as well as socioeconomic status. The sole individual recovered from Rich Neck was buried between two quarters and facing east. We know that the first three owners of Rich Neck were buried on the plantation; however to my knowledge archaeologists did not find their graves. Even though the soil is too acidic for the preservation of human remains, the archaeologists should have seen grave stains if they came across a burial. Why this is the only individual found at the site and why she is apparently buried immediately outside a quarter are questions that we might never know the answer to. The two individuals recovered at Bennett’s Point were excavated from Pit A, which was interpreted as a trash pit. In this case the formation of the pit and its relationship to the individuals is difficult to determine because the principal investigator passed away before writing the site report and the only information available is from field notes. It is unclear if the remains intruded into Pit A, if the Pit cuts into an earlier burial, or if the individuals were intentionally interred into the refuse pit. The older adult was wrapped in a shroud, suggesting someone took time to prepare the body for burial.

Orientation

I was interested to find that quite a few individuals were buried facing west, considering this would have been an egregious insult to a Christian and largely reserved for witches, murders, suicide victims, criminals, and generally any one who was considered not Christian. The reports did not identify the head orientation of the individuals at Jordan’s Journey, but only a third were buried on the east west axis while the others were on a north south or southwest to northeast axis. At Buck the three children and two adult men were buried facing east; however, both women were facing west, and a folded six pence coin was recovered around the left arm of one woman. At Patuxent Point, seven individuals were buried facing west. Four were sub-adults between the ages of 5 and 13, two were adult European males (Grave 14 and 19), and one was the woman in Grave 15. It is plausible that the four sub-adults were interred facing west because of their young age, which might have precluded them from being official members of the church. However there are two other children at Patuxent Point one 9 months the other nearly two years old and they were buried facing east. At The Clifts only one individual, (Grave 330) an adult African male, was buried facing west.

Burial Styles

With concerns to burial styles, overall it appears that coffin usage increased overtime, possibly suggesting an increase in access to coffin material overtime and/or society’s preference for coffin burials. At Jordan’s Journey only three individuals were buried in coffins: two adult males and one adult female. Hinges possibly from a document box were recovered from the grave of one of the males, a European between 35 and 39 years. The excavators hypothesize that this individual might have been Samuel Jordan, the founder of the community at Jordan’s Journey.

At the Buck site the only individuals buried in coffins were the children. No more than two individuals (grave 16 and 19) were buried without a coffin or shroud at Patuxent Point. There seems to be no pattern to coffin usage at Patuxent Point. Some of the individuals interred facing west were placed in coffins, as were some of the children and adults. However, there was no evidence of coffin usage with the individuals in Group B. While at Clifts the entire population, excluding the presumed infant, had been buried in coffins; there was no distinction between the planter and laborer groups.

The interment of the children varies both within and between the sites. Some young children were buried in coffins and wrapped in a shroud, while others had just coffin or shroud, or neither.
And finally, it is clear that everyone was smoking tobacco pipes, men, women, children, adults, rich, poor, African and European. At every site there was evidence of tobacco pipe wear on the teeth. Clearly it was socially acceptable for any and all individuals to smoke, regardless of age, sex, class or ethnicity. Not surprising given the great number of tobacco pipes found on colonial sites.

Conclusions

Now, I realize that I’ve made some rather broad and generalized statements, but unfortunately there’s just not enough time to give specific details on the human remains and the sites they were buried at in this presentation. Yet by reviewing the human remains from these various sites, representing some one hundred years of occupation in the Chesapeake, we are able to gain a greater understanding of the daily lives and intercultural relationships of the earliest immigrants to the Chesapeake community. A community that, based on this sample, consisted of nearly as many females as males; and though life expectancy was short the average age at death rose for both sexes throughout the century. In this community the distinct separation of the classes was impressed on their social psyche, and one’s social class seemingly took precedent over one’s ethnicity. Yet while the remains of the servant and slaves in the southern group at Clifts suggested an isolated life from those in the northern group, such as their burial separation and low lead content, all were buried in coffins and were just as likely to have cavities.

Clearly further research on these and other colonial individuals would strengthen our understanding of their daily lives, and it is my understanding that such a project is underway and headed by Doug Owsley. It will be interesting to see further comparisons and how they relate to the social and cultural practices in the Colonial Chesapeake.

References

Aufderheide, A.C., F.D. Neiman, L.E. Wittmers, and G. Rapp

1981   Lead in bone II. Skeletal lead content as an indicator of lifetime lead ingestion and the social correlates in an archaeological population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 55:285-291.

King, Julia A. and Douglas H. Ubelaker (eds.)

1996   Living and Dying on the 17th Century Patuxent Frontier. The Maryland Historical Trust Press, Crownsville, Maryland.

Mallios, Seth

1999   Archaeological Excavations at 44JC568, The Reverend Richard Buck Site (site report).

McFaden, Philip Levy, David Muraca, and Jennifer Jones

1999   Interim Report: The Archaeology of Rich Neck Plantation. VDHR File Number 97-1411-F.

Mouer L.D., D.C. McLearn, R.T. Kiser, C.P. Egghart, B.J. Binns, and D.T. Magoon

1992   Jordan’s Journey A Preliminary Report on Archaeology at Site 44Pg302 Prince George County, Virginia, 1990-1991 (site report).

Neiman, Fraser D.

1980   Field Archaeology of The Clifts Plantation Site, Westmoreland County, Virginia (site report).

Owsley D.W, and B.E. Compton

n.d.   An Osteological Investigation of Human Remains from “Jordan’s Journey” (Site 44PG302), a 17th Century Fortified Settlement in Prince George County, Virginia.