Archaeological Investigations of an Early American Farmstead: The Wiley Smith Site (31MG2098)

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dc.access.optionOpen Access
dc.contributor.advisorEwen, Charles R., 1956-
dc.contributor.authorSchmitz, Kelsey A
dc.contributor.departmentAnthropology
dc.date.accessioned2019-08-21T18:52:22Z
dc.date.available2019-08-21T18:52:22Z
dc.date.created2019-08
dc.date.issued2019-07-02
dc.date.submittedAugust 2019
dc.date.updated2019-08-19T17:40:50Z
dc.degree.departmentAnthropology
dc.degree.disciplineMA-Anthropology
dc.degree.grantorEast Carolina University
dc.degree.levelMasters
dc.degree.nameM.A.
dc.description.abstractWhile farmsteads are relatively abundant in the historic and archaeological record, there are many issues with the current practices used to identify, evaluate, record, and study them. However, farmsteads represent a way of life that was once customary to much of the American population, and therefore deserve adequate archaeological attention. This thesis studied a late colonial/early federal period farmstead located in the Uwharrie National Forest in Montgomery County, North Carolina, that was once owned by the sheriff of Montgomery County, Wiley Smith. This project utilized artifact analyses, historical documentation, and comparative analyses to test whether or not this farmstead operated as a truly subsistence-based unit, or whether the Smith household was instead a part of the ever-growing consumerist population of the early nineteenth century. High frequencies of decorated, mass-produced historic ceramics serve as indication that the Smith household had moved well-beyond a colloquial, subsistence lifestyle and was actively participating in the emerging consumerist and commercialist American that had begun to dominate American society. Finally, a comparative analysis of multiple historical homesteads/farmsteads within the Uwharrie National Forest identify five patterned traits. These traits relate to the landscape, geography and topography, and artifacts from farmsteads in this region, and provide the groundwork for additional, broader comparative research to establish a North Carolina Piedmont farmstead pattern.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/7448
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherEast Carolina University
dc.subjectHistorical archaeology
dc.subjecthomestead
dc.subjectarchaeology
dc.subject.lcshFarm life--North Carolina--Montgomery County--History--19th century
dc.subject.lcshFarms--North Carolina--Uwharrie National Forest--History--19th century
dc.subject.lcshSocial history--19th century
dc.titleArchaeological Investigations of an Early American Farmstead: The Wiley Smith Site (31MG2098)
dc.typeMaster's Thesis
dc.type.materialtext

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