March 28, 2024, 10:32:17 am
Welcome,
Guest
. Please
login
or
register
.
1 Hour
1 Day
Forever
Login with username, password and session length
News
: Ice Age blast 'ravaged America'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6676461.stm
Home
Help
Arcade
Gallery
Links
Staff List
Calendar
Login
Register
Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
Atlantis Online
>
Forum
>
Modern Historical Mysteries
>
Modern History
>
Civil Rights
>
Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
Pages: [
1
]
Go Down
« previous
next »
Print
Author
Topic: Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp (Read 125 times)
0 Members and 47 Guests are viewing this topic.
Waldron
Full Member
Posts: 23
Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
«
on:
May 17, 2011, 11:12:39 pm »
Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
It’s the year 1800. You’re a slave in southeast Virginia. You manage to escape. Your freedom is only going to last as long as you can hide. Where do you go?
Report Spam
Logged
Waldron
Full Member
Posts: 23
Re: Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
«
Reply #1
on:
May 17, 2011, 11:13:48 pm »
Lake Drummond at Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. Credit: Rebecca Wynn/USFWS
Would you believe the Great Dismal Swamp? According to Dan Sayers, assistant professor of anthropology and an historical archaeologist at American University, that’s exactly where you could have gone for immediate sanctuary.
“There are interesting parallels. What was once more of a human refuge is now a natural refuge,” said Sayers of the swamp, which officially became the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in the 1970s.
Since 2001, Sayers has been researching and exploring the presence of maroons (African-Americans who permanently escaped enslavement) and other communities in the swamp’s approximately 200 square miles of undeveloped, densely wooded wetlands in southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina.
The current swamp is only 10 percent of the 2,000 square miles it was before the Civil War. To conduct his archaeology research in the swamp, Sayers had to secure a federal permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the government agency that owns the swamp.
Aside from maroons, Sayers says the swamp was also home to Indigenous Americans (Native Americans), enslaved canal labourers (African-Americans who worked for the canal companies—some worked to buy or earn their freedom), free African-Americans, and outcast Europeans, such as criminals.
Uncovering a secret human world
Sayers’ research project, called the Great Dismal Swamp Landscape Study, recently secured a $200,000 We the People Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
It all began when Sayers decided to research the history of the Great Dismal Swamp from the 1600s through 1860 for his doctoral dissertation. From the beginning, Sayers discovered that he had his work cut out for him—practically no field research had been done in the Great Dismal Swamp Refuge. Historic documents only offered hints alluding to the communities.
The dearth of information was so great that Sayers had to design his own landscape models—carefully researched plans archaeologists use to predict where a community might have been located, how big it might have been, and what elements would have been involved, depending on who lived there and when.
“Say I was researching the history of a 1840s Virginia farmhouse,” Sayers posed. ” Based on historic documentation and previous field research of other, similar properties, I would likely be able to tell you where the house was on the land (if no longer standing), where the outhouse, barn, and possibly enslaved people’s quarters would have been in relation to the house without even putting a shovel in the ground.”
To create his models, Sayers examined historic documentation and research about other, similar swamp communities in the Western Hemisphere, including those in Florida, Georgia, and Louisiana.
When they found these communities, they would document the location of settlements, the sizes, shapes, and number of houses and other structures before destroying them
“In other areas, local militias were often hired to capture maroons and destroy their settlements,” Sayers said. “When they found these communities, they would document the location of settlements, the sizes, shapes, and number of houses and other structures before destroying them.”
The other swamps were nowhere near as dense or expansive as the Great Dismal Swamp, which is likely why so little documentation on the Dismal Swamp communities existed. Nobody who would have documented the Dismal Swamp communities had found them. It was truly a great hiding place.
Report Spam
Logged
Waldron
Full Member
Posts: 23
Re: Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
«
Reply #2
on:
May 17, 2011, 11:14:31 pm »
The importance of secrecy and security
For the past three summers, Sayers has taken a group of American University students to sites in the swamp for a field school through which they gain valuable experience in the craft of archaeology, including photography, mapping, soil sampling, and excavation. This summer’s field school begins May 17 and ends July 2.
Students in the 2010 American University Dismal Swamp Field School excavating a probable 18th or 19th century maroon cabin footprint. Image: Dan Sayers, American University
Students in the 2010 American University Dismal Swamp Field School excavating a probable 18th or 19th century maroon cabin footprint. Image: Dan Sayers, American University
Sayers says the items unearthed during the past decade have been mundane, everyday items—such as part of a broken bowl, a gunflint, a stone tool, or bone fragments of a butchered animal—but they help tell the story of the people who lived there and how they interacted with each other and the outside world.
The communities largely formed in three areas: the swamp’s outskirts, the swamp’s secluded interior (away from the canals), or along the canals. Each type of community existed for different reasons.
People in the interior communities wished to be as isolated as possible and would have relied more on items they made by hand. Canal labourers, who lived in the communities along the canals, would have used more mass-produced items as they regularly interacted with the outside world.
Report Spam
Logged
Waldron
Full Member
Posts: 23
Re: Archaeologists unearth the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp
«
Reply #3
on:
May 17, 2011, 11:15:29 pm »
Great Dismal Swamp canal. Image: Ryan Somma, Flickr
Interior communities also would have had more interest in monitoring who joined or left their ranks. “Leaders were very cautious about who came in and who left,” Sayers said. “Their central concern was protecting the community’s secrecy and security.”
Sayers says this summer’s swamp field school site has the markings of a large community and that overall, possibly thousands of people lived in the swamp between the 1600s and 1860.
“Many of these began as communities of Indigenous Americans around the 1600s,” Sayers said. “When maroons started taking refuge in the swamp around the1700s, they began joining existing communities and also likely formed their own.”
According to Sayers, the artefacts indicate that the swamp communities began to dwindle around the 1860s close to the Civil War.
“There were likely some minor skirmishes in the swamp as well as a gradual but strong exodus of maroons over the course of 3 to 4 years to join the fight—obviously for the North,” Sayers said about the war’s impact.
Challenges worth the effort
Swamp life wasn’t easy for the people who sought refuge there and isn’t easy for Sayers and his team. The swamp is called “dismal” for a reason—in the summer, the heat and humidity are oppressive. Stinging, biting insects, snakes, and bears are among the wildlife. Then there are the brambles with “thorns the size of shark’s teeth” cited by Sayers as the reason he wears a full canvas suit in the field every day.
As details unfold, we are increasingly able to show how people have the ability, as individuals and communities, to take control of their lives, even under oppressive conditions
But as dismal as swamp life is, the outcome is worth the effort.
“These groups are very inspirational,” Sayers said. “As details unfold, we are increasingly able to show how people have the ability, as individuals and communities, to take control of their lives, even under oppressive conditions.”
More information
The Great Dismal Swamp:
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatdismalswamp/
http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/05/2011/archaeologists-unearth-the-secret-history-of-the-great-dismal-swamp
Report Spam
Logged
Pages: [
1
]
Go Up
Print
« previous
next »
Jump to:
Please select a destination:
-----------------------------
Atlantis Online - Messages
-----------------------------
=> Messages
=> Administrative Messages
=> Commemorating Dates in History
=> Alerts & Warnings
=> Upcoming Events, Releases & Ads
=> Television: Shows & Events
-----------------------------
the Coffee Shop
-----------------------------
=> the Coffee Shop
=> Atlantis: Polls & News
=> Poltical Alerts
=> Causes & Activism
-----------------------------
Videos, Documentaries & Online Movies
-----------------------------
=> Ancient History & Lost Civilizations
=> Ghosts, UFOs & the Esoteric
=> Music, Entertainment & the Arts
=> Conspiracies & Suppressed Knowledge
=> Documentary & Videos
-----------------------------
Ages of the Earth
-----------------------------
=> The Early Earth, Geology & Fossils
=> Dinosaurs
=> Catastrophes & Mass Extinctions
=> Ice Age
=> Humanity's Origins & Civilization's First Steps
-----------------------------
Mythology & Heroic Sagas of Culture & Myth
-----------------------------
=> Mythology
=> Greek Mythology
=> Arthurian Myth
=> Quest for King Arthur
-----------------------------
Atlantis
-----------------------------
=> Atlantis & the Atlantic Ocean
=> Atlantis: Theories & Speculation
=> Plato's Atlantis
=> the Scientific Atlantis
=> Geology & Atlantis
=> Atlantis & the New Age
=> Atlantis in the Media
-----------------------------
Satellite Discoveries & Alternate Archaeology
-----------------------------
=> Alternate Archaeology
=> Satellite Discoveries & Aerial Archaeology
=> the Bock Saga
-----------------------------
Maps, Explorers & Adventurers
-----------------------------
=> the Oceans
=> Islands
=> the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba & the West Indies
=> Explorers & Adventurers
=> Maps, Cartographers & Cartography
-----------------------------
Egypt & the Pyramids
-----------------------------
=> Gods of Egypt
=> Egypt & the Pyramids
=> the Giza Complex
=> the Dynasties of Egypt
=> Egypt: Latest Discoveries
-----------------------------
the Guanches, Basques, Berbers & Sea People
-----------------------------
=> Guanches, Basques & Berbers
=> Pirates, Phantom Islands & Stories of the Sea
=> the Sea People
-----------------------------
the Ancient World
-----------------------------
=> Neolithic Europe
=> Stonehenge & the Druids
=> the Library of Alexandria, Ancient Historians & Philosophers
=> Ancient Warfare
=> the Spartans
-----------------------------
the Dawn of Civilization
-----------------------------
=> Africa, the Cradle of Life
=> China & the Asian Empires
=> Eastern Mysticism, India, & the Ancient Far East
=> Zoroastrianism, Arabia & the Near East
=> the Sumerians
=> Ancient Asia Minor
=> Hawaii, Australia, Alaska & the Pacific Rim
-----------------------------
Ancient Mediterranean Cultures
-----------------------------
=> Minoan Crete
=> Phoenicians & Carthage
=> Mediterranean Islands
=> Israelities & the Kabbalah
=> Etruscans
=> Ancient Greece
=> Rome: Empire & Republic
-----------------------------
Ancient European Cultures
-----------------------------
=> The Picts & Celts
=> Ireland: History & Myths
=> Balkan History
=> Italy & Magna Graecia
=> the Vikings & Scandinavia
=> Germanic History
-----------------------------
Timelines of Ancient Europe
-----------------------------
=> History of Britain
=> Scotland: in History & Lore
=> Continental Europe: Past & Present
=> the Dark Ages
=> the Medieval World
=> The Renaissance
-----------------------------
the Ancient Americas
-----------------------------
=> the Ancient Americas
=> Peru: Mysteries & Prehistory
=> Mesoamerican & South American Cultures
===> Aztec
===> Incan
===> Olmec
===> Toltec & Teotihuacan
=> Mayan
=> Native American
=> Canada: Past & Present
-----------------------------
The Crusades, Templars & the Holy Grail
-----------------------------
=> the Crusades
=> the Knights Templar
=> The Holy Grail & Christian artifacts
=> The Sacred Feminine, the Cathars & Gnosticism
=> the Da Vinci Code
-----------------------------
Ancient Mysteries
-----------------------------
=> Philosophy
=> Ancient Mysteries
=> Lemuria, Mu & other sunken civilizations
=> Easter Island
=> Oak Island
-----------------------------
Archaeology & Anthropology
-----------------------------
=> Museums & Universities
=> Archaeology
=> Ancient Languages
=> Archaeological News
=> Underwater Archaeology
-----------------------------
Ancient Knowledge, Mysticism & Sacred Beliefs
-----------------------------
=> Ley Lines, Ancient Astronomy & Archeoastronomy
=> Prophecy, 2012, End Times & the End of the World
=> Sacred Symbols
=> The Ancient Arts: Astrology, Alchemy, the Tarot, Arcane Recondite Practices & the I Ching
-----------------------------
Search for the Sacred
-----------------------------
=> Angels & Angelology
=> Goddess Worship
=> Search for the Sacred
=> World Religions
=> the Urantia Book
=> Wicca, Witchcraft, Paganism & Ritual Magic
-----------------------------
Health & Healing
-----------------------------
=> Health, Healing & Medical News
=> Human Biology
=> Love & Relationships
=> Women's Studies
-----------------------------
Science & Technology
-----------------------------
=> Science, Physics & Technology
=> History of Science
=> Evolution vs. Intelligent Design
=> Human Genetics
-----------------------------
Earth Changes
-----------------------------
=> Earth Changes
=> Global Warming
=> Botany & Plant Life
===> Plants of the Americas that Changed the World
=> Antarctica & the Arctic
-----------------------------
Space
-----------------------------
=> NASA
=> Mars, the Red Planet
=> Life on Other Worlds
=> the Universe
=> Images from Space
-----------------------------
UFOs, Aliens & Future Science
-----------------------------
=> UFO's
=> Aliens & Alien Abduction
=> UFO Evidence & in the Media
=> Alternate History & Multiverses
=> Future Science
=> Time Travel
-----------------------------
the Occult
-----------------------------
=> Ghosts & Apparitions
=> Communicating with the Dead
=> Paranormal Events, Reincarnation & Near Death Experiences
=> the Enchanted World
=> the Supernatural
=> the Occult
-----------------------------
the Unexplained
-----------------------------
=> Cryptozoology
=> Bigfoot Sightings
=> the Unexplained
=> the Hollow Earth, Crop Circles, Strange Structures & Devices
=> Vanishings & Unsolved Murders
-----------------------------
Science Fiction & Fantasy
-----------------------------
=> Lord of the Rings
=> Science Fiction
=> King Kong, Gigantopithecus & the Mountain Gorilla
=> Godzilla, King of Monsters
=> Comic Books
===> Comic Book Creators
===> Videogames & Toys
-----------------------------
Halloween & Seasonal
-----------------------------
=> Halloween
=> Seasonal
=> Monsters of Myth, Movies & Folklore
=> Ghost Stories
=> the Zombie Apocalypse
-----------------------------
Genres of Film & Literature
-----------------------------
=> Universal Horror
=> H. P. Lovecraft
=> Horror
=> Dark Shadows
=> Twin Peaks
=> Online Horror Movies Sci-Fi & TV Series
-----------------------------
Arts & Literature
-----------------------------
=> Online Books & Research Papers
=> Classical Literature & Book Reviews
=> Art History
=> Architecture
=> Sculpture & Statuary
=> the Great Masters
=> Music
-----------------------------
Media & Film
-----------------------------
=> Cinema
=> the History of Film
=> Marilyn Monroe
=> Actresses & Models
=> Entertainment News
-----------------------------
Modern Historical Mysteries
-----------------------------
=> American History
===> Presidents of the United States
=> the World Wars
===> the Great Depression
=> the Holocaust
=> the Middle East: Past & Present
=> Modern History
===> the Industrial Age
===> Civil Rights
=> Great Cities of the World
=> the Kennedys: Their History & Assasinations
=> New York City: Then & Now
-----------------------------
September 11th, 2001
-----------------------------
=> September 11th: Conspiracies, Cover-ups & Remembrance
=> The World Trade Center Remembered
===> Life of the Twin Towers
=> Modern Warfare
=> Environmental Disasters & Mass Tragedies
-----------------------------
Suppressed Knowledge
-----------------------------
=> New World Order
=> Conspiracies
=> Suppressed Knowledge
=> Media Matters
-----------------------------
Politics
-----------------------------
=> the Barack Obama Administration
=> Conservatives, Trump, & Republican Politics
=> Joe Biden, Democratic Politics & News
=> Tea Party, Constitution, Libertarian Parties & Ron Paul
=> Politics & News
-----------------------------
Current Events
-----------------------------
=> Current Events & Odd Stories
=> The World Today
=> Financial News & the Economy
===> The History of Labor
=> Breaking News
-----------------------------
General Category
-----------------------------
=> Opinions & Editorials
=> Cartoons, Humor & Comic Strips
=> Ecology, Pets & the Animal Kingdom
=> General & Miscellaneous
=> Sports
=> Computers & the Internet
-----------------------------
Art, Graphics & Creative Writing
-----------------------------
=> Fantasy Art & Graphics
=> Creative Writing
===> Horror Fiction
=> Poetry
=> Photography & Models
=> Earth Images
-----------------------------
Past Events
-----------------------------
=> Case for Bush Impeachment/War Crimes
===> Bush Administration Torture Scandal
=> Campaign 2008
=> Atlantis Online - Memorial & Biography
===> Atlantis Online - Old Posts
Powered by
EzPortal
Loading...