Civil War Archaeology Annotated Bibliography Annotated Bibliography

Nobles, Connie H. (2000). Gazing upon the invisible: Women and children at the Old Baton Rouge Penitentiary. American Antiquity, 65(1), 5.

Archaeological investigation of the Old Baton Rouge Penitentiary includes studying artifacts to determine the conditions of the children and women who were housed there as prisoners. "There were a total of 1,310 artifacts collected from this site. Five major categories of items include: 1) ceramic goods, 2) glass vessels, 3) metal, 4) faunal materials, and 5) leather goods. These artifacts include a variety of goods that express the lives of both the prisoners and their guards" (p. 5).

Urwin, Gregory J.W. (2004). Black flag over Dixie: Racial atrocities and reprisals in the Civil War. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.

According to this source, archaeological finds in the area of Fort Pillow in Henning, Tennessee including large caches of alcohol, and the author speculates that drunkenness among the troops, who were provided a daily ration comparable to the British Navy's grog, may have contributed to the fall of the fort.

3. Current Trends in Civil War Archaeology.

Foster, Gaines M. (2004). Beyond the battlefield: Race, memory, and the American Civil War. Journal of Southern History, 70(2), 451.

This author suggests that because the archaeological record of the Civil War remains incomplete, there must be a reevaluation of the importance of the Confederate's role in shaping contemporary American memory of the conflict.

Merryman, John Henry. (1986). Two ways of thinking about cultural property. American Journal of International Law, 80(4), 831.

An increasingly popular view among historical archaeologists today is to interpret artifacts in terms of their being cultural property, in other words, "objects of artistic, archaeological, ethnological or historical interest as components of a common human culture, whatever their places of origin or present location, independent of property rights or national jurisdiction" (p. 831).

Odell, George H.(2001). Research problems R. us. American Antiquity, 66(4), 679.

Categorizing archaeological studies in general is difficult because some works make contributions to archaeological theory while also telling a story: "And if we wish our discipline to endure, it is incumbent upon us to do both" (p. 679).

Orser, Charles E. Jr. (1994). Consumption, consumerism and things from the earth. Historical Methods, 27(2), 61.

Historical archaeology can provide modern researchers with valuable and frequently unique information about the material aspects of consumption and consumerism. Furthermore, "The continuing efforts of many historical archaeologists also demonstrate the affinity between historical archaeology and history, both of which have many of the same research interests" (p. 61).

Stewart-Abernathy, Leslie C. (2003). Another's country: Archaeological and historical perspectives on cultural interactions in the southern colonies. American Antiquity, 68(3), 603.

Historical archaeological investigations of the Civil War battlefields in the Old South have provided modern researchers with an "appreciation of the complexities inherent in ethnicity in the past, through the powerful integration of multiple data sources that place objects in richer contexts" (p. 603). Because the findings of such investigations are typically communicated to the local public in various ways, such studies remain an important source of cultural binding today. For instance, "The proliferation of ethnic festivals reflects not only the post-Civil War emigration of many Europeans but also the rediscovery of local heritage in many communities" (p. 603).

Thomas, Brian W. (1998). Power and community: The archaeology of slavery at the Hermitage Plantation. American Antiquity, 63(4), 531.

Because of the fundamental role played by power relations in the institution of slavery at it existed in the Old South prior to and during the Civil War, these relations must be considered when trying to interpret the archaeological artifacts of slavery. The.....