Post by Charlie Bass on Jan 30, 2012 10:07:00 GMT -5
www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/news0311/news0311-3.pdf
Evidence of Slaves' Technical Skills and Religion at Enlightenment Greenhouse
One of North America's most famous Revolutionary-era buildings -- a lone-surviving testament to an Enlightenment ideal – has a hidden West African face, University of Maryland archaeologists have discovered.
Their excavation at the 1785 Wye "Orangery" on Maryland's Eastern Shore -- the only 18th century greenhouse left in North America -- reveals that African American slaves played a sophisticated role in its construction and operation. They left behind tangible cultural evidence of their involvement and spiritual traditions.
Frederick Douglass, who lived there as a young man, made it famous through his autobiography. But the team concludes it can build on Douglass to make a more full contribution to understanding.
"For years, this famous Enlightenment structure has been recognized for its European qualities, but it has a hidden African face that we've unearthed," says University of Maryland archaeologist Mark Leone, who led the excavation. "Concealed among the bricks of the furnace that controlled the greenhouse temperature, we found embedded a symbol used in West African spirit practice. An African American slave built the furnace, and left an historic signature."
His team also found an African bundle buried at the entrance to a part of the Wye greenhouse that once served as living quarters for the slaves who maintained the building.
Evidence of Slaves' Technical Skills and Religion at Enlightenment Greenhouse
One of North America's most famous Revolutionary-era buildings -- a lone-surviving testament to an Enlightenment ideal – has a hidden West African face, University of Maryland archaeologists have discovered.
Their excavation at the 1785 Wye "Orangery" on Maryland's Eastern Shore -- the only 18th century greenhouse left in North America -- reveals that African American slaves played a sophisticated role in its construction and operation. They left behind tangible cultural evidence of their involvement and spiritual traditions.
Frederick Douglass, who lived there as a young man, made it famous through his autobiography. But the team concludes it can build on Douglass to make a more full contribution to understanding.
"For years, this famous Enlightenment structure has been recognized for its European qualities, but it has a hidden African face that we've unearthed," says University of Maryland archaeologist Mark Leone, who led the excavation. "Concealed among the bricks of the furnace that controlled the greenhouse temperature, we found embedded a symbol used in West African spirit practice. An African American slave built the furnace, and left an historic signature."
His team also found an African bundle buried at the entrance to a part of the Wye greenhouse that once served as living quarters for the slaves who maintained the building.