Uncommon Ground: Archaeology and Colonial African America: Archaeology and Early African America, 1650-1800

Winner of the Southern Anthropological Society's prestigious James Mooney Award, Uncommon Ground takes a unique archaeological approach to examining early African American life. Ferguson shows how black pioneers worked within the bars of bondage to shape their distinct identity and lay a rich foundation for the multicultural adjustments that became colonial America. Through pre-Revolutionary period artifacts gathered from plantations and urban slave communities, Ferguson integrates folklore, history, and research to reveal how these enslaved people actually lived. Impeccably researched and beautifully written. From the Trade Paperback edition Prologue. African American Pioneers ; Finding The Negro Houses -- Introduction. Unsuspected Treasure ; African American Archaeology ; Goals And Problems ; Creolization, Symbols, And Power -- Handmade Pots. Remembering Clay Pots ; Williamsburg And Colono-indian Ware ; Carolina Discoveries ; Colono Ware ; Finding Pots -- North America's Slave Coast. Black Colonists ; Spanish Settlements ; Tidewater Tobacco Farms ; Lowcountry Rice Plantations -- Carolina's African American Majority. Ground Houses ; Making Mosojo ; Food For Nyam ; Cooking And Eating -- Powerful Legacy. Summer Night ; Magic Bowls ; Archaeology And African American Resistance -- Appendix 1. Provenience Of Colono Ware Vessels From South Carolina And Virginia By County -- Appendix 2. Specimen Numbers For Whole Vessels Show In Figures -- Appendix 3. Colono Ware And Architectural Data. Leland Ferguson. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 161-176) And Index. Choice Outstanding Academic Book. Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults. Best Book of South Carolina History Finalist, South Carolina Historical Society. Tracing the advances of African-American archaeology since the 1960s, Uncommon Ground reveals how archaeologists have compared knowledge with folklorists and historians to form a new, more complex portrait of the world the early slaves made