From Brown and Cooper's
1990 "Structural Continuity in an African-American
Slave and Tenant Community" (4).
The so-called African craftsman’s cabin (II-A-3)
produced a variety of items which form the "ethnic
identifiers" discovered within the slave and tenant
cabins. The tools for manufacture of the drilled shell
artifacts and a number of blank shells of a variety of
fresh and salt water types came from this cabin. Given
the large number of fresh water mussel shells located in
this cabin (an item not found in other cabins), this
individual may have worked shell for other artifacts,
such as buttons. In fact, a number of shell and bone
buttons from the quarters appear to be
"homemade". In addition, at least one apparent
"store bought" button, recovered within the
deposits of the quarters, was found to have had a
six-sided star carved into one of its surfaces. Such a
symbol is found on African and African-American ritual
objects (Thompson 1983). Evidence for this craft
production is found from the base of the below-floor
deposit through the abandonment level.
The following excerpt is from Kenneth L.Brown's "Material Culture and Community Structure:
The Slave and Tenant Community at Levi Jordan's
Plantation, 1848-1892." (2).
The bone and shell carver produced a
variety of items that form a majority of the "ethnic
identifiers" discovered within the deposits of the
slave/tenant cabins. That is, recovered within the
deposits of this cabin (slave: II-A-3; tenant: I-B-3) [a
diagram of these cabins will be included on this web site
in the future] are tools for the manufacture of carved
shell and bone objects along with a number of unfinished
carved objects. Included here is a flat sandstone cobble,
shell ‘blanks" for carving (including both
fresh and salt water species) [The plantation was about
14 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and the Jordan family
visited the seacoast from time to time. See Sallie
Jordan’s diary when excerpts are included here in
the future], several knives, files, a metal punch, two
small drills, a small saw blade, and grinding and shaping
tools made of bone. While a number of the shells appear
to have been employed in the production of buttons, many
are not of the type generally employed for this purpose.
Culturally modified [see definition of culture] coquina,
whelk, snail, clam, and cockle shells are found in fairly
large quantities throughout the archaeological deposits,
although they are not evenly distributed and their
function is currently under investigation. Further, at
least four of the "store bought" shell buttons
recovered had a six-pointed star carved on one side at
some time after it arrived on the plantation. Examination
of the button demonstrates that the star was worn facing
to the inside. That is, the pentangle [five-pointed star]
was not visible while the button was being worn.
A total of twelve pieces of carved
bone and one elaborately carved shell "cameo"
have been recovered – all from the abandonment
levels in their respective cabins. Four of these pieces
are simply carved and have been found in a context that
suggests they may have served as "oracle
bones". Three are flat, carved pieces that may have
functioned as hair pins. One is a pendant made from the
spur of a fighting cock. The other four pieces are
intricately carved and appear to have functioned as a
single object – probably a fly whisk. The spur
necklace and the fly whisk were found within the
so-called political
leader’s cabin. The
"oracle bones" were discovered within the magician/curer’s
cabin. The hair pins were
excavated from the seamstresses’ cabin (2) and the
munitions maker’s cabin (1). Finally, the cameo (6)
was unfinished and found within the abandonment deposit
of the shell carver’s cabin.
|
