HUME Project
NAU Archaeology students delve into the lives of slaves in South Carolina
The project, now complete, focused on the excavation of a slave quarter on the former grounds of a rice plantation in South Carolina located on the Yawkey Wildlife Refuge, Cat Island (outside of Georgetown, SC).
About the Hume Plantation Slave Street Project
Investigations included slave ritual magic practices, ritual deposits beneath cabin floors, collections of contraband/prohibited materials, syncretism of beliefs over time from indigenous African, European, and Native American systems; also investigating evidence of slave children’s activities, access to toys, and finally, rate and selectivity of European handoff ceramics and “luxury” items to slaves. The purpose of the field school lab is to categorize and analyze ceramics, beads, slave pottery, Native American pottery, British clay pipes (ca. 18th & 19th century), faunal remains, glass, and European objects repurposed for slave uses. Moses’ Historical Archaeology Lab is located in the NAU Bilby Research Center.
Read about the projects findings here: Moses (2018)Enslaved African conjure and ritual deposits on the Hume Plantation, South Carolina.
Principal investigator(s)
Dr. Moses is a registered professional archaeologist; her current research is focused on forensics and she directs the Social Science Forensics Minor at NAU
Partners
All research was conducted with permission of the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center and the Department of Natural Resources of South Carolina.
Support
Partial support for this research program came from NAU’s Faculty Grants Program.