Location: | The Hermitage, Nashville, TN, United States |
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Occupation Dates: | 1820s through early 20th century |
Excavator(s): | Samuel Smith, Larry McKee, Interns and Earthwatch volunteers |
Dates excavated: | 1976, 1990, 1991 |
Overview
Cabin 2 is one of the four 20-by-40 foot double pen brick buildings situated on the Field Quarter site, which is located approximately a third of a mile north of the Jackson family mansion (McKee 1990:7). The site consists of the remains of four brick duplex cabins that once housed a large number of enslaved African-Americans owned by the Jacksons, as well as subsurface remains of at least two log structures that pre-date the brick dwellings. The area is bounded on four sides by trees and fencelines, and its southern half is split more or less in two by the stream flowing from a centrally-located spring. Until the late 1980s, the land had been used as pasture for cattle.
Little documentary evidence exists about the more than 100 slaves owned by Andrew Jackson, therefore archaeology is the main way of gaining an understanding of the lifeways of slaves at The Hermitage. One goal of the archaeological work at The Hermitage has been to identify foundations or structures on the plantation grounds used to house enslaved laborers. A complementary goal in locating the building remains was to recover collections of associated artifacts which would provide information on life and activity in the cabins and on dates of occupation.
Three seasons of excavations were conducted at Cabin 2 in 1976, 1990, and 1991. In 1976 portions of seven 2-by-2 meter units were excavated. They confirmed the presence of a 20-by-40 foot limestone block foundation that was called Cabin 2. Hermitage archaeologists and Earthwatch volunteers carried out additional excavations at Cabin 2 during the 1990 and 1991 summer field seasons under the direction of Dr. Larry McKee, the Director of Archaeology at the Hermitage. Excavations of 15 10-by-10 foot units in 1990 completely exposed the cabin’s foundation. In 1991 the excavation of 11 5-by-5 foot and two 10-by-10 foot quadrants explored both the interior and exterior of the east half of Cabin 2.
Documentary evidence
Only minimal documentary evidence exists about the more than 160 slaves owned by Andrew Jackson. The Field Quarter was home to as many as sixty of these slaves. Through lists of names and ages made by the Jacksons at different times, and indirect references in letters and account books, one can create a bare outline of the numbers of slaves, some of their names, the makeup of a few of the more favored slave families, and even match particular individuals to specific occupations. But the details of daily life are largely missing. Where did these people live, and in what conditions? What did they eat, and where did they get their food? How were their houses furnished, what did they do with what free time they had? And in general, how did they make do with, and how did they add to, the minimal conditions of life provided by their owners?
Land records indicate that Andrew Jackson and his family moved to The Hermitage property in 1804, initially occupying log structures that already existed on the property. The Davidson County tax list of 1805 lists nine taxable slaves for Jackson, and in an 1814 letter Jackson indicated that he owned at least 40 enslaved individuals (Brigance 1976:16-17). These records indicate that the housing needs for Jackson’s slaves increased soon after their arrival at the Hermitage. Yet the documentation on slave life at The Hermitage is so sparse that there is no clear record on the number, type, location, or date of the construction of slave residences. No accurate or even sketchy maps of the estate’s layout and building locations survive from the nineteenth century. A few key references in letters, receipt books, and traveler’s accounts do provide some preliminary impressions about slave housing at the Hermitage. These records indicate that Jackson’s slaves lived in both brick and log cabins, and these were apparently scattered about the property rather than located in a single well-defined quarter. The Field Quarter site was one location used to house African-American slaves at the Hermitage, beginning shortly after Jackson settled on the property. Although Jackson did not technically own the land encompassing the Field Quarter until 1821, he had defacto control of this property as early as 1806 (Brigance 1976:62-66). Archaeological evidence indicates that this was the site for two generations of slave housing, the first corresponding with the Jacksons’ original Hermitage homesite, the second sometime after the Jacksons moved into their brick mansion in 1821.
The earliest historic structures at the Field Quarter were wood, probably log, cabins. The KES site, excavated in 1990, provides the first concrete evidence of this earliest occupation. Sometime after 1821, when the Hermitage mansion was completed, four brick duplex cabins were constructed at the Field Quarter. Two factors probably contributed to the decision to build these cabins. First, the wood structures may have been built initially as temporary structures, particularly given the fact that Jackson did not own this land outright until 1821. Thus, after two decades they may have been in a state of extreme disrepair. The second factor was the growing number of slaves at the Hermitage. The 1820 U.S. census listed 44 slaves at the Hermitage, a number that rose to nearly 100 by 1830. This growing population had housing needs that were not being met with existing structures, requiring more to be built.
Of the four brick cabins, only one–Cabin 3–appears to have been abandoned permanently prior to emancipation. Artifacts from this structure recovered in 1990 indicate it was abandoned in the late 1850s (Thomas 1995:54-60). Andrew Jackson, Jr., who had inherited the Hermitage after Andrew Jackson’s death in 1845, sold the Hermitage in 1856 and moved to Mississippi in 1858. In an 1856 newspaper ad announcing that the 500 acres of the plantation encompassing this portion of the property was for sale, Andrew Jackson Jr. listed the tract’s attributes: “Several fine springs, good cotton gin, overseer’s house, saw mill, four double brick negro cabins, blacksmith and carpenter’s shop, &c.” Presumably, the four cabins were abandoned when the land was sold. However, Jackson Jr. failed in Mississippi, and eventually returned to the Hermitage in 1860 with an unknown number of slaves. The remaining three brick cabins at the Field Quarter (1, 2, and 4) appear to have been reoccupied after Jackson’s return in 1860, although we have no information about who these occupants were. Initially, some probably were slaves of Jackson’s, and it is likely that some of these individuals also occupied the cabins after emancipation.
Excavation history, procedure, and methods
1976 Excavation Season
In 1976 Samuel Smith, then an archaeologist with the State of Tennessee’s Division of Archaeology, directed a testing program at the Field Quarter. The field crew excavated portions of seven 2-by-2 meter units and confirmed the presence of a 20-by-40 foot limestone block foundation that was identified as Cabin 2. The excavators also uncovered Feature 7, which was identified as a rectangular hole. Later excavations unearthed three more holes roughly in line with Feature 7, indicating that this feature was part of a line of postholes associated with the cabin’s crosswall (McKee 1991:Figure 7).
1990 Excavation Season
Hermitage archaeologists and Earthwatch volunteers carried out additional excavations at Cabin 2 during the 1990 field season under the direction of Dr. Larry McKee, the Director of Archaeology at The Hermitage. The 1990 field season began by measuring a 1150 foot baseline, oriented to magnetic north. This baseline was surveyed across the field, with its position permanently fixed by two concrete benchmarks. One of these, located approximately 200 feet northeast of the spring, serves as the origin point of the coordinate, or grid, system used in both the shovel testing program and the later large-scale excavations of that year. During the testing program 154 shovel test pits (or STPs) approximately one foot square were dug at 50 foot intervals. Dirt from the STPs was screened through quarter-inch mesh, and a careful examination of the soil profiles in the cuts was done in order to look for any traces of buried deposits. A total of 154 STPs were dug, providing complete coverage to the area north and southeast of the spring, and more limited coverage of the low-lying, almost boggy area southwest of it. The data from these STPs are available through DAACS.
The first quadrat excavated during the 1990 season was located about 35 feet northwest of Cabin 2’s foundation. The 5-by-5 foot unit (N200W200) was placed in the extreme northwestern part of the site to further investigate an STP that had encountered artifacts in comparatively high quantity and had bottomed out on limestone only 1.1 foot below the ground surface. Since none of the other 154 shovel tests had hit bedrock, and no outcroppings other than those at the spring are present nearby, the first conclusion was that this shovel test had hit another foundation. The 5-by-5 foot square excavated over the point revealed the limestone to be an isolated bedrock shelf or large buried boulder. The related artifact density is most likely due to slope wash and purposeful dumping from Cabin 1 and Cabin 2, both of which lie slightly uphill to the east of the spot.
After completing this unit the crew turned its attention to the Cabin 2 foundation. Fifteen 10-by-10 foot units oriented to the site grid system (labeled “SQ”) were laid out. Units were excavated using stratigraphic divisions that followed the natural layering of the deposits, with the scheme based on expectations for layers of sod, plowzone/other disturbance, abandonment/destruction, and primary occupation found during other excavations. Fourteen units were excavated to Level 2B, which was interpreted as the abandonment/destruction layer. One unit, N180W150 was excavated to Level 2C, which was interpreted as the primary occupation layer. Soil and structural features, such as postholes, foundations, pits, and cellars, were defined and dug as separate entities and assigned separate context numbers from the usual provenience divisions of levels within grid squares. All deposits below the first sod layer were screened through ¼” mesh hardware cloth, and samples from deposits of particular interest (such as root cellars) were waterscreened through 1/8″ inch window screen. In addition, soil samples were kept from these deposits for flotation analysis in an effort to recover any surviving micro-examples of floral remains, such as charred seeds.
The 1990 excavations uncovered a total area of 1575 square feet and completely revealed Cabin 2’s 39.5-by-19.5-by-1.5 foot limestone block foundation with the exception of the building’s east end chimney base. The thick deposit of brick rubble over the entire area excavated left no doubt that it was a brick building. The foundation also had a single crosswall dividing it into two even units. The crosswall indicated the building was probably a double-pen structure, split into two separate one-room dwellings, each measuring 20-by-20 feet. The structure had chimneys at each end, with hearth bases measuring 7-by-4 foot that projected three feet from the walls. Although the limited excavation at the site during this season did not reveal much in the way of interior features, work late in the season did uncover the top of a brick-outlined root cellar, or subfloor pit, approximately 2-by-4 foot, and the east end of the building adjacent to, but not perfectly aligned with, the hearth base.
1991 Excavation Season
Hermitage archaeologists and Earthwatch volunteers carried out additional excavations at Cabin 2 during the 1991 field season under the continuing direction of Dr. Larry McKee. Work at Cabin 2 in 1991 focused on the excavation of the interior of the eastern half of the structure, with some subsidiary work around the exterior at the same end. Based on the style of the foundations uncovered at other cabins at the Field Quarter site, and from what was known about slave residence architecture from other sources, the assumption was that the 20-by-40 foot structures had been split into two halves, with each side serving as a separate family’s dwelling. Thus, the excavation of one end of the cabin would uncover the living space and associated artifact deposits related to one slave family.
Given that one of the main goals of the 1990 field season was to expose the full foundation of Cabin 2, the 15 10-by-10 foot units had been oriented to the site grid system (labeled “SQ”). Excavations revealed that the foundation walls of the Field Quarter brick cabins were considerably skewed from the grid, which was aligned to magnetic north as of 1990. In 1991, the structure’s outline, rather than the SQ grid, was used to define the placement and alignment of the interior excavation units. The intention was to keep the recovery of the deeper interior artifact deposits coordinated with the building’s layout. One result of this was that the 1991 excavation at Cabin 2 had to make use of three different overlapping grids -the new one generated by the building itself, the SQ grid used in 1990, and the Tennessee Division of Archaeology’s 1976 grid, represented over the east-end interior by portions of four backfilled test pits. All of these grids are illustrated on the site map.
The grid implemented in 1991 divided the east half of Cabin 2 into four 10-by-10 foot quadrats that were numbered clockwise beginning with the northwest corner: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each 10-by-10 foot quadrat was then subdivided into four 5-by-5 foot quadrats and quadrants excavated in 1991 are different than those used in previous years. The labels began with C2E (C2 = Cabin 2, E = E half) then the quadrat number (1, 2, 3 or 4) and then the quadrant label (A, B, C or D). So, for example, the 10-by-10 foot quadrat in the northeast corner of the east half of the interior is C2E2. The 5-by-5 foot quadrant in the northeast corner of unit C2E2 was designated as C2E2B.
By the end of the 1990 season, most of the rubble-filled destruction layer had been excavated off the top of the eastern half of Cabin 2. The interior areas of Cabin 2 that had been excavated in 1990 were not backfilled but were covered up with tarps. The 1991 work continued deeper and was designed to remove the pre-destruction deposits which had built up beneath the cabin’s plank floor.
By the end of the summer approximately two-thirds of the building’s east half had been excavated. The stratigraphy within the building’s interior could be divided into thin, but distinct, destruction and occupation layers. The brick-lined root or pit cellar (Feature 326) exposed at the end of the 1990 season was fully excavated during 1991. It measured 2.5-x-5.2 feet, with a brick-paved floor two feet below the top of the feature’s brick walls. Its size and appearance are a close match to a similar cellar (Feature 165) found at the remains of the cabin in the backyard of the Hermitage mansion in 1988, but it is quite distinct from the root cellars found in the 1990 excavation of the west end of Cabin 3 (McKee 1991:32). Feature 326 is also distinctive because its bricks have been mortared in place rather than dry laid, a construction detail not present in any of the other interior pit cellars yet uncovered on Hermitage property. The cellar was excavated by first removing the west half in order to reveal the stratigraphic profile along its long axis. The cellar fill had five distinct layers, which sharply contrasted with the uniform single layers of fill found in all three of the cellars at Cabin 3, in the much larger rectangular pit at KES (the early structure at the Field Quarter excavated in 1990) and in the Yard Cabin’s cellar. The different layers consist mostly of brick rubble, which apparently went into the cellar in conjunction with the building’s destruction. Excavation of the area to the east, west, and south of the brick-lined cellar showed a complicated set of deep, relatively wide cuts into subsoil. Excavation of these cuts shed light on their function and relationship to the brick cellar, but some problems remain with interpretation of this part of Cabin 2’s interior.
The area to the east of the cellar (labeled Feature 344D) was definitely used as a second storage pit. It measured two feet wide, with its level clay subsoil floor at approximately the same level as the brick flooring of the adjacent brick cellar. An additional distinctive aspect of Feature 344D was a set of stacked bricks that runs east to west across the floor about two feet north of its southern edge. This may be the remnant of what once was a much higher partition within the pit, or it may have served as a support for a plank floor across the bottom of the feature.
Excavations also encountered an additional deep cut to the west of the brick cellar. Lacking the regular vertical walls and relatively level floor of Feature 344D, it may represent a very informal “hidey-hole” storage compartment rather than an intentionally and carefully constructed pit cellar. The fill in these deep cuts is quite different from the material excavated from the brick cellar, suggesting these were not all backfilled at the same time. The northern portions of the deep side cuts were not excavated during the summer of 1991.
A number of features other than the pit cellars were uncovered during the excavation of the interior of Cabin 2’s eastern half. Four evenly-spaced postholes, defining a precise line, were found two feet away from the structure’s crosswall. The southernmost two still contained in situ remnants of wooden posts. The line must have functioned as part of the building’s structural system, but its precise role is difficult to define. The posts are clearly later additions to the structure, since they are intrusive, later penetrations of the deposit which accumulated during the building’s occupation. One possibility is that these were put in during the final years of the building’s use as a way to shore up a sagging floor. There are problems with this interpretation, mostly having to do with the fact that a few stacks of bricks or stones would have been the simplest and yet still effective way to add support to the floor’s underpinnings.
Another possible explanation was that the line of posts served as part of a scaffolding used in the construction of the building. This seems unlikely because the brick partition wall adjacent to the posts probably would not have been of a height requiring a scaffold to assist in its construction. The post fragments still remaining in two of these holes also discourage this interpretation, as scaffold posts would likely have been pulled out of the ground rather than snapped off after the project’s completion. A better understanding of the function of the line might come from the examination of similar still-standing structures, but for now their presence remains a minor mystery.
During the 1991 field season excavations were also conducted within three 10-x-10 foot units outside of the Cabin 2 foundation, N180W120, N160W110, and N170W110. Unit N180W120, along the north side of the structure, was the continuation of a unit begun in 1990, while the other two, along the foundation’s east side, were newly excavated in 1991. All three units were oriented to the 1990 SQ grid. The exterior areas were excavated to get some idea of the type of deposit present around Cabin 2, with the hope being that the work would provide additional information on the apparent transition in use of the structure from the antebellum to the post-emancipation period. An additional reason for opening up the two 10-by-10’s to the east of the cabin, was to provide a more complete exposure of the chimney base at this end of the structure.
Larry McKee and Elizabeth Bollwerk
TRC Solutions and Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery
November 2013
Things you need to know about the Field Quarter Cabin 2 site before you use the data:
- The DAACS Project ID for Cabin 2 is “1401”. All Cabin 2 contexts and artifact IDs begin with that prefix. A two-digit year representing the field season in which it was excavated, followed by a two-digit project number assigned to Cabin 2 for that particular year, follows the Project ID for all Contexts and Artifact IDs. Cabin 2 was excavated in 1976, 1990, and 1991. All contexts for Cabin 2 dug in 1976 begin with the following” “1401-76-02”. All contexts for Cabin 2 dug in 1990 begin with “1401-90-01”. All contexts for Cabin 2 dug in 1991 begin with either “1401-91-01” or “FQC2E”.
- The Hermitage employed the “CRN” or “Context Register Number” system for artifact and context management, which DAACS has retained. CRNs were assigned in the field as consecutive three-digit numbers to contexts and their respective artifacts in the order they were dug, and were independent of provenience information. Context/provenience information is found in the DAACS Context Record.
- Measurements are in feet and tenths of feet. Measurements in 1976 were recorded in meters but these have been converted to feet on the site map and in the DAACS database context record entries.
- Stratigraphic divisions followed natural levels. McKee identified four levels in all four cabins of the Field Quarter site. Level 1 was the topsoil surface, Level 2A the plowzone/transitional layer, Level 2B the destruction/abandonment layer, and Level 2C was the occupation layer.
- Excavations conducted at Cabin 2 in 1990 removed Levels 1 and 2A in the exterior and interior areas of Cabin 2. At the end of the season, those areas were not backfilled but were covered with tarps. In 1991 excavations continued in the east half of Cabin 2. The first level was the surface exposed by the 1990 excavations. Thus Level 1 in 1991 correlates with Level 2B in Cabins 1, 3, and 4 and Level 2 in 1991 correlates with Level 2C in the rest of the Field Quarter. These equivalences have been noted in the DAACS database context in the level designation field and in the excavator description field. Two units, N170W110 and N160W110, associated with the eastern exterior of the cabin’s foundation, were excavated starting from the ground surface in 1991. The Level 1 designations for these units are equivalent to the Level 1 designations used in the 1990.
- The stratigraphic groups excavated during 1990 and 1991 field seasons were merged into one Harris Matrix. However not enough information was available on stratigraphic layers from the 1976 excavations to correlate groups with those excavated during 1990 and 1991. Therefore two separate Harris Matrices were created, one for 1976 contexts and one for the integrated 1990 and 1991 contexts.
- Although all 16 of the 5-by-5 foot quadrants in the east half of Cabin 2 were labeled during the 1991 field season, not all were excavated. Four quadrants, E2A, E2C, E4B and E4C were not excavated. These contexts are not in the DAACS database because there were no associated field records or artifacts.
Field Quarter Cabin 2 Site Maps
- The 1976 quadrants were originally laid out as 2-by-2 meter units but only portions of these units were excavated. The excavated portions, not the entire units, are illustrated on the site map.
- The units from 1976 and 1990 excavations were designated by NW corner coordinates.
- During the 1991 field season a separate local grid based on the foundation of Cabin 2 was established (the grid used for previous field seasons is a grid encompassing all of the north field quarter). The east half of Cabin 2 was divided into four 10-by-10 foot quadrats that were numbered clockwise beginning with the northwest corner: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Each 10-by-10 foot quadrat was then subdivided into four 5-by-5 foot quadrants which were designated running clockwise from the NW corner A,B,C, and D. As a result, the designations of the quadrats and quadrants excavated in 1991 are different than those used in previous years. They were designated C2E (C2 = Cabin 2, E = East half) then the quadrat number (1,2,3, or 4) and then the quadrant label (A,B,C or D). So, for example, the 10-by-10 foot quadrat in the northeast corner of the east half of the interior is C2E2. The 5-by-5 foot quadrant in the northeast corner of unit C2E2 was designated as C2E2B.
- A final site map that contained the locations of all quadrats and features for all three field seasons was not compiled by the excavators for the Field Quarter Cabin 2 excavations. All the feature and quadrat information from the 1976, 1990, and 1991 field seasons was compiled onto one site map by Elizabeth Bollwerk and Leslie Cooper, DAACS archaeological analysts. Bollwerk and Cooper used Microstation to combine small individual feature and context maps with a large map of the 1991 excavations.
- As explained above, Cabin 2 excavations were based on three different grids over the years. The DAACS site map as well as coordinate/spatial information in the database is based on the grid established by McKee and used for the 1990 field season. This is the same grid used for the entire Field Quarter: Cabins 1, 2, 3, 4 and KES as well as shovel testing in the Field Quarter.
- Portions of Feature 344ABC and 344D are represented on the Cabin 2 site maps with dotted lines. These dotted lines are approximations of the feature’s dimensions since they were mapped in one quadrat but not mapped in the other quadrats. However, excavator descriptions on unit and feature forms indicate that these features extended into other quadrats and therefore the dotted lines represent the excavator’s best guess as to the extent of these features.
Feature Numbers
The original excavators of the Cabin 2 site assigned numbers to individual features. Between 1987 and 2003, all archaeological features identified at The Hermitage were assigned consecutive feature numbers, regardless of excavation year and location on the property. For example, the first feature identified at the beginning of Larry McKee’s field work in 1987 was Feature 1. By the end of the excavation season in 2003 over 900 features had been identified and excavated at The Hermitage since 1987.
A single feature, Feature 7, was identified during testing in 1976. All other features were identified and excavated in 1991 and their numbers range, non consecutively, in the 300s. Since Cabin 2 feature numbers were assigned by the excavators, they do not have a F-prefix as DAACS-assigned feature numbers do.
Feature Groups
Feature groups are sets of features whose spatial arrangements indicate they were part of a single structure (e.g. structural postholes, subfloor pits, and hearth) or landscape element (e.g. postholes that comprise a fenceline). Feature Groups at The Hermitage were assigned by DAACS and they have a FG-prefix, which precedes the number (i.e. FG01 equals Feature Group 1).
Feature | Feature Type | Contexts |
---|---|---|
006 | Posthole, possible | 76-02-18 |
007 | Posthole, possible | 76-02-22 |
321 | Previous Archaeology | 91.01.46 |
322 | Previous Archaeology | 91.01.58 |
323 | Postmold | 91.01.59 |
324 | Posthole | 91.01.60 |
326 | Pit, subfloor(< 28 sq.ft) | 91.01.74, 91.01.68, 91.01.87, 91.01.84, 91.01.76 |
327 | Previous Archaeology | 91.01.62 |
329 | Trench, builder’s | 91.01.90 |
338 | Unidentified | |
339 | Animal Hole | 91.01.110 |
340 | Animal Hole | 91.01.111 |
344ABC | Pit, subfloor(< 28 sq.ft) | 91.01.146, 91.01.116, 91.01.104, 91.01.236, 91.01.223, 91.01.238, 91.01.229, 91.01.221, 91.01.147, 91.01.224 |
344D | Pit, subfloor(< 28 sq.ft) | 91.01.234, 91.01.171, 91.01.237 |
349 | Trench, builder’s | 91.01.126 |
350 | Posthole, possible | 91.01.129 |
351 | Animal Hole | 91.01.132 |
352 | Posthole, possible | 91.01.134 |
353 | Animal Hole | 91.01.137 |
354 | Animal Hole | 91.01.138 |
355 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.152 |
359 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.173 |
360 | Animal Hole | 91.01.174 |
361 | Unidentified | 91.01.176 |
362 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.177 |
363 | Unidentified | 91.01.188 |
364 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.189 |
365 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.190 |
367 | Posthole, possible | 91.01.197 |
368 | Trench, builder’s | 91.01.198 |
369 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.199 |
370 | Trench, builder’s | 91.01.200 |
371 | Trench, builder’s | 91.01.201 |
372 | Root Disturbance | 91.01.202 |
373 | Unidentified | 91.01.203 |
374 | Plowscar | 91.01.209 |
376 | Posthole, possible | 91.01.213 |
377 | Postmold | 91.01.214 |
378 | Posthole | 91.01.215 |
379 | Unidentified | 91.01.222 |
380 | Chimney Base | 91.01.240 |
Intra-Site Chronologies
DAACS staff performs a standard set of analyses to produce a seriation-based intra-site chronology for each site included in the Archive. We aspire to use the same analytical methods for each site, specifically correspondence analysis and ware-type manufacturing dates, to develop and assign ceramic assemblages from excavated contexts to site-specific occupation phases (see Neiman, Galle, and Wheeler 2003 for technical details). We provide a mean ceramic date (MCD) and terminus post quem (TPQ) for each intra-site phase. The phases are recorded in the DAACS Phase field of the database.
The use of common analytical methods is designed to increase comparability among phases at different sites. The methods, any changes we made to those methods that are specific to the site and the phase assignments our methods produce are summarized below. DAACS encourages users of Archive data to help explore improvements to our methods.
For some sites, the original excavators developed intra-site chronologies and, where these exist, they are described on the Background page for the site. In the case of The Hermitage’s Cabin 2, the principal investigators did not develop a chronology for the site. The DAACS chronology presented here is the only current chronology for the site.
DAACS Seriation Method
As with other sites in the Archive, the seriation chronology for the Cabin 2 site was derived from ceramic assemblages aggregated at the level of stratigraphic groups and individual contexts not assigned to stratigraphic groups. To reduce the noise introduced by sampling error, only ceramic assemblages with more than 5 sherds and more than two ceramic types were included. Assemblages from topsoil, unit clean-up, and surface collections were exclude from the analysis. Correspondence Analysis is an iterative process therefore in the final analysis we removed the Stratigraphic Group 2 ceramics assemblage from Quadrats N180/W130 and N180/W150 as they were significant outliers. The seriation chronology presented here is the result of a correspondence analysis (CA) of ware-type frequencies from contexts that meet these requirements (Figures 1 and 2).
The CA results produced a mild correlation between Dimension 1 scores and MCDs (Figure 3), suggesting that Dimension 1 represents time from right (early) to left (late). Please note that much of Cabin 2 was not excavated to subsoil. Therefore the temporal signal may have been stronger had the entirity of Cabin 2 been excavated to include earlier assemblages. Based on the dips in ceramic counts observed in a histogram of Dimension 1 scores, where the vertical axis measures ceramic assemblage size, we divided the site into four occupational phases (Figure 4).
Cabin 2 Site Phases
DAACS Phases are groups of assemblages that have similar correspondence-analysis scores, similar MCDs, or both, and are therefore inferred to be broadly contemporary. Phases have a P-prefix that precedes the phase number (e.g. P01 equals Phase 1).
Mean ceramic dates for the site-specific phases are given in the table below. The table also includes two estimates of the ceramic TPQ for each phase. The first TPQ estimate is the usual one – the maximum beginning manufacturing date among all the Ware types in the assemblage. The second estimate — TPQp90 — is the 90th percentile of the beginning manufacturing dates among all the sherds in the assemblage, based on their Ware types. This TPQ estimate is more robust against excavation errors and taphonomic processes that might have introduces a few anomalously late sherds in an assemblage.
Phase | MCD | BLUe MCD | TPQ | TPQp90 | TPQp95 | Total Count |
P01 | 1848 | 1831 | 1840 | 1840 | 1840 | 79 |
P02 | 1858 | 1846 | 1840 | 1840 | 1840 | 962 |
P03 | 1860 | 1847 | 1840 | 1820 | 1820 | 2005 |
P04 | 1863 | 1854 | 1840 | 1820 | 1820 | 1918 |
A Seriation Chronology for The Hermitage’s Cabin 2
The following table presents a seriation chronology for the Cabin 2 site. We use the indefinite article to signify that it is not the only chronology possible, nor the best. We encourage users of Archive data to help explore improvements.
The stratigraphic relationships among stratigraphic groups and unassigned contexts are summarized in the Harris Matrix for the site. DAACS phase assignments from the seriation are shown on the Harris Matrix in color, facilitating comparison of the seriation chronology and the stratigraphic chronology of the site.
Field Quarter Cabin 2 Harris Matrix
The Harris Matrix summarizes stratigraphic relationships among excavated contexts and groups of contexts that DAACS staff has identified as part of the same stratigraphic group. Stratigraphic groups and contexts are represented as boxes, while lines connecting them represent temporal relationships implied by the site’s stratification, as recorded by the site’s excavators (Harris 1979).
Stratigraphic groups, which represent multiple contexts, are identified on the diagram by their numeric designations (e.g. SG01). Contexts that could not be assigned to stratigraphic groups are identified by their individual context numbers (e.g. 95-04-08).
Boxes with color fill represent contexts and stratigraphic groups with ceramic assemblages large enough to be included in the DAACS seriation of the site (see Chronology). Their seriation-based phase assignments are denoted by different colors to facilitate evaluation of the agreement between the stratigraphic and seriation chronologies. Grey boxes represent contexts that were not included in the seriation because of small ceramic samples.
The Harris Matrix summarizes stratigraphic relationships among excavated contexts and groups of contexts that DAACS staff has identified as part of the same stratigraphic group. Stratigraphic groups and contexts are represented as boxes, while lines connecting them represent temporal relationships implied by the site’s stratification, as recorded by the site’s excavators (Harris 1979).
Stratigraphic groups, which represent multiple contexts, are identified on the diagram by their numeric designations (e.g. SG01). Contexts that could not be assigned to stratigraphic groups are identified by their individual context numbers (e.g. 95-04-08).
Boxes with color fill represent contexts and stratigraphic groups with ceramic assemblages large enough to be included in the DAACS seriation of the site (see Chronology). Their seriation-based phase assignments are denoted by different colors to facilitate evaluation of the agreement between the stratigraphic and seriation chronologies. Grey boxes represent contexts that were not included in the seriation because of small ceramic samples.
See Cabin 2 Chronology for stratigraphic and phase information. Please note that some of the contexts present in the chronology analysis are not visualized on the Harris Matrix. The contexts that are not included do not have any stratigraphic relationships with other contexts. The lack of relationships can occur for a few reasons but two common examples are 1) the artifacts are from a surface collection, which is entered into DAACS as a context but does not have recorded relationships to other contexts that are below it ; 2) in cases where topsoil and plowzone are stripped and discarded, there may be features below the plowzone that are comprised of a single context. Since the plowzone does not exist as a documented context with artifacts, it cannot seal the single-context feature. DAACS also does not record subsoil as a context, so there is nothing for that single context feature to intrude or seal.
Stratigraphic group information was able to be merged for the 1990 and 1991 seasons. However, based on available information, it is difficult to integrate the stratigraphic groups identified from the 1976 excavations with those from the 1990 and 1991 excavations. As a result two separate Harris Matrices were generated to represent the relationships between stratigraphic groups for the 1976 field season and those deciphered from the 1990 and 1991 excavations.
For a printable version, download the Harris Matrix [186.44 KB PDF].
PDF of composite excavator’s plan, compiled by DAACS from original field drawings, with excavation units and features labeled.
PDF of composite excavator’s plan, compiled by DAACS from original field drawings, with only features labeled.
PDF of composite excavator’s plan, compiled by DAACS from original field drawings, with only excavation units labeled.
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