An Archaeological Study of Rural Capitalism and Material Life: The Gibbs Farmstead in Southern Appalachia, 1790-1920

ISBN-13: 9780306475023 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 322 str.

Mark D. Groover

Opis

Quickly vanishing in our own time, less than a century ago family-operated farms were a predominant way of life in North America. Since the 1600s the agriculture practiced on American farms has been a catalyst of both geographic settlement and economic expansion. During the 19th century, four generations of the Nicholas Gibbs family operated a successful farm in Knox County, East Tennessee. In this book, archaeology and historical information are combined with strands of thought in world systems theory and the Annales school of French social history to explore the influence of rural capitalism upon everyday life and material conditions at a Southern Appalachian farmstead. Focusing upon the domestic landscape, architecture, and household items, consideration of material life reveals the presence of a substantial folk orientation among the Gibbs family that was also significantly influenced by larger trends within national-level consumerism and popular culture. An Archaeological Study of Rural Capitalism and Material Life will be of interest to historical archaeologists, cultural anthropologists, social historians, and historical sociologists, especially researchers studying the influence of globalization and economic development upon rural regions like Appalachia.

Recenzje

From the reviews:
"In many respects this is an impressive and groundbreaking study. I have read very few other analyses that have so effectively used 'unremarkable' farmsteads to say something remarkable about historical processes in the U.S. Groover's method of time sequence analysis is promising and worthy of further use and consideration. In sum, this is an important new book in historical archaeology."
(Judith A. Bense, Journal of Anthropological Research, 60, 2004)
"...this study is an effective contribution to site-based analysis, and shows how the particulars of one unremarkable farmstead can contribute to wider issues of interpretation."
(Harold Mytum, Post-Medieval Archaeology)
"The theoretical structure and analytical methodology of historical archaeology has clearly evolved over the past four decades. Mark Groover's rich study of the German-American Gibbs family farmstead in Knox County, Tennessee, is an example of the detailed application of current theoretical and methodological concepts to the interpretation of this site. Groover produces an extremely fine-grained temporal analysis of the Gibbs farmstead and identifies several trends and patterns in economic activity and material culture."
(Cliff Boyd, The Journal of Appalachian Studies)

Spis treści

Part I: Theory, Methods, and Historical Context. 1. Introduction. 2. Interpretive Theory and Methods. World Systems Theory. Temporal Scales and Household Dynamics. Braudel and the Annales School. Family Cycles and Household Succession. Linking Interpretive Theory to the Material Record. 3. History of the Nicholas Gibbs Extended Family. The Nicholas Gibbs Family and Farmstead. From the Palatinate to Pennsylvania, 1733-1760s. The Nicholas Gibbs Household in North Carolina, 1760s-1791. The Nicholas Gibbs Household in Knox County, 1792-1817. The Daniel Gibbs Household, 1817-1852. The Rufus Gibbs Household, 1852-1905. The John Gibbs Household, 1905-1913. The Tenant Period, 1913-1986. The Nicholas Gibbs Historical Society, 1986-Present. Household Cycles for the Gibbs Family, 1764-1913. Summary of Household Succession. 4. The Gibbs Farmstead: Agricultural Production and Economic Strategies. Appalachia's Ridge and Valley Province: Physical and Cultural Geography. Infrastructure Development in the Study Area. Diachronic Trends in Land Ownership. Information Sources and Analysis Methods. Rural Infilling. Disparity in Land Ownership. Agricultural Production Trends: A Diachronic Analysis. The South. East Tennessee and Knox County. The Gibbs Farmstead. Recovering Mind: Identifying Subsistence and Surplus Producers. Part II: Archaeology and Material Life. 5. Archaeological Investigations at the Gibbs Site. Field Research Design. Site Excavation Areas. 6. Identifying Continuity and Change in the Domestic Landscape. Diachronic Trends: Midden and Maintenance Decline. Households and Archaeological Features. Domestic Architecture, Landscape Change, and Household Succession. Regional and National Architectural Trends. 7. Diachronic Trends in Consumerism and the Standard of Living. The Development of Consumerism. Consumerism and Newspaper Advertisements. The Standard of Living: Probate Inventory Analysis. Summary. 8. Time Sequence Analysis: Exploring Household Dynamics. Functional Analysis. Time Sequence Analysis. Systematic Site Survey and Testing. The Total Artifact Assemblage. Sheet Midden. Feature 16, The Smokehouse Pit Cellar. Summary. 9. Foodways Among the Gibbs Family. Diet and Faunal Remains. Ceramics and Foodways. Minimum Vessel Analysis. Time Sequence Analysis. Ceramic Use by Households. The Redware Assemblage. Development of Redware Potteries in East Tennessee. Redware Analysis Results. Summary. 10. A Southern Appalachian Farm Family Reconsidered. Appendixes. References. Index.