Rice Plantation Archaeology in the Cape Fear Region

Location: 601 S. College Rd. Wilmington, NC, US

Season: May 16, 2018 to June 15, 2018

Application Deadline: March 15, 2018

Deadline Type: Rolling

Website: https://www.uncw.edu/anthropology/fieldschoolcapefear.html

Program Type:
Field school

RPA Certified:
no

Affiliation:
UNC Wilmington

Project Director:
Eleanora Reber

Project Description:

UNC Wilmington will offer a field school in the Wilmington area from May 16-June 15, 2018.  Our goal is to investigate slave cabins and possible sharecropper cabins at an antebellum/postbellum rice plantation along the Brunswick River near Wilmington. Over the course of the session, students will learn surface surveying, excavation techniques, record-keeping, mapping, and basic lab techniques, including flotation. We will also go on field trips to some local archaeological sites of interest.  The class will be 6 credit hours, and will be intensive–it will basically take place M-R 9-5, and F 9-12. 

Surviving chimney falls and other remains of slave cabins and sharecropper residences have been located on local, privately owned land that once belonged to an antebellum rice plantation. None of the cabins have been archaeologically investigated; in fact, no slave cabin has been excavated at any rice plantation along the Lower Cape Fear River, although some plantation houses and outbuildings have been investigated. The goal of our field season will be to map as many of the surviving cabin remains as possible, and excavate some of the slave cabins. We then will be able to compare the Lower Cape Fear slave cabins to those from South Carolina rice plantations, which have been excavated.

Period(s) of Occupation: Antebellum Postbellum

Project Size: 1-24 participants

Minimum Age: 16

Experience Required: Basic archaeology class strongly preferred.

Room and Board Arrangements:
Arrange your own in the Wilmington area.  We are happy to help you find resources for this. Cost: $30 fee plus 6 credits Summer tuition.

Academic Credit:
6 credits offered by UNC Wilmington. Tuition is See https://www.uncw.edu/summsch/tuition.html for updated details.