Digging Through Discarded Identity: Archaeological Investigations around the Kitchen and the Overseer's House at Whitney Plantation, Louisiana

• Main Author: Roberts, Erika Sabine
• Other Authors: Rob Mann
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: LSU 2005
• Subjects: Geography & Anthropology
• Online Access: http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-01262005-155314/

During the mid-nineteenth century, the Haydel family was prominent sugar planters in southern Louisiana. Their plantation, Whitney Plantation (16SJB11), lies on the highway 18 on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Wallace, Louisiana. During the summer of 2002 archaeological investigations were conducted around the kitchen and the overseers house, in order to collect a sample of materials associated with these occupants. I hoped that the artifacts could yield information on how the planter and overseer family represented themselves materially. Although what I excavated was the discarded remnants of the Haydel familys life, these remnants offer an understanding of how these people lived their lives. I hoped to learn about how this French Creole family represented themselves materially. These materials are a reflection of the active choices the occupants at Whitney Plantation. The occupants, as consumers, were part of a larger market economy. It is my belief that the materials chosen by those who lived on Whitney Plantation were a manifestation of their identity.