In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American LifeA fascinating study of American life and an explanation of how American life is studied through the everyday details of ordinary living, colorfully depicting a world hundreds of years in the past. History is recorded in many ways. According to author James Deetz, the past can be seen most fully by studying the small things so often forgotten. Objects such as doorways, gravestones, musical instruments, and even shards of pottery fill in the cracks between large historical events and depict the intricacies of daily life. In his completely revised and expanded edition of In Small Things Forgotten, Deetz has added new sections that more fully acknowledge the presence of women and African Americans in Colonial America. New interpretations of archaeological finds detail how minorities influenced and were affected by the development of the Anglo-American tradition in the years following the settlers' arrival in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Among Deetz's observations: Subtle changes in building long before the Revolutionary War hinted at the growing independence of the American colonies and their desire to be less like the British. Records of estate auctions show that many households in Colonial America contained only one chair—underscoring the patriarchal nature of the early American family. All other members of the household sat on stools or the floor. The excavation of a tiny community of freed slaves in Massachusetts reveals evidence of the transplantation of African culture to North America. |
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Page 8
... pottery found in a household of modest means in the mid eighteenth century would not be beautiful to behold, since most of it would be simple, locally manufactured, coarse earthenware, red in color and undecorated. But such an exhibit ...
... pottery found in a household of modest means in the mid eighteenth century would not be beautiful to behold, since most of it would be simple, locally manufactured, coarse earthenware, red in color and undecorated. But such an exhibit ...
Page 15
... pottery or to plain coarse ware of local manufacture. “Six old spoons" might have been of either pewter or brass, and even if the material is mentioned, there was a variety of styles of spoons in use at any one time. In many ways the ...
... pottery or to plain coarse ware of local manufacture. “Six old spoons" might have been of either pewter or brass, and even if the material is mentioned, there was a variety of styles of spoons in use at any one time. In many ways the ...
Page 19
... pottery industry in England and continental Europe, it is not unusual to know how the makers of this pottery classified, named, and traded their wares. To apply strictly formal classificatory methods to this material and ignore the ...
... pottery industry in England and continental Europe, it is not unusual to know how the makers of this pottery classified, named, and traded their wares. To apply strictly formal classificatory methods to this material and ignore the ...
Page 24
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Contents
1 | |
THE ANGloAmerican Past | 38 |
All the EARTHENware Plain AND Flowered | 68 |
REMEMBER ME As You Pass BY | 89 |
Would Have THE Howse Stronge in Timber | 125 |
SMAll THINGS REMEMBERED | 165 |
PARTING WAYS | 187 |
The African American Past | 212 |
SMAll THINGs Forgotten | 253 |
Notes | 261 |
Other editions - View all
In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life James Deetz No preview available - 1996 |
Common terms and phrases
00 Item African American Anglo-American appearance architectural artifacts banjo Boston bowls building Burr Cape carved carvers Cato cellar cemetery ceramics cherub cherub design Chesapeake pipes chimney colonial Colono ware common construction creamware death's-head decorated delftware earlier early earthenware earthfast eighteenth century England English evidence example excavated Fairbanks house Flowerdew Hundred foodways function Georgian glaze grave gravestone historical archaeology important James Deetz John Vlach known later Lewis Binford lived Massachusetts Bay material culture motif nineteenth century occupation past pattern pearlware period plantation planter's plates Plymouth Plymouth Colony popular porch pots pottery prehistoric produced records reflect result seen seventeenth century shotgun house similar slave houses smoking pipes social South Carolina stones stoneware structure style stylistic survived teenth century tion tobacco town tradition tury typical vernacular Virginia Vlach West African worldview