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Accepted Paper:
Before They were Settlers: Material Culture from Prospect Hill, Mississippi to Mississippi-in-Africa
Shawn Lambert
(Mississippi State University)
In this paper, I discuss the features and material culture recovered from a public archaeology excavation at the Prospect Hill plantation site in the summer of 2023.
Paper long abstract:
In this paper, I first discuss the features and material culture recovered from our two-week public archaeology excavation at the Prospect Hill plantation site in the summer of 2023. For this community- engaged project, we focused our excavation efforts on a structure just eight meters southwest of the main house. The material culture and features documented reveal that the structure was an enslaved dwelling and/or kitchen house, which makes sense due to the structure’s proximity to the main house as well as early labeled maps of Prospect Hill’s building layout. Furthermore, we explain how the artifacts recovered within this structural feature highlight the daily lives of enslaved life at Prospect Hill. Next, with our collaborative work with the descendant communities of Prospect Hill in Liberia, we discuss their historical and cultural ties to Mississippi. Finally, we discuss how the theory of inalienability gives new insights into enslaved life in Mississippi and critical cultural heritage connections today.