The Sam Davis Home Slave Quarters Archaeological Project

June 7-July 9, 2004


A cooperative project of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University and the Sam Davis Memorial Association

Project Director: Kevin E. Smith, Professor and Director of Anthropology

The 2004 Sam Davis Home Slave Quarter Project is a cooperative archaeological research project sponsored by the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Middle Tennessee State University and the Sam Davis Memorial Association.

The primary objectives of the project are:

  1. To locate and investigate the archaeological remains of some of the fourteen residences that housed over 50 enslaved African-Americans from about 1850-1865;
  2. To provide university students with training in the methods and techniques of professional field and laboratory archaeology;
  3. Through public tours, to highlight the significance of the Sam Davis Home and ALL of its residents (black and white) in local, state, and national history;
  4. To emphasize to the interested public the value of archaeological research on relatively recent historical sites;
  5. To gather sufficient detailed information to develop new exhibits on the houses and daily lives of the African-Americans who lived at the Sam Davis farm.

Who was Sam Davis?

What Do We Do in this Class?

Project Crew
Acknowledgements

Want to learn more about historical archaeology in Tennessee? A recent special issue of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly is still available and contains several articles summarizing the results of many projects.

Daily Journal
June/July 2004

At the end of each day, a short narrative and a few photographs of the day's work will be posted. Click on the date links to view the excavation progress.

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Since May 1, 2004 you are visitor:

Web Design by Kevin E. Smith kesmith@mtsu.edu