The Archaeology of Slavery at the Van Cortlandt Plantation in the Bronx, New York

Authors: Bankoff, H.¹; Winter, Frederick²

Source: International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Volume 9, Number 4, December 2005 , pp. 291-318(28)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Excavations at the Van Cortlandt Mansion, the central structure of an eighteenth-century plantation located in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, New York, highlight the difficulty of using archaeological evidence to document the story of enslavement in early America. While the documents indicate the extent of the Van Cortlandts' involvement in the slave trade and in the reliance on enslaved labor to build and run their enterprise, the excavations carried out over several years have not yielded concomitant evidence.

Keywords: plantations; slavery; documentary history; New York

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10761-005-9302-5

Affiliations: 1: Email: ABankoff@brooklyn.cuny.edu 2: Email: fredwint@aol.com

Publication date: 2005-12-01