The most important feature excavated in 1994 was the cellar hole. When first found it was a depression measuring 1.5 by 1.5 meters and 50 centimeters deep and was assumed to be a root cellar, a component of a larger building. By the end of the season, however, it measured 2.2 by 2.5 meters (8 feet by 6 feet 6 inches) and was interpreted as the remains of a temporary structure built to survive at least the first winter of 1783.
Excavation in the area of the depression began with a very careful search for the edges of the original pit. Charcoal was present through all of the soil levels, but became increasingly more so as excavation proceeded. A charcoal level was found on the floor of the depression and was 6-16 centimeters thick covering most of the 'floor' (1.23m by 1.5m). The majority of artifacts recovered from this level were iron, mainly nails. This was likely the collapse of the floor and/or roof of the structure.
Beneath this level was a hard yellow/beige sterile sub-soil.
This level was followed to reveal all of the sides of the original pit,
including the 200-year-old shovel cuts. The result was a roughly rectangular
pit measuring 2.2m by 2.5m and about 50cm deep with sharp vertical sides
on the north, east, and south. The west side was vertical for about 20cm
from the floor, then sloped 45 degrees, up to and under two large rocks.
The dug-out sterile soil also travels under a slightly smaller rock at
the north end of the pit. The burn level also travels under the rocks,
indicating that they were placed in the hole after the destruction of the
building. For some reason these not inconsiderable rocks were rolled into
the depression after the destruction/abandonment of the site.
Five general questions should be asked in any discusssion of the depression:
The type and distribution of the artifacts in and around the cellar hole suggest a domestic function. Although the sample from AkDi-12 is small it does conform to what is known as the Carolina Slave Artifact Pattern (Armstrong, 1985:274). Besides the more obvious implications this correlation presents, which are discussed below, it shows that the artifacts conform to a site of domestic function, most likely a primary residence.
The size of the structure over the depression is limited by the presence of middens to the west (#1) and the southeast (#2), assuming the garbage was disposed outside of the home, and the slope of the land to the southeast and east, assuming they built the house on a level. Little evidence of walls or footings was found. A linear arrangment of rocks along the cellar's east side, though to be the remains of a wall when first seen in 1993, is now thought more likely to be evidence of an entrance roughly in the centre of the cellar.
The combination of the landgrant examination and the dating based on the recovered artifacts leaves little doubt that this structure was built by one of the original Black Loyalist settlers of Birchtown. This contention appears to be supported by an analysis of the artifact patterning based on a modified version of Stanley South's classic study (1977). This is a testable, quantitative method which divides artifact types into groups to allow for comparative studies between sites. Armstrong believes pattern analysis is particularly important to sites where locally-made goods are rarely recovered, Birchtown, for example (1985: 270). The imported goods used by the African-American settlers of Birchtown would have come from British sources and, if examined simply on their own, would simply suggest a British occupation. Further complicating the situation is the the theory that slave culture (from which the Birchtown settlers came) moved closer to the Euro-American model with time as the consumption of non-local goods increased (Wheaton and Garrow, 1985: 251). This situation would have been particularly true of Birchtown whose settlers displaced themselves from the slave culture and were particularly reliant on the 'King's bounty' during the early days of the settlement.
Wheaton and Garrow contend that a distinctive slave artifact
pattern existed in the South Carolina lowcountry in the 18th and 19th centuries
(1985: 253). Known as the Carolina Slave Artifact Pattern, it differs from
the Carolina Artifact Pattern in three basic ways: a higher percentage
of kitchen group artifacts; a lower percentage of architectural group artifacts;
and, a higher combined percentage of the above two groups (Armstrong, 1985:
274). As seen in Table 1, the artifact patterning for AkDi-12 shows a conformity
to 18th-century slave sites in the southeast United States. Although tentative and based on a very small data sample, it
is still the first evidence from Nova Scotia to show such concordance. To make more sweeping
statements, however, more data will have to be gathered from other areas
in the province, as well as from Shelburne County.
Table 1: Artifact Pattern Comparisons
The ceramics from the excavations tell us that the cellar was occupied from at least 1783 into, but not beyond the 1790s. This would fit well into a scenario where the occupants either moved onto a more permanent structure on another piece of land, or if they were part of the emigration to Sierra Leone in 1792.
Prior to the excavation in 1994 we had no idea what type of dwelling which may have been built in Birchtown by African-American settlers from the American South. We were able to imply that it should have certain features based on excavations in the South. These included:
The depression, which first was an clue to the presence of a dwelling on the site, turned out to be an 8 by 7 foot cellar hole. As discussed above, the potential size of a structure over this hole is limited by the slope of the land and the position of the middens. No structural evidence was encountered outside of the cellar. It appears that the cellar hole was the main dwelling over which a roof of some sort was constructed. This would have been a temporary measure as an expedient against the approaching winter.
Figure 1: Cellar profile
This theory appears to be supported both by oral tradition and site comparisons. While there is very little oral tradition referring to the Black Loyalists in Birchtown (although no work has been done to gather any), a recurring theme is that the original settlers lived in 'caves'. There are no caves as such in Birchtown, apart from the large fissures in some of the huge granite erratics in the area. It seems unlikely that these were used as shelters except maybe in a few extreme cases. The discovery of AkDi-12 and the 1994 excavation have raised the possibility of the the existence of semi-subterranean houses erected as temporary shelter. The presence of such houses has been noted at Martin's Hundred (Nöel Hume, 1985: 58-59 ) and Flowerdew Hundred (Deetz, 1994), both 17th-century sites in Virginia. No such houses have been previously identified in Nova Scotia. The writings of Clara Dennis from the 1930's may also may be a clue to the origin of the 'cave' tradition :
Later I wandered through the woods where the early, pioneer black men had had their habitations.
"Surely human beings could never have lived in these places," I said. "They are only holes in the ground!"
"That's all they ever were," said the present owner of the land. "I've heard grandfather tell about them. The government gave the negroes land here, but they had no houses, not even log cabins. They just dug a hole in the ground and put a little peaked roof over it. They chose a hill for their purpose because the ground was drier. The peak roof would shed the water when it rained. There was a small trapdoor in one side of the roof and the negroes entered the house by dropping right down through. And that was the black man's home - a hole in the ground with a roof over the hole.".
Back to the Nova Scotia Museum Archaeology Page
