The Historical Archaeology of Eighteenth-Century Tenancy at the Snowden Park Site (44SP0642)

Data recovery excavations at the Snowden Park Site (44SP0642) conducted by Dovetail in June 2014 revealed evidence of a late-eighteenth-century tenant farmstead on the outskirts of Fredericksburg. The tenant status of the site occupants, the McCoy family, was gleaned from historical records related to the site, providing the opportunity to interpret the material culture recovered during the excavation in the context of eighteenth-century tenancy. How did the archaeological remains at this site relate to other contemporary sites in the region? Were there material manifestations of tenancy that could be recognized? Comparing the landscape, faunal remains, and ceramics from Fall Hill to other eighteenth-century sites in the Chesapeake revealed that pinpointing tenant sites based solely upon archaeological remains is a difficult task. However, highlighting specific archaeological remains and patterns with the known tenant status of the occupants allowed for a more nuanced interpretation of the lives of the McCoy family