BIO

Alyssa is an undergraduate student at Florida State University pursuing her B.S. in anthropology with a focus in archaeology and a minor in museum studies. Her research interests include historic archaeology, biological archaeology, Andean archaeology, archaeology in the African diaspora, and Indigenous studies. She has been assisting on the Evergreen Plantation Archaeological Survey for the past academic year through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) and plans to continue her research through the Honors in the Major program next fall. She is also currently the historian of the Anthropology Society at FSU (ASFSU) and volunteers on the Proyecto Arqueológico Haciendas de Nasca (Haciendas of Nasca Archaeological Project or PAHN).

Analyzing Historic Glass from Evergreen Plantation

Abstract

The Evergreen Plantation Archaeological Survey (EPAS) began in 2020 under Dr. Jayur Mehta to discover more about the lives of Black Americans who lived and worked on the Evergreen sugar plantation in Louisiana. This project aims to collect data from the artifacts excavated at the plantation in the summer of 2023, analyze the historic glass, and create a chronology based on the glass analysis. In this study, I cleaned, organized, cataloged, and analyzed the summer 2023 collection, documenting quantitative and qualitative data into an Excel spreadsheet, before focusing on glassware analysis. The study of historic glass in archaeology is important for providing information about regional technological ability, mapping exchange networks, and understanding its utilitarian use in daily life, creating a more detailed picture of Black American history in the southern United States. Preliminary data suggests that the site was inhabited from the early 19th century through the mid-20th century, and the glass analyzed points to primarily drinking and pharmaceutical use. This research is ongoing and resulting data may still change.

Keywords: Anthropology, Archaeology, History