Farmsteads and Rural Life in the United States, Archaeology of

Introduction

The historical archaeology of farmsteads and rural life investigates the development of agriculture in North America from the 1500s to the 1900s. The topic emerged in the 1970s due to the large number of rural sites and farmsteads routinely encountered during cultural resource management (CRM) archaeology projects in the United States. Rural sites are important archaeologically from a cultural and historical perspective because the majority of North American households practiced farming until the twentieth century. A rapidly declining way of life, today a small proportion of the American population pursues farming as an occupation. Consequently, archaeologists emphasize that it is important to materially document the cultural trajectory of this significant aspect of American life.

Definition

The archaeology of rural life and farmsteads examines the material culture and social history of farms from the 1500s to the 1900s in North America. Several relevant topics are...