floor. The crock was likely used to hide an object of special value or may have held a charm to protect certain individuals or the house.4 A second deposit was found within the earthfast house at the top of the passageway leading from the cellar. Three wine bottles were turned upside down; possibly they were used as bowls for a ritual purpose.
Marbury Site
ABOVE: Three wine bottles at the Addison Plantation site. (Courtesy Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory.) BELOW: Iron hoe blades at the Marbury Site. (Courtesy Greenhorne & O’Mara, Inc.)
18PR833 The Marbury site represents a small plantation that was occupied from about 1714 to the 1750s that is located near the crossroad village of T.B. in southern Prince George’s County. It comprises the remains of a middling plantation with a domestic residence, a detached kitchen, and a work area that contained two earthfast structures separated from the main house by a fence or screen. The residence was built for Francis Marbury on the Apple Hill land patent around the time of his second marriage in 1714. At the time of his death in 1734, Francis Marbury had 11 children by two wives and held nine enslaved laborers. Francis Marbury’s son, Luke, occupied the dwelling until about 1750, when he began construction of Wyoming (Historic Site 81B-004) a few miles to the north. Francis Marbury possibly employed the use of indentured servants when he first established his plantation, but by 1734 was relying solely on African slave labor to work his land and serve his household. Enslaved laborers worked in the detached kitchen and in the surrounding fields and likely lived in a segregated area within the main house, as well as in an outbuilding separated by a fence. A circular pit feature located within one of the buildings in the work area contained four iron hoe blades oriented towards the cardinal directions (north, east, south, west). These blades and their placement may be associated with African religious practices.
Richard Duckett Site 18PR705: The Richard Duckett site provides insight into the layout of a large plantation during the 1700s and the relationship between the owner of the plantation and the enslaved laborers. The site is located to the north of Woodmore Road within the Waterford housing development. It comprises the remains of a plantation manor house, associated residential structures and slave quarters, domestic 4
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John P. McCarthy 2010. Oxon Hill Manor: The Archaeology and History of “A World They Made Together.” Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum and Maryland Historical Trust: St. Leonard, MD. p. 20.
ARCHEOLOGY African-American Historic and Cultural Resources