Finding Identity Through Material Culture: The Nash Site at Manassas

Archeology at Manassas National Battlefield Park has studied African American households, and comparing what was found at the Robinson and Nash sites shows how varied the local community was. Unlike the artifacts from the nearby Robinson House, those from the Nash site include objects that may point to a traditional African religion.

Quartz crystals, blue beads, buttons, colonoware and marine shells often turn up at sites of enslaved people dating to the early-to-mid nineteenth century. Finding them at the Nash site suggests that free African Americans born in the United States kept these practices alive through the late nineteenth century. Carrying on the tradition may have created an ethnic subculture that fostered individuality, pride and the courage to live in a world defined by the community's white members.

Colonoware

Colonoware bowl found at the Nash site. National Park Service.

Colonoware, a low-fired earthenware, was once thought to have been made only by Native Americans, but it has since been found in African American settings along the East Coast, including African American archeological sites at Manassas.

Buttons

Buttons found at the Nash site. National Park Service.

The large number of buttons at the Nash site may have served more than a practical purpose. They may have stood in for cowrie shells, which were hard to get in the area and for some Africans represented the movement of the sun, and they may also have been used as currency.

Amber and a blue bead

Amber button and beads. National Park Service.

Amber buttons found at African American sites, like the one at upper left, may have been meant to protect children and infants from harm. The single blue glass bead from the Nash site, top row center, was possibly worn for protection against evil spirits.

Sources

• National Park Service, Manassas National Battlefield Park, "Finding Identity Through Material Culture: The Nash Site," part of the series African American Households. https://www.nps.gov/articles/identity-in-material-culture-the-nash-site.htm
• The Park Service's text about the buttons breaks off mid-sentence after mentioning currency.