Case study

Historic Archaeology

Data Recovery at the Old Governor's Mansion, Milledgeville, Georgia

Southern Research's ongoing archaeological study of the grounds around and beneath the Old Governors Mansion is an integral part of the overall restoration of this National Historic Landmark.

By W. Dean Wood, Rita Folse Elliott, and Kristofer M. Beadenkopf
Produced for the Board of Regents, Georgia College and State University
1996 - 2004

Southern Research has conducted a multiphase excavation of the Old Governor's Mansion grounds. During one phase of the restoration of the property, a new kitchen building was built to modernize the catering facilities at the Mansion. The construction of the new kitchen disturbed an extensive area behind the Mansion where archaeological deposits and features dating to the nineteenth century were present. The Georgia Environmental Protection Act requires that the Board of Regents consider the archaeological resources before they are destroyed. While fieldwork on this project is completed, research is ongoing into the history of this important Georgia Landmark.

Previous archaeological testing in 1996 and 1997 demonstrated that the grounds of the Mansion had been covered over at times in the past. This caused the nineteenth century land surface to be buried beneath up to three feet of fill dirt. Archaeologists used a backhoe and dump truck to remove this overburden from the nineteenth century landscape.

After the heavy equipment did what it could, the team of archaeologists went to work with shovels. Some areas were selected for careful hand excavation while others were intensively sampled by passing all of the soil from a two meter square through fine mesh screens. This allowed the researchers to recover very small artifacts, seeds and food bones they will use to reconstruct life in the nineteenth century.

As work progressed, the outline of an early kitchen building was exposed by the excavators. The archaeological dig behind the Mansion discovered a refuse deposit rich in artifacts and animal bone from the time of the governor’s occupancy through the post Civil War reconstruction period. A brick kitchen foundation from the late 1800s was constructed through the earlier refuse deposit. This kitchen building probably dates to about 1891 or 1892 when the Mansion was used as a dormitory for the newly established Georgia Normal and Industrial College.

The work recorded the faint outlines of features that are probably the remnants of horticultural beds. Four linear stains marking the bases of ditches dug into the red clay subsoil run parallel to the Mansion in what would have been the back yard. Analysis of soils from these linear features may yield preserved seeds and fossil pollen grains that will help determine what was cultivated here.

A wide variety of utilitarian glass vessels were also recovered during the recent excavations at the Old Governor's Mansion. By looking at the method of manufacturing, archaeologists are often able to more closely date the artifacts and, therefore, the layer from which they came.

Some of the most interesting facts about people, such as what types of food they were eating and what their economic status really was, are never recorded in the history books. Archaeologists can use evidence such as bones and seeds to determine the diet and lifestyle of the people who lived at a site. Some of the more interesting artifacts recovered by archaeologists during the Old Governor's Mansion excavations are very recognizable, everyday items used by individuals. Pieces associated with clothing such as buttons, hooks and eyes, and jet beads. Jet jewelry became popular in the nineteenth century after Britain's Queen Victoria began wearing jet as part of her mourning attire following the death of her husband, Prince Albert.

A wide variety of ceramics were found in the recent excavation at the Old Governor's Mansion. Ceramics are some of the most reliable dating tools archaeologists can find. Decoration style, color, and technique changed frequently through time and, by looking at these attributes, researchers are able to discover when the dishes were made and probably used.