Community as Client

A Descendant-Based Archaeological Research Approach at a Presidential Plantation Site

Dados Bibliográficos

ID24218130
AutoresMatthew Reeves (0000-0003-4083-4758, Montpelier Foundation), Elizabeth McCague (Montpelier Foundation)
Ano2026
Páginas1-20
Data de publicação2026-10-06
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2161-9441 • E-ISSN: 2161-9468
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21619441.2026.2728529
OpenAlexW7220721861
IdiomaEN
Referências citadas14

The Clientage Model, as defined by Dr. Michael Blakey, is one in which archaeologists give descendants connected with a heritage site primacy in defining the research and interpretive agenda directed toward their ancestral material record. We have descendants guide our approach to the archaeological record at the site of the Montpelier plantation in Virginia, once owned by President James Madison. Descendants of enslaved Americans have raised questions regarding how the archaeological record reflects their ancestors’ intellectual contributions. This has helped us rethink our approach to interpreting the archaeological record and moved us toward an archaeology of intellectual labor across the landscape. Here we explore the insights gleaned from this perspective and how this has changed our collective understanding of the plantation landscape. From this work, descendants have termed the larger archaeological record an ancestral memory device and have become a primary partner in preserving this resource.

Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Cultural Identity and Heritage · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies

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