Archaeological Survey of the Old Federal Road in Alabama

appropriate for Moniac’s occupations of the initial house (1809-1813) and the house built after the firstwas burned (ca. 1815-1818).Three historic-period nails were recovered, and none were clenched (hammered over, resulting inan “L” shape). Clenched nails are expected at structures made of sawn boards rather than logs. Thedearth of nails, their condition (not clenched, and one burned), and the presence of three burned ceramicsherds all suggests a log house that was burned, which coincides with the meager historical evidenceavailable on Moniac’s house. His 1816 claim provides support for a small (most likely log) house, basedon his low estimate of its worth. Also recall Peggy Dow’s mention of only split wood available for acoffin. Taken together, the artifacts and historical documents support the inference that Moniac’s housealong the Federal Road was made of hewn logs rather than sawn boards.The chronologically diagnostic artifacts recovered from our four excavation units indicate anearly nineteenth-century occupation in the area investigated. As for where exactly the structure stood, thenumber of diagnostic artifacts from the test units closest to the modern residence (Units 1 and 2) is greaterthan from the farther units (3 and 4). Our overlay of the circa 1816-1817 Freeman survey plat on amodern topographic map places “Manack’s Store,” the second Moniac house, precisely where the modernresidence now stands. Our archaeological artifact distribution suggests the first house stood in the samelocation as the second.Household artifacts recovered by excavation provide some information on lifestyle and activitiesthat occurred at Moniac’s house on the Federal Road. The two Creek pottery sherds from the unitexcavations, in addition to the others found during shovel testing, fit expectations that a Creek Indianhousehold would have some Creek ceramics even at the late date of 1809-1813. The single identifiedvessel is a cooking jar of the type used to make sofki, a fermented thin corn soup consumed by the Creeksand unlikely to have been enjoyed by most travelers on the Federal Road. By 1810, wealthy Creekhouseholds would have routinely used English glazed pottery. The pearlware sherds with decorativestyles (edge decorated and hand painted) and plain creamware sherds found at Moniac’s house sitecorrespond to the types in wide use at the time of the Creek War. 22 The European ceramics are all servingvessels (plates and a saucer), perhaps types used to serve travelers. Finally, the recovery of a Dutch ovenfragment further ties the site with Moniac and his wealthy Creek Indian contemporaries. Moniac’s 1816claim inventory lists two Dutch ovens and similar objects were recovered at Fort Mims (Figure 8-22). 23186