Rural modernization during the recent past: Farmstead archaeology in the Aiken Plateau

Abstract

Modernization theory is studied as a vehicle for interpreting archaeological resources of the recent past. During the period when many farmers were adopting mechanized equipment and new technologies for the home, the federal government purchased property from landowners in the Aiken Plateau of South Carolina to create a nuclear research facility. As a consequence, all farms in the study area were abandoned in 1951. This event created an opportunity for studying rural lifeways during a period when modernization was restructuring agriculture in North America. Analysis of the built environment in the study area indicates that very few of the dwellings resembled the modern-styled homes that were emerging across the nation by 1950. Despite the paucity of evidence for modern farm dwellings, archaeological analyses indicate that most rural households were purchasing numerous commercially produced goods. Contrasting information thus illustrates the often uneven character of culture change and historical process.