Multi-method analysis of a historic wooden trough from Kentucky, USA: a case study in corroborating artifact oral histories with heritage science

Oral history indicates that a large wooden trough held in storage at the University of Kentucky’s William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology was a component of the saltpeter mining operation in Mammoth Cave in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, worked largely by enslaved persons. We used multiple h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Heritage science 2023-11, Vol.11 (1), p.235-13, Article 235
Main Authors: Napora, Katharine G., Crothers, George M., Hadden, Carla S., Guerre, Lisa, Waldman, Laura J., Reyes-Centeno, Hugo, Keppeler, James, Imler, Madeline, Jakaitis, Edward, Metz, Alexander, Mink, Philip B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
3D scanning
Archaeology
Case studies
Chemistry and Materials Science
Historic artifacts
Mammoth Cave
Materials Science
Mining
Museums
National parks
Nitrates
Oral histories
Oral history
Provenance
Radiocarbon wiggle-match dating
Saltpeter mining
Scanning electron microscopy
Science
Sediments
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Summary:Oral history indicates that a large wooden trough held in storage at the University of Kentucky’s William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology was a component of the saltpeter mining operation in Mammoth Cave in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, worked largely by enslaved persons. We used multiple heritage science methods, including radiocarbon wiggle-match dating, tree-ring dating, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), and optical scanning, combined with historical research, to examine the trough. Our analysis supports the oral history of the trough as an artifact of the mining system in Mammoth Cave. This case study illustrates how heritage science methods can provide corroboration for the origins and biographies of poorly documented historical artifacts.
ISSN:2050-7445
2050-7445
DOI:10.1186/s40494-023-01075-3