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June 6, 2002--Members and friends of the University of Delaware Library Associates (UDLA) took a glimpse into the early culture of the First State at the annual faculty lecture held Tuesday, June 4, in the Class of 1941 Lecture Room at the Morris Library.
Lu Ann De Cunzo, associate professor of anthropology, spoke to a crowd of around 150 people on her experiences with “Digging Delaware’s Past.”
De Cunzo opened her lecture discussing her archeological studies in the one-time urban society of New Castle. She spent five years excavating the property of the George Read House and Gardens, a private home dating back to the late 17th century.
“It was a very, very slow process,” De Cunzo explained. “But, you only have one chance to do everything right.”
She displayed slides of materials unearthed at the site and focused primarily on items discarded by 17th- and 18th- century families.
“We like to call trash ‘the cool stuff,’” she said. “It’s the ‘cool stuff’ that tells the story of a family.”
Punch bowls, wine glasses, serving bottles, bones of lamb, deer and fowl–evidence of food ways in the 1700s–were among the discarded treasures unearthed at the Read House.
De Cunzo also touched on Delaware’s cutting-edge work in discovering the archeology of African-American families in the 1700s. She showed slides of materials, including watches, ice skates and lead pencils, found at the home of the Stumps, an African-American family who lived in the Glasgow area from 1870-1920.
“These consumer goods broke the stereotypes that this was a culture of poverty,” she said.
A number of items unearthed from De Cunzo’s excavations were on display at the reception after the lecture in the Morris Library Commons.
“All Delawareans should be aware of their history,” she said. “Delaware’s past is our legacy today.”
De Cunzo joined the UD faculty in 1989. She holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania.
She has given numerous presentations and serves on the board of directors of the Council for Northeast Historical Archeology. She also serves as a regular consultant for historical archeology. Her honors include serving as a Mellon Dissertation Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and receiving the Thomas U. Walter Award for a manuscript on Philadelphia architectural history.
Article by Elissa Serrao
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