Professor & Department Head
Biography
Research
Archaeological method and theory, historical archaeology of eastern North America and the Caribbean, archaeology of the African diaspora, colonialism, historic landscapes, material culture, public archaeology and interpretation, Thomas Jefferson.
Education
- Ph.D. 1988, American Civilization with specialization in Historical Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania.
- M.A. 1983, American Civilization with specialization in Historical Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania.
- B.A. 1982, Anthropology, The College of William and Mary.
Publications
Heath, Barbara J., Eleanor E. Breen and Lori A. Lee (editors)
2017 Material Worlds: Archaeology, Consumption, and the Road to Modernity. Routledge Press, Oxon, UK.
Heath, Barbara J. and Jack Gary, editors. 2012. Jefferson’s Poplar Forest: Unearthing a Virginia Plantation. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. (reprinted in paperback 2016).
Heath, Barbara J., editor. 2001. Jamestown Archaeological Assessment, National Park Service, US Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.
Heath, Barbara J., 1999. Hidden Lives: The Archaeology of Slave Life at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. The University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Refereed Journal Articles
Brock, Daniel W. H., Barbara J. Heath, and Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, 2017. Dendroarchaeology at the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site: Contextualizing the Landscape of an Upland South Farmstead in East Tennessee, U.S.A. Dendrochronologia 43:41-49.
Heath, Barbara J., 2016. Cowrie Shells, Global Trade and Local Exchange: Piecing together the Evidence. Historical Archaeology 50(2):17-46.
Heath, Barbara J., 2016. Dynamic Landscapes: The Emergence of Formal Spaces in Colonial Virginia. Historical Archaeology 50(1):27-44.
McMillan, Lauren K., D. Brad Hatch, and Barbara J. Heath. 2015. Dating and Chronology at the John Hallowes Site (44WM6), Westmoreland County, Virginia. Northeast Historical Archaeology 43:18-36.
Hatch, D. Brad, Barbara J. Heath, and Lauren K. McMillan. 2014. Reassessing the Hallowes Site: Conflict and Settlement in the 17th-century Potomac Valley. Historical Archaeology 48(4):46-75.
Heath, Barbara J. and Eleanor Breen. 2012. Assessing Variability among Quartering Sites in Virginia. Northeast Historical Archaeology 38:1-28 (2009).
Klippel, Walter E., Jennifer A. Synstelien, and Barbara J. Heath. 2011. Taphonomy and Fish Bones From an Enslaved African American Context at Poplar Forest, Virginia, USA. Archaeofauna 20:27-45.
Heath, Barbara J. and Lori A. Lee. 2010. Memory, Race and Place: African American Landscapes at Poplar Forest. History Compass 8(12):1352-1368.
Paterson, Alistair G. and Heath, Barbara J. 2009. Current Research in Australia and New Zealand, An Overview. Historical Archaeology 43(3):112-118.
Heath, Barbara J. and Amber Bennett. 2000. ‘The little spots allow’d them’: The Archaeological Study of African-American Yards. Historical Archaeology 34(2):38-55 (same as 2009 Heath and Bennett article cited above, 2009).
Heath, Barbara J. 1991. “Pots of Earth”: Afro-Caribbean Wares from St. Eustatius. Florida Journal of Anthropology 16(7):33-50.
Book Chapters
Heath, Barbara J. and Eleanor E. Breen
2017 Archaeological Research on Eighteenth-Century Virginia: Recent Scholarship, Trends, and Future Directions. In The Historical Archaeology of Virginia from Initial Settlement to the Present: Overview and New Directions, edited by Clarence R. Geier, pp. 31–46. Joint publication of the Archeological Society of Virginia, Department of Historic Resources and Council of Virginia Archaeologists. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform.
Heath, Barbara J., Laura J. Galke and Lori A. Lee
2017 Archaeological Research on Virginia Sites 1780-1860: A Synthesis. The Historical Archaeology of Virginia from Initial Settlement to the Present: Overview and New Directions, edited by Clarence R. Geier, pp. 47–66. Archeological Society of Virginia. Joint publication of the Archeological Society of Virginia, Department of Historic Resources and Council of Virginia Archaeologists. Create Space Independent Publishing Platform.
Heath, Barbara J.
2017 An Historical Archaeology of Consumerism: Re-centering Objects, Re-engaging with Data. In Material Worlds: Archaeology, Consumption, and the Road to Modernity, Barbara J. Heath, Eleanor E. Breen and Lori A. Lee, editors, pp. 1–8. Routledge Press, Oxon, UK.
Heath, Barbara J.
2017 Commoditization, Consumption and Interpretive Complexity: The Contingent Role of Cowries in the Modern World. In Material Worlds: Archaeology, Consumption, and the Road to Modernity, Barbara J. Heath, Eleanor E. Breen and Lori A. Lee, editors, pp. 56–76. Routledge Press, Oxon, UK.
Heath, Barbara J. 2013. Landscape Archaeology at Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. In Sourcebook for Garden Archaeology: Methods, Techniques, Interpretations and Field Examples, Aichal Malek, editor, pp.697-706. Peter Lang AG /Fondation des Parcs et Jardins de France, Bern.
Heath, Barbara J. 2012. A Brief History of Plantation Archaeology in Virginia. In Jefferson's Poplar Forest: Unearthing a Virginia Plantation, Barbara J. Heath and Jack Gary, editors, pp. 20-45. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Heath, Barbara J. 2012. Slave Housing, Household Formation and Community Dynamics at Poplar Forest, 1760s-1810s. In Jefferson's Poplar Forest: Unearthing a Virginia Plantation, Barbara J. Heath and Jack Gary, editors, pp. 105-128. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Heath, Barbara J. and Jack Gary. 2012. “Two Tracts of Land at the Poplar Forest”: An Historical and Archaeological Overview of Thomas Jefferson’s Central Virginia Plantation and Villa Retreat. In Jefferson's Poplar Forest: Unearthing a Virginia Plantation, Barbara J. Heath and Jack Gary, editors, pp. 1-19. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
Heath, Barbara J. 2010. Space and Place within Plantation Quarters in Virginia, 1700-1825. In Cabin, Quarter, Plantation: Architecture and Landscapes of North American Slavery, Clifton Ellis and Rebecca Ginsburg, editors, pp. 156-176. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
Heath, Barbara J. and Amber Bennett. 2009. ‘The little spots allow’d them’: The Archaeological Study of African-American Yards. In Perspectives from Historical Archaeology: African Diaspora Archaeology Nicholas Honercamp, editor, pp. 56-72. The Society for Historical Archaeology.
Heath, Barbara J. 2007. Thomas Jefferson’s Landscape of Retirement. In Post-Medieval Estate Landscapes: Design, Improvement and Power, Jonathan Finch and Kate Giles, editors, pp. 129-147. The Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology Monograph no. 4. Boydell & Brewer, Ltd., Woodbridge.
Heath, Barbara J. 2004. Engendering Choice: Slavery and Consumerism in Central Virginia. In Engendering African American Archaeology, Jillian Galle and Amy Young, editors, pp. 19-38. University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.
Heath, Barbara J. 1999. Buttons, Beads and Buckles: Self-Definition within the Bounds of Slavery. In Historical Archaeology, Identity Formation and the Interpretation of Ethnicity, Maria Franklin and Garrett R. Fesler, editors, pp. 47-69. Colonial Williamsburg Research Publications, Dietz Press, Richmond.
Heath, Barbara J. 1999. Nineteenth-century Small Farms and Plantations. In The Archaeology of 19th-Century Virginia, John H. Sprinkle and Theodore R. Reinhart, editors, pp. 53-76. Special Publication No.36 of the Archeological Society of Virginia. Spectrum Press, Richmond.
Heath, Barbara J. 1999. Yabbas, Monkeys, Jugs and Jars: Local Pottery Production and Its Meaning. In African Sites: Archaeology in the Caribbean, Jay B. Haviser, editor, pp. 196-220. Markus Wiener Publishers, Princeton, New Jersey.
Heath, Barbara J. 1999. “Your Humble Servant”: Free Artisans in the Monticello Community. In I, too, am America: Archaeological Studies of African-American Life, Theresa A. Singleton, editor, pp. 193-217. University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Heath, Barbara J. 1997. Archaeology and Interpretation at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and Poplar Forest. In Presenting Archaeology to the Public: Digging for Truths, John H. Jameson, editor, pp. 177-192. AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek.
Heath, Barbara J. 1996.Temper, temper: Recent Scholarship on Colonoware in Eighteenth-Century Virginia. In The Archaeology of Eighteenth-Century Virginia, Theodore R. Reinhart, editor, pp. 149-175. Special Publication No. 35 of the Archeological Society of Virginia, Spectrum Press, Richmond.