The harsh treatment prompted Maryland officials to take the family to court on more than one occasion.

"Charges ranged from what are called cruel and unmerciful beatings to, there was one instance, where they were accused of not providing appropriate food and clothing for their enslaved population," says Beasley, adding the Vincendieres were found guilty at least twice.

Very little is known about these enslaved men and women. That's why anything that personalizes them - every coin, shell and artifact found by archeologists - is so relevant.

"These individuals had lives beyond what their masters expected them to do," says Stephen Potter of the National Park Service. "Here, we get to see glimpses of their private lives as a community and as families."

Bones of animals - such as cows and fish - discovered at the site, help archeologists piece together what the slave population's diet might have been.

Back in their offices, Kate Birmingham is painstakingly cataloging all the items the team has found into plastic bags. The archeologists try to interpret what certain items might mean. For example, meat bones cracked open could mean slaves ate the marrow, and glazed ceramic fragments could explain how they cooked their food.

Birmingham says they've found many more buttons than they would normally expect. "We know that, based on where the chimneys were placed on the houses, it would have been very cold inside. A working guess is that they had excess clothing they were taking the buttons off of because the primary reuse of clothing would be as quilts."