Investigating Diet Variability at Early Fortifications in the American Colonies

Summary

Variability in historic faunal assemblages is believed to be related to niche construction effects associated with the establishment and cultivation of Old World domesticated flora and fauna in the New World. Fort Shirley, a French and Indian War period fortification in Central Pennsylvania occupied during the mid 1750's, is an important case study in this picture as it was occupied during the introduction of domestic livestock to Central Pennsylvania. Published zooarchaeological analyses of historic fortifications elsewhere in the New World highlight significant contributions of locally abundant wild fauna to military diets. Statistical comparison of faunal assemblages from military installations dating to the French and Indian War (1754-1763), including Fort Shirley, the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), and the War of 1812 (1812-1815) will test the hypothesis that diet breadth narrowed through time and was accompanied by increasing reliance on Old World domesticates.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage