Tastes on the "Tight Little Island": Dietary Choices in St. George's, Bermuda

Summary

British colonists in the New World employed a variety of strategies to cope with their new surroundings.  In eighteenth- and nineteenth-century St. George's, Bermuda, settlers embraced the natural abundance of the marine environment while maintaining their reliance on Old World domesticates.  Market access, personal preference, and socioeconomic standing greatly influenced the nature of this balance of Old and New World foodstuffs.  Faunal assemblages from the Henry Tucker House in St. George's represent occupations from 1762 to the 1840s.  The faunal assemblages from the State House in St. George's represent occupation phases spanning from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. The State House is unique among Bermudian assemblages because its faunal assemblages represent the combined tastes of multiple individuals of relatively high status.  Thus, comparing the State House and Tucker House assemblages allows one to determine the extent to which the natural and economic environments affected dietary choices over personal preference. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Across the Pond: New Ventures in a New World   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 357