"Coon, possum, rabbit, squirrel en aw dat": A zooarchaeological investigation of foodways at Witherspoon Plantation, South Carolina

Summary

This paper examines the results of zooarchaeological analysis completed on faunal remains from Witherspoon Island, a 19th century cotton plantation in South Carolina. This research contributes to a larger ongoing historical archaeological project exploring the lives of enslaved African-Americans and their descendants on the remote absentee plantation. To examine shifting food practices at the site, we present the results of the analysis of faunal remains recovered from two house and adjacent yard areas associated with slave and post-emancipation share cropping occupations. Data are compared between households and evaluated over time to explore how foodways at the household level changed with transitioning demographics on the plantation, and particularly post-emancipation. Results of analysis indicate that the slaves and sharecroppers at Witherspoon consumed a mix of wild and domestic fauna, formulating creative and distinct subsistence practices. These data complement ethnohistoric research at the site, providing local material evidence of developing food traditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015   •
• Diet and Decisions in Island and Coastal Settings: Current Zooarchaeological Research

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 539