New Methods for Comparing Consumer Behavior across Space and Time in the Early Modern Atlantic World

Summary

Unlike primary sources, archaeological assemblages can be used to estimate per-capita discard rates that reveal the flow of goods through time and the complexity of purchasing patterns on a range of sites.  In addition to filling these gaps, the archaeological record provides data on individuals and groups not represented in probate inventories and wills, two document types most often used to track consumer habits on both the small and large scale.  Unfortunately measuring and comparing consumption rates using archaeological data are complex tasks.There are myriad challenges inherent in large-scale comparative archaeological analyses.  This paper discusses which analytical tools can best uncover consumption trends at sites with very different depositional and excavation histories.  In doing so I demonstrate how sample sizes, both in terms of the number of assemblages available and the quantity of artifacts in each assemblage, can impact the results. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Material Worlds: Archaeology, Consumption, and the Road to Modernity   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 614