Animal Husbandry, Hunting, and Fishing on the Lower Cape Fear: Analysis of Colonial and Civil War Era Animal Remains from Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson

Summary

Recent analyses of animal remains recovered from Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson provide information about the animal use practices of the site’s colonial and Civil War occupants. Colonial materials indicate a pattern similar to animal use observed among eighteenth-century Charleston sites with a heavy reliance on domesticates, particularly cattle, supplemented by estuarine resources. This Charleston pattern has been described as "urban" to contrast it with patterns of animal use observed at outlying or "rural" plantations that exhibit greater use of wild taxa. Intrasite comparison of two colonial Brunswick Town households suggests some differences in diet associated with socioeconomic status. In contrast to their colonial predecessors, the Civil War occupants of Fort Anderson relied heavily on wild species. The abundance of wild game corroborates contemporary accounts of life at Fort Anderson which indicate the Confederate soldiers spent time hunting and fishing in order to combat boredom and hunger while stationed at the Fort.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Off the Public Walkways: Expanding Interpretations of a a Colonial Era Town and Civil War Fort at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 492