Neither Fish Nor Fowl: The Environmental Impacts of Dietary Preferences at Two 17th-Century Maryland Households

Valerie M. J. Hall

Neither Fish Nor Fowl: The Environmental Impacts of Dietary Preferences at Two 17th-Century Maryland Households

Year: 2018

Summary

Investigations of household-level interactions with local ecosystems at two seventeenth-century sites, both located on the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center campus, explore human occupants’ interactions with the local environment. English immigrants to late 17th-century Maryland impacted the landscape through traditional agricultural practices including the keeping of livestock herds. Analysis of faunal assemblages from the Shaw’s Folly and Sparrow’s Rest sites, examined at the intersection of cultural practices and environmental impact, show both families reflecting traditional English foodways by relying primarily on domesticated livestock despite abundant local resources. While archaeological evidence indicates interaction between the two households, analysis shows differing dietary preferences between the families. Exploring the differences in livestock keeping and consumption between sites elucidates local environmental impacts and stresses produced by the individual Shaw and Sparrow families’ preferences.

Cite this Record

Neither Fish Nor Fowl: The Environmental Impacts of Dietary Preferences at Two 17th-Century Maryland Households. Valerie M. J. Hall. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441509)