Analysis of the Faunal Remains at the Arch Street Cemetery Site

Summary

Prior to moving the burials within the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia cemetery to a new location in 1860, a local newspaper of the time documented that the neighboring tenement houses used the open space as a dumping ground. Artifacts recovered from this deposit include pottery sherds, pieces of glass bottles, leather shoe soles, metal objects, and the remains of shellfish and domesticated animals. Many of the animal bones show signs of butchery, indicating that the remains are from food waste. Oyster, clam, sheep (mutton and lamb), and cattle were consumed by these tenants, as well as medium and large fowl, likely chicken and turkey. The goal of this paper is to quantify and analyze the faunal remains and compare the data to what we know of contemporary nineteenth-century Delaware River Valley resident diets.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20064