A Comparative Analysis of Plant Use at Five Colonial Chespeake Sites, 1630-1720

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "New Avenues in the Study of Plant Remains from Historical Sites" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Our paper summarizes analyses of samples of carbonized seeds, nutshells, and plant parts and tissues which we use to investigate the relationships between people and plants in the foodways, economy, and ecology in Maryland and Virginia in the period from 1630 to 1720. Incorporating multiple contexts from five sites—Sandys (44JC802), Coan Hall (44NB11), Utopia 1, Utopia 2 (44JC32) and King’s Reach (18CV83)— allows us to identify plants that may be under-represented at sites with few samples and to assess variation within specific temporal and spatial contexts more completely. We focus on the contributions of New and Old World plants to diet, domestic needs, and the economic strategies of the inhabitants of each site, and consider how colonial plant use contributed to processes of change and continuity.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Avenues in the Study of Plant Remains from Historical Sites   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology