What Comes In, Must Come Out: A Look Into Botanical Assemblages From Historical Philadelphia Privies.

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Archaeology of the Delaware River Waterfront Symposium of Philadelphia Neighborhoods" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Privies were a necessary part of daily life for the inhabitants of nineteenth century Philadelphia. Home to everything from human excrement to trash, the contents within privies unveil the history of the people who lived there. Archaeobotanical assemblages discovered in privy samples divulge what these city dwellers grew, cooked, ate, and discarded, as well as the landscape surrounding their homes. Plant material ended up in privies via a variety of ways, including through discard, human waste and by accident. Each source of depositional activity has implications for the use of the recovered material and the people who utilized it. This paper will examine archaeobotanical assemblages recovered from the Gunnar’s Run Site to illuminate how plant material ended up in the privies of nineteenth century Philadelphians, as well as their cultural relationship to these inhabitants.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology of the Delaware River Waterfront Symposium of Philadelphia Neighborhoods   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology