Domestic Animal Use at St. Inigoes Jesuit Plantation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Plantations in the Southern United States functioned on a system of power over enslaved Africans that is reflected in the material culture of daily life. Zooarchaeological analysis of the fauna from St. Inigoes plantation in St. Mary’s County Maryland provides insight into what everybody on the plantation was eating, and the work enslaved peoples performed to process the animals consumed. Through analysis of animal species and the abundance of skeletal parts present on the plantation, the subsistence strategies of the white population as well as the enslaved can be deduced. Understanding what enslaved peoples were eating provides insight into the activities of enslaved peoples beyond their labor, particularly how they were using the knowledge of the plantation to provide for themselves and their families. Additionally, understanding the subsistence patterns of enslaved peoples contributes to understanding the foodways of the Black community today and how their food is connected to the perseverance of their ancestors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39212.0