From Steak to Turtle Soup: Preliminary Faunal Analysis from the Halcyon House Collection

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 1985, archaeologists excavated the yard areas of Halcyon House, a national historical site located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Thousands of artifacts, spanning over a century, were unearthed before the project was prematurely terminated. The artifacts remained untouched in storage for nearly 30 years. This paper presents the initial results of the faunal analysis, conducted by Dr. Mia Carey, alongside archival and collections research by Dr. Jennifer Lupu. The archaeological materials yield insights into the lives of not only the property’s wealthy white male owners, but dozens of others including enslaved people, tenants, and domestic workers who lived at or worked at Halcyon. From the daily lives of enslaved Africans in the early 1800s, to lavish secret queer parties a century later, animal bones in the trash deposits yield new glimpses into life at this historical site throughout its relatively unknown but fascinating history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow