Adaptive Economics to Environmental and Political Changes at the Musgrove Cowpens and Trading Post (9CH137)

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Musgrove Cowpens and Trading Post (9Ch137) was a rural property central to a colonial economic system that brought deerskins and cattle to urban markets in Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia. Mary Musgrove (born Coosaponakeesa) is a woman of Creek and English descent who owned and operated this property on Georgia's coast between 1732-1738 and 1742-1746. As an interpreter, trader, and rancher, Mary was central to economic ventures reliant on political relations between indigenous communities and colonial agents. The Musgrove site embodies a colonial landscape wherein competing strategies- the deerskin trade and cattle ranching- seemingly co-existed. My analysis of over 70,000 faunal specimens from this site shows an increasing reliance on cattle over the property's occupation, potentially revealing a household adjusting its economic strategies to environmental and political changes. This shift reflects what is known historically: livestock, over-hunting, and increasing colonial settlement impacted available species, especially coastal deer populations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow