Colonial Cattle Economies

Summary

Many long-standing questions in historical archaeology involve the production, distribution, preparation, consumption, and disposal of food. Foodways extend beyond the ingredients themselves to their cultural, economic, and environmental contexts. We consider this broader context in a case study of the production and distribution of cattle products between and within rural and urban centers in the colonial Chesapeake, the Carolina Lowcountry, and elsewhere. We conclude that animal economies in both regions were complex systems reflecting local environmental conditions, cash crop production, labor systems, regional traditions, and market opportunities. In the Chesapeake Bay cattle were managed within an economy specializing in tobacco production. The Carolina economy focused on cattle and rice production using an enslaved labor force working on the task system. This comparison expands traditional foodway studies by linking animal economies in emerging urban centers to their hinterlands and to global narratives of colonization and environmental history.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow