Food In The Furnace

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Come, Tell Us How You Lived: 50 Years of Research at Catoctin Furnace, Maryland", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Two worker houses at Catoctin Furnace, the Forgeman’s House (18FR1043) and Hoke House (18FR1195) yielded dietary remains in the form of floral and faunal material. This analysis evaluates a sample of these dietary data alongside transaction records from the local store ledger. The results of this analysis explore the role of the furnace store in the provision of dietary staples, the use of wild game mammals as dietary supplements, and the integral role of foraging. These three aspects of food procurement allow us insight into dietary practices at Catoctin Furnace.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Come, Tell Us How You Lived: 50 Years of Research at Catoctin Furnace, Maryland   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow