Abstract
Botanicals are often present in abundant quantities in historic sites, so it is important to exploit the interpretive potential of these data. Understanding how a household chooses and prepares plants to consume, medicate, intoxicate, and beautify can give insight into how that household makes consumer choices. The model presented here lays the analytical framework by which floral data can be fully integrated into historical archaeology. The model accommodates the uniqueness of floral data because the variables which set parameters on consumer choices of plant products are not always the same as those for other classes of artifacts. The ultimate goal of the model is to provide linkages between botanical artifacts and consumer behavior that will be recognizable in the archaeological record.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz 1983 More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave. Basic Books, New York.
Darling, Frank Fraser, and Raymond Dasmann 1972 The Ecosystem View of Human Society. In The Ecology of Man: An Ecosystem Approach, edited by Robert Leo Smith, pp. 40–48. Harper and Row, New York.
Evans, John G. 1978 Environmental Archaeology. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York.
Farb, Peter, and George Armelagos 1980 Consuming Passions: The Anthropology of Eating. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Massachusetts.
Favretti, Rudy, and Joy Favretti 1978 Landscapes and Gardens for Historic Buildings. American Association for State and Local History, Nashville, Tennessee.
Harris, Ben Charles 1985 The Complete Herbal. Bell, New York.
Holt, Cheryl A. 1983 Floral and Faunal Analyses. In Archaeological Investigations at the National Photographic Interpretation Center Addition, Washington, D.C., Navy Yard Annex, edited by Charles Cheek and Charles LeeDecker, pp. 127–154. Prepared for Soil Systems, Inc., Marietta, Georgia.
1984 Floral and Faunal Analyses. In Final Archaeological Investigations at the Wilmington Boulevard, Monroe Street to King Street, Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware. DELDOT Archaeology Series 29, edited by Terry Klein and Patrick Garrow, pp. 347–368. Prepared for Soil Systems, Inc., Marietta, Georgia.
1985a Floral Analysis. In Archaeological Investigation of Site 1 of the Washington Street Urban Renewal Area, New York City, edited by Joan Geismar, pp. D3–D16. Prepared for the Cultural Resource Group, Louis Berger and Associates, Inc., East Orange, New Jersey.
1985b Floral and Faunal Analyses. In Architectural Study and Prehistoric and Historical Artifact Analyses for the Howard Road Historic District Data Recovery Program, Washington, D.C., edited by Charles LeeDecker and Terry Klein, Appendices J1, K1, L1, M1, N1, and O1. Prepared for the Cultural Resource Group, Louis Berger and Associates, Inc., East Orange, New Jersey.
1985c Floral and Faunal Analyses. In Nineteenth Century Wilmington Households: The Christina Gateway Project, edited by Terry Klein and Charles Lee-Decker, pp. 221–252. Report prepared by Louis Berger and Associates, Inc., East Orange, New Jersey. Submitted to the City of Wilmington, Delaware.
1986a Floral Analysis of the Bowling Green. In Restoration Archaeology Report: Archaeological Investigations in the Forecourt at Mount Clare Mansion, Baltimore, Maryland, 18 BC 10H. Research Series No. 14, edited by Gary Norman, Carmen Weber, Kristen Peters, and Scott Simmons, pp. 25–46. Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology, Baltimore, Maryland.
1986b The Orchard Planting Pattern. In Restoration Archaeology Report: Archaeological Investigations in the Forecourt at Mount Clare Mansion, Baltimore, Maryland, 18 BC 10H. Research Series No. 14, edited by Gary Norman, Carmen Weber, Kristen Peters, and Scott Simmons, pp. 46–65. Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology, Baltimore, Maryland.
1986c Floral Analysis of the Mount Clare Kitchen. Ms. on file, Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology, Baltimore, Maryland.
1986d Floral and Faunal Analyses. In The Hamlin Site, 1780 to 1856; A Study of Rural Consumer Behavior, edited by Edward Morin and Terry Klein, pp. F1–F101. Prepared for Louis Berger and Associates, Inc., East Orange, New Jersey.
1986e Floral Analysis. In The Oxon Hill Manor Archaeological Site Mitigation Project, edited by Patrick Garrow and Tom Wheaton, Appendix 5. Prepared for Garrow and Associates, Atlanta, Georgia.
1987 The Floral Analysis of Harford Furnace 18HA148. Ms. on file, Maryland Geologic Survey, Baltimore, Maryland.
1989a Floral and Faunal Analyses. In The Hertz Lot Site 36PH28: An Exploration of Philadelphia’s Early Waterfront, edited by Carmen Weber. Prepared for Philadelphia Historical Commission, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1989b Floral Analysis of the H.M.S. DeBraak: Underwater Recovery of Botanical Remains. Ms. on file, Island Field Museum and Research Center, Milford, Delaware.
1989c Floral and Faunal Analyses of the Shot Tower Metro Phase 1. Ms. on file, Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology, Baltimore, Maryland.
King, Lester 1958 The Medical World of the Eighteenth Century. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
Knight, Clifford 1965 Basic Concepts of Ecology. Macmillan, New York.
Lee, Richard 1968 What Hunters Do for a Living, Or, How to Make Out on Scarce Resources. In Man the Hunter, edited by Richard Lee and Irving DeVore, pp. 30–48. Aldine Atherton, Chicago.
LÉvi-Strauss, Claude 1969 The Raw and the Cooked. Harper and Row, New York.
Louis Berger and Associates, Inc. 1985 Nineteenth Century Wilmington Households: The Christina Gateway Project. Report prepared by Louis Berger and Associates, Inc., East Orange, New Jersey. Submitted to City of Wilmington, Delaware.
Lowenberg, Miriam, Neige Todhunter, Eva Wilson, Moira Feeney, and Jane Savage 1968 Food and Man. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
McKee, Larry 1987 Delineating Ethnicity from the Garbage of the Early Virginians: The Faunal Remains from the Kingsmill Plantation Slave Quarters. American Archaeology 6:31–39.
Milne, Lorus, and Margery Milne 1971 The Arena of Life: The Dynamics of Ecology. Doubleday/Natural History Press, Garden City, New York.
Moore, Ruth 1975 Man in the Environment. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Mundell, Robert A. 1968 Man and Economics. McGraw-Hill, New York.
Ratigan, Marion 1946 A Sociological Survey of Disease in Four Alleys in the National Capital. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
Ritchie, Carson 1981 Food in Civilization: How History Has Been Affected by Human Tastes. Beaufort Books, New York and Toronto.
Roberts, Daniel, and David Barrett 1984 Nightsoil Disposal Practices of the 19th Century and the Origin of Artifacts in Plowzone Proveniences. Historical Archaeology 18(1):108–115.
Root, Waverley, and Richard de Rochemont 1976 Eating in America: A History. William Morrow, New York.
Schmit, Patricia Brady 1982 Nelly Custis Lewis’s Housekeeping Book. The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Schneider, Harold 1974 Economic Man: The Anthropology of Economics. Free Press, New York.
Scott, Frank 1870 The Art of Beautifying Suburban Home Grounds. D. Appleton, New York.
Shryock, Richard Harrison 1960 Medicine and Society in America: 1660–1860. New York University Press, New York.
Sigerist, Henry 1934 American Medicine. W.W. Norton, New York.
Sokolov, Raymond 1983 Fading Feast: A Compendium of Disappearing American Regional Foods. E.P. Dutton, New York.
Strasser, Susan 1982 Never Done: A History of American Housework. Pantheon Books, New York.
Tice, Patricia 1984 Gardening in America: 1830–1910. The Strong Museum, Rochester, New York.
Trollope, Frances 1960 The Smartest Men in Cincinnati. In Domestic Manners of the Americans, edited by Donald Smalley, pp. 72–105. Vintage Books, New York.
Trostel, Michael 1981 Mount Clare: Being an Account of the Seat Built by Charles Carroll, Barrister, Upon His Lands at Patapsco. National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland.
Tugwell, Rexford, Thomas Munro, and Roy Stryker 1930 American Economic Life: And the Means of Its Improvement. Harcourt, Brace, New York.
Visser, Margaret 1986 Much Depends on Dinner: The Extraordinary History and Mythology, Allure and Obsessions, Perils and Taboos, of an Ordinary Meal. Grove Press, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Holt, C.A. Plants, humans, and culture: An edible model of consuming behavior. Hist Arch 25, 46–61 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373514
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373514