Prendergast, MaryMorgan, MollyFesta, Natalie2025-01-222025-01-222022Festa, N. (2022). A Zooarchaeological Analysis of Diet and Provisioning Strategies of Captive Laborers at Varner-Hogg Plantation. Rice University. https://doi.org/10.25611/WQ2B-VN82https://hdl.handle.net/1911/118250Food remains serve as one of the best preserved and most direct ways to access the lives of people who are typically not written about or are understudied. Zooarchaeological analysis of faunal remains (animal bones, teeth, shells, and other preserved body parts) excavated from the ground can help to reconstruct the foods and foodways involved in the lives of African Americans from both the antebellum and postbellum eras. Multiple lines of evidence are required to truly understand African American foodways, but in this thesis I focus on faunal analysis as a starting point to gain fundamental knowledge and lay the ground work for additional studies. This study continues the work of previous scholars to recover and increase knowledge about the lives and experiences of captive African American laborers through a zooarchaeological analysis of fauna excavated from the Varner-Hogg Plantation. Further, this thesis adds to the study of African American lifeways on plantations in Texas, from which few other sites have been studied. The current study is located within this wider effort to recover, understand, and reconcile the difficult history of slavery and oppressed labor in which the plantation is entrenched. This thesis begins with an overview of the archaeological literature on African American foodways in Chapter 2, specifically focusing on zooarchaeological studies on plantations and on the complex relationships between food and enslaved and captive labor. Chapter 3 discusses the history of excavations that have occurred at the Varner-Hogg Plantation, the specific faunal assemblage studied, and the methods used to identify and analyze faunal specimens. Chapter 4 presents the results of the analysis, and highlights information about the preservation and identifiability of the assemblage, the taxonomic representation, the breakdown of wild versus domestic species and medium versus large mammals, and a taphonomic analysis of the survivorship of skeletal elements and the distribution of cut marks on medium and large mammals. Finally, Chapter 5 discusses these results, investigating the potential dietary elements and provisioning strategies involved in the foodways of captive laborers at Varner-Hogg Plantation, and outlining opportunities for future research to build upon the current dataset.78 ppengExcept where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the terms of the license or beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Brazoria CountyVarner-Hogg PlantationSlavery ArchaeologyTexas ArchaeologyPlantation ArchaeologyFoodwaysZooarchaeologyA Zooarchaeological Analysis of Diet and Provisioning Strategies of Captive Laborers at Varner-Hogg PlantationThesishttps://doi.org/10.25611/wq2b-vn82