Slave Diet at Monticello

1990/10/01 by Diana C. Crader · 92 citations
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Social Sciences · #Archaeology #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Assemblage (archaeology) #Biology #Ecology #Fauna #Faunal assemblage #Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies #Geography #History #Philosophy #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Quality (philosophy) #Quarter (Canadian coin) #Taphonomy

paper · doi:10.2307/281246

published in American Antiquity 55(4), 690-717 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 1990/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25

Abstract

The results of a detailed analysis of the faunal remains from the slave dwelling known as Building “o” at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s well-known Virginia plantation, do not conform with the expected slave quarter faunal pattern in that more complete carcasses and higher quality cuts of meat are represented. The bone assemblage contrasts with the lower quality meats found in the Storehouse at Monticello, which also is thought to have been occupied by slaves. This raises the issue of differences in meat diet within the slave community at Monticello, and it is suggested that either higher status or a complex taphonomic history involving the deposition of mixed plantation refuse may explain the patterning that is present.

Cited by

• The Archaeology of Slavery in North America
• Oral microbial diversity in 18th century African individuals from South Carolina. [europepmc]

Related

• More Complicated Than Meal, Meat, and Molasses: Historicizing Enslaved Rations in the Southern United States
• A Peculiar Population: The Nutrition, Health, and Mortality of American Slaves from Childhood to Maturity
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• Bowls, Plates, and Teawares: Evaluating Ceramic Use at a Virginian Plantation through Use-Wear and Absorbed Residue Analyses
• Slave Life at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello