Fort Chiswell's Food Archeology

[@Bernie7330]

Really enjoying your videos particularly because you seem to research your topics using period sources rather than just repeat modern speculation. You're correct that personal status and reputation were very important in the 18th century, even on the frontier. Once the earliest settlements were established, your creditworthiness (for things like ironware, sugar, textiles, etc.) was heavily dependent on your reputation. One thing to consider here is that, according to many contemporary sources, someone who continued to get most of their meat from hunting was often considered a poor farmer and sometimes of questionable character. This is consistent with Sayer being nearly bankrupt before he died. Most settlers hunted but, except for the initial period of settlement or in cases of emergency such as Indian raids or crop failure, hunting was mostly to supplement their diet whenever the farm work permitted. Keep up the great work!

[@thedeerskindiary]

Great perspective and thank you for getting the theme and elaborating on it.

[@adampotraffke2134]

Hey need more videos, out standing , almost a documentary !!! Love it

[@thedeerskindiary]

Thank you. More to come!

[@ashleyanderson2859]

Thanks for sharing

[@thedeerskindiary]

Happy to offer a theory!

[@jeffreymcintire8273]

This might be true but I'll always also acknowledge those who also hunted out of necessity.

[@thedeerskindiary]

There were certainly those who did. I found this interesting because it was someone who didn’t appear to be.

[@2gpowell]

Very interesting !

[@thedeerskindiary]

I thought so also. The frontier was such a complex place.

[@jimmullins1784]

It is important to keep in mind that the site was occupied by Sayers for a very short time. Sayers served on the Forbes expedition (1757-8) and is mentioned in Timberlake's memoirs (also some dangerous river crossings in the mix). In 1760 and 1761, hundreds of Virginia Provincial soldiers encamped at his home site (650 men are there in 1761), in 1761 300 additional NC Provincials and over 50 Tuscaroras were there as well. The dig was quick a salvage operation before road construction, and it is highly likely that the 1760-61 Virginia military occupants utilized the Sayers era buildings. After that, the site was purchased by McGavock and a tavern/mill/blacksmith operation was there for a good long while. Although I appreciate the work that went into this thesis, I sincerely doubt that the data from the Sayers period did not include faunal remains from the Byrd occupation period as they appear to have billeted in the same buildings. The Byrd occupation includes an additional powder magazine.

[@thedeerskindiary]

I need to go back and re-read the arch report but from memory I got the impression that they believed the faunal remains were likely associated with Sayer’s timeframe. I wil dig it back out and see!

[@thedeerskindiary]

According to the report the bulk of the archeological remains used for this study were in Sayer’s residence at his hearth and burn area and focused on 1754-1758.

[@PorchHonkey]

That's funny, I hunt today because I am poor.

[@stevemalibu99]

Very good.

[@thedeerskindiary]

Thank you.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

In a place of relative abundance, hunting could be seen as harvesting animals. Perhaps Sayers was not always the worse for drink during his life. Twenty-two deer are not a lot to take over a period of years. Of course, one adult beeve could be salted and provide for a family for a year.

[@thedeerskindiary]

Great point. The low number of deer I took as a sign that it was something other than an over reliance on wild meat and definitely not a market hunter.

[@CaptRons18thcentury]

As a chubby boy that likes to eat... this is a great video my friend...

[@thedeerskindiary]

Yeah it made me hungry too and totally justifies my love of steak at events.

[@DanielLehan]

500 acres was not "a sign of wealth". There wasn't enough labor to farm it all, and hunting was a neccesary survival skill. Most wealthy families had at least 2-3 thousand acres.

[@thedeerskindiary]

Thanks for your message. Can you show me where I can read more about that? I have always understood that the 2-3 thousand acre type of land ownership was over in what we now know as Virginia during this time period.

[@SirFrederick]

never thought hunting would be a sign of wealth, bedsides the fox hunts. I always thought it was something everyone did for food.

[@thedeerskindiary]

I did too actually, but the vast majority of the meat supply on the settled frontier was domestic. To confuse the issue more domestic cattle and hogs were allowed to roam and had to be hunted to harvest. What a complex onion to peel back.

[@ThomasQuigley-b1b]

Well, you wouldn't want to butcher one of your own cows if you could shoot a deer. Just comment sense to me.

[@thedeerskindiary]

That is certainly one explanation, although this site had far more venison represented then most other sites, so it seems that others were indeed slaughtering their cattle rather then hunt.