Date Thesis Awarded

5-2008

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Anthropology

Advisor

Matthew Liebmann

Committee Members

Joanne Bowen

Lorena Walsh

James P. Whittenburg

Abstract

Despite the vast amount of zooarchaeological research that has been done on livestock in Colonial Virginia, little is known about the role of the horse in society and the environment before the American Revolution. The image provided by the current literature on the subject is fairly general and imprecise: horses were almost ubiquitous throughout the Chesapeake and provided transportation between disparate settlements. By conducting a thorough and quantitative analysis of probate records, this study presents a new, detailed understanding of horse husbandry in York County, Virginia, that emphasizes the role of the animal as an essential means of personal and commercial transportation, and as a symbol of increasing social stratification. Additionally, this research uses an evaluation of husbandry systems as dynamic processes, simultaneously influenced by environment, animal behavior, and human manipulation. The use of probate records in relation to other primary sources and contemporary research demonstrates how historical records can be used in absence of archaeological data to provide reliable information on past societies. This work makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the role of human-animal relationships in societies, and will benefit future research on similar topics.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Comments

Thesis is part of Honors ETD pilot project, 2008-2013. Migrated from Dspace in 2016.

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