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A critical examination of the relationships between food and identity is explored among early British and American Loyalist settlers in Upper Canada (southern Ontario) from the late 18th to the late 19th centuries. This research synthesizes zooarchaeological data from the region and interprets these alongside historical texts to address how meat was incorporated into early immigrant diets. Previous scholarship generally agreed that pork played a dominant role in Upper Canadian cuisine and that residents first settling in the area were particularly reliant on wild meat resources. Archaeological evidence suggests this was not the case. Results and discussions highlight the influence of British working-class traditions on Upper Canadian identities and the development of regional cuisines in southern Ontario. Parallels are drawn to anthropological and sociological studies of migrant foodways, encouraging archaeologists to consider the importance of maintaining food traditions when examining early immigrant assemblages.

Much of the meat consumed in nineteenth-century southern Ontario (Upper Canada) came in the form of preserved barreled products. The specific ways of obtaining, preparing and consuming these products resulted in unique regional foodways. Through analyses of historical and archaeological evidence, this paper investigates how barreled meat was packed, shipped and purchased in Upper Canada and discusses the various ways its consumption impacted the lives of its residents and contributed to the formation of local identities. An investigation of butchery marks and body portion distributions lead to a possible method for archaeologically distinguishing between barreled and non-barreled meat assemblages.

The ways that pigs interact with humans are more flexible than other livestock. This plasticity means that pig behaviour can evidence a tremendous range of cultural phenomena, some of which may not otherwise show up in the archaeological record. We explore how people and pigs interacted in Ireland over 6000 years (4000 BC–AD 1900) from the perspective of isotopic zooarchaeology, using a large sample of pigs from 40 sites. Results demonstrate continuity and dramatic change. While pig diets show an emphasis on pannage throughout much of the period, husbandry was fundamentally reconstructed in the early medieval period. Through prehistory, pigs were herded in areas distant from human settlements, whereas later they were relocated to live near people. We explore potential implications of these patterns at a range of scales, from economics, to perspectives on zoonoses, and animal agency. While syntheses of a similar scope are needed for other areas of Europe, these findings may reflect a uniquely Irish trajectory of human–animal relationships.

Pet cemeteries provide a unique opportunity to investigate the development of human-animal relationships, yet few archaeological studies of these cemeteries have been undertaken. This article presents an archaeological survey of gravestones at British pet cemeteries from the Victorian period to the present. These memorials provide evidence for the perceived roles of animals, suggesting the development of an often conflicted relationship between humans and companion animals in British society—from beloved pets to valued family members—and the increasing belief in animal afterlives. The results are discussed in the context of society's current attitude towards animals and the struggle to define our relationships with pets through the mourning of their loss.

No other animal has a closer mutualistic relationship with humans than the dog (Canis familiaris). Domesticated from the Eurasian grey wolf (Canis lupus), dogs have evolved alongside humans over millennia in a relationship that has transformed dogs and the environments in which humans and dogs have co-inhabited. The story of the dog is the story of recent humanity, in all its biological and cultural complexity. By exploring human-dog-environment interactions throughout time and space, it is possible not only to understand vital elements of global history, but also to critically assess our present-day relationship with the natural world, and to begin to mitigate future global challenges. In this paper, co-authored by researchers from across the natural and social sciences, arts and humanities, we argue that a dog-centric approach provides a new model for future academic enquiry and engagement with both the public and the global environmental agenda.

The last 500 years is characterized by immense socioeconomic and environmental transformations on a global scale. Animals were significantly affected by these processes but were also central to many of the transformations that shaped the modern world. While there has been a growing number of researchers investigating animal bones from archaeological sites from this period, the “Zooarchaeology of the Modern Era” working group provides the first dedicated forum for these scholars to meet. This paper introduces a special collection of studies which resulted from the first meeting of this research group and explores how these investigations help us understand our modern world.

Chickens were among the first domesticates introduced by Europeans to North America, where they quickly became established. Morphometric analyses of chicken remains from sites in eastern Canada and the Northeastern USA demonstrate that founding populations likely came from several different types of chicken. Comparison of these data with English medieval and post-medieval assemblages reveals that continued selection for larger body size in both populations resulted in larger chickens. However, the physical proportions of these birds remained consistent across time and space until the nineteenth century, when breeders began producing specialized laying, broiler, and show birds with exaggerated characteristics.

This thesis investigates foodways in 19th-century Toronto, providing a critical examination of the relationship between food and identity in an emerging city and new province. Specifically, it asks if zooarchaeological remains can provide a nuanced understanding of how food was used in the expression of identities by early Ontarians. Faunal analyses were conducted for a number of urban and rural domestic assemblages located in and around the city and these were compared to published and unpublished faunal reports from across Upper Canada. Historical documents were examined for information on foodways and then contrasted with the zooarchaeological data. The discussion describes how various sources of meat were incorporated into 19th-century Toronto and Upper Canada foodways. Previous scholarship suggests pork was highly favoured by Upper Canadians and featured in most meals. It was also generally understood that the province’s earliest settlers needed to rely on wild sources of meat upon initial settlement and that British immigrants simply adapted their own foodways to local conditions. The results presented in this research challenges all of these assumptions and warns against the use of such homogenizing statements which only serve to mask realities. Zooarchaeological and historical data indicate individual households preferred different types of meat. Despite the variability in diet, British and American settlers maintained foodways that were traditional to them and did not ‘adapt’ to their new surroundings, relying instead on increased access to markets to supply themselves with the foods they prefer. This research also highlights the neglected/under-reported role of fish and seafood in the Upper Canadian diet and challenges some assumptions held by the Ontario zooarchaeological community.

Allometry and growth-increment aging of archaeological fish remains has the potential to reveal much about past fishing strategies, fish processing and trade, and fish populations. This paper documents the age and size characteristics of four samples of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) bones from early European contexts at Red Bay, Ferryland, Bay Bulls, and Crouse, which collectively span the middle 16th to early 19th centuries AD. The samples, which document the size structure of the “fished” population (the death assemblage), allow for a comparison of fishing strategies and techniques between the early Basque, French, and English commercial operations. At the same time, the samples, derived from multiple fishing regions around Newfoundland and Labrador, provide an important record of cod populations during early stages of the commercial fishery and thus offer a critical baseline record against which to compare modern handlined cod population data.

This thesis presents an analysis of the faunal remains recovered from various deposits associated with a complex of buildings known as the Mansion House from the seventeenth-century fishing settlement of Ferryland, Newfoundland. These buildings were built sometime between 1623 and 1625 by English settlers to serve as the residence of their colonial sponsor George Calvert (later the first Lord Baltimore). The complex included a two-storey main residence built of stone, an enclosed cobblestone courtyard and two auxiliary stone structures, one of which contained an 8 by 8 foot cellar. Calvert only resided in Ferryland for a little more than a year before leaving the colony. The Mansion House eventually came to serve as the residence of Newfoundland Governor Sir David Kirke and his family in 1638. Kirke built another house for himself sometime in the 1640s. The size, quality and location of the Mansion House meant that it would have been highly valued property even after the departure of the Governor and archaeological evidence suggests a high-status occupation during the second half of the seventeenth century. The discovery of the Mansion House, its well defined context and connection to high status individuals provides the opportunity to explore food consumption patterns of a high-status household of the early colonization period in seventeenth-century North America. The goal of this thesis is to describe the diet and foodways of the Mansion House's former inhabitants. The results are then compared to faunal analyses of other assemblages in Ferryland. An abundance of faunal remains were recovered from the Mansion House in a fairly well preserved state relative to the low numbers and the poor condition of faunal remains normally recovered in Ferryland. This is believed to be a direct result of the limestone used in the construction of the stone buildings having an effect on the pH levels of the soil and allowing for better preservation. Information on the local natural environment and historical foodways of the English in the seventeenth century is used to guide the interpretations of the faunal remains. Results show that the residents of the Mansion House during the second half of the seventeenth century enjoyed meals primarily based on the consumption of mammals (both wild and domestic) and fish with a regular inclusion of birds. The Mansion House inhabitants appear to have consumed more beef than residents in other areas of the site as well as certain species of birds. These and various other differences found between the Mansion House assemblage and the other areas of the site are related to differential preservation conditions and to the limitations imposed onto the residents of the community by the seasonal cod fishery and the important role it played in the everyday lives of Ferryland residents.