Excavating the Sutlers' House: Artifacts of the British Armies in Fort Edward and Lake George

David Starbuck and his colleagues have been excavating British military sites in Fort Edward and Lake George, New York, for two decades. In the 1750s these communities were home to as many as 16,000 soldiers and officers, making these the largest British forts and encampments of the French and Indian War. A remarkable development in this project was the discovery in 1996 of the remains of a sutlers', or merchant's, house on the east bank of the Hudson River in Fort Edward. This house had supplied goods to British armies throughout the late 1750s. No eighteenth-century sutling house had ever before been professionally excavated, so this site offered an amazing research opportunity.

The rich and varied material culture brought to this region by British armies and their suppliers are the focus of this lavishly illustrated volume. Starbuck also includes representative artifacts found at the many points of consumption, including the British forts and encampments on Rogers Island, Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, and the Lake George Battlefield Park.

Organized around material themes such as Weaponry and Ammunition, Food and Foodways, Tools and Equipment, Clothing, and Coins, Excavating the Sutlers' House offers the reader a fascinating overview of artifacts of the French and Indian War (1754-1763) and, in some cases, the American Revolution as well.

DAVID R. STARBUCK is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Plymouth State University. This is his seventh book from University Press of New England, following The Archeology of New Hampshire: Exploring 10,000 Years in the Granite State.