In 1985, archaeologists excavated the yard areas of Halcyon House, a national historical site located in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Thousands of artifacts, spanning over a century, were unearthed before the project was prematurely terminated. The artifacts remained untouched in storage for nearly 30 years. This paper presents the initial results of the faunal analysis, conducted by Dr. Mia Carey, alongside archival and collections research by Dr. Jennifer Lupu. The archaeological materials yield insights into the lives of not only the property’s wealthy white male owners, but dozens of others including enslaved people, tenants, and domestic workers who lived at or worked at Halcyon. From the daily lives of enslaved Africans in the early 1800s, to lavish secret queer parties a century later, animal bones in the trash deposits yield new glimpses into life at this historical site throughout its relatively unknown but fascinating history.

Prohibition is often remembered as the wild and roaring Jazz Age, filled with flappers, mobsters, federal agents, and hidden speakeasies. In today’s imagination, despite strict anti-alcohol laws, booze flowed freely in the streets and people drank with reckless abandon. But how did resistance to Prohibition manifest in Pensacola, Florida?

Using predictive GIS modeling and collections based research, this project will determine if it is possible to identify Prohibition Era deposits in the University of West Florida’s existing repository of archaeological collections. A model was developed to identify sites related to a broad range of past Pensacola residents in order to highlight possible differences in Prohibition-breaking behavior across various intersecting lines of sex, gender, race, religion, socioeconomic status, and more. Understanding the breaking of Prohibition as resistance highlights how various types of power were at play every time an illegal drink was poured in 1920s Pensacola.

Within the field of archaeology, virtual reality technologies are an underutilized tool holding great potential. These systems have an unrealized capacity to change the way archaeologists record, visualize, and interpret archaeological sites. Such applications are demonstrated following recent research at the Brunswick Town Historic Site. A combination of Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) software available on modern consumer phones and consumer-grade virtual reality software and products have been used to not only record, but interpret an 18th century tavern site excavated during the Summer of 2023. Additionally, through the use of photogrammetry, artifacts were able to be placed in a reconstructed virtual provenience to further support analysis of the structure. The union of these neoteric innovations has culminated in a full reconstruction of the tavern, presented in a 3D virtual space, prepared to be explored by archaeologists and the public alike.

A familiar scenario in historical archaeology involves the identification of artifacts from minute quantities of associated materials that a first glance appear to be evidence poor. The artifact may be a scrap of fabric, or a generic glass bottle with a stain on the inside surface. Its identification likely depends on a judicious choice (and careful application) of analytical techniques that allow the investigator to recognize the chemical signatures of the materials in question. So it may be found that the fabric was treated with a flame retardant, or that the bottle contained a patent medicine. In what analysts consider “fun” cases, these findings may lead to the discovery of hair-raising practices by our forebears.