Archaeology of Prostitution and Clandestine Pursuits

Case studies of nineteenth-century sites from New York City to theAmerican West



The Archaeology of Prostitution and Clandestine Pursuits synthesizescase studies from various nineteenth-century sites where material culturereveals evidence of prostitution, including a brothel in Five Points—New YorkCity’s most notorious neighborhood—and parlor houses a few blocks from theWhite House and Capitol Hill. Rebecca Yamin and Donna Seifert also examinebrothels in the American West—in urban Los Angeles and in frontier sites andmining camps in Sandpoint, Idaho; Prescott, Arizona; and Fargo, North Dakota.The artifact assemblages found at these sites often contradict written records,allowing archaeologists to construct a more realistic and complicated pictureof daily life for working-class women involved in commercial sex.  



Recognizingthe agency involved in practicing a profession that has never been consideredrespectable, even when it wasn’t outright illegal, Yamin and Seifert also lookat the agency of other individuals who participated in illicit activities,defying society privately or even publicly. The authors demonstrate the variousways disempowered groups including immigrants, African Americans, women, andthe poor wielded autonomy while constrained by cultural norms. They alsoconsider similar, contemporary expressions of agency, with particular attentionto ongoing arguments surrounding the legalization of prostitution. Juxtaposingtoday’s debates alongside the clandestine pursuits of the past reveals howdominant moral standards determine what individual choices are publiclypermissible.   



Avolume in the series the American Experience in Archaeological Perspective,edited by Michael S. Nassaney  



Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustainingthe Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the NationalEndowment for the Humanities.