Students in the anthropology department at the University of Mississippi recently participated in an archaeological dig at a historic home in Holly Springs. The dig occurred at the Hugh Craft House that was built in the 1840s. The town of Holly Springs was not destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War, so many of the antebellum structures remain intact. The property is now owned by the Marshall County Historical Society. The 1860 Census listed nine slaves living in a detached kitchen building at the Hugh Craft House.
Most of what was found during the dig consisted of animal bones. As a result, the students could make educated guesses about the diet of the slaves and also the slaveowners.
