Hi Sean,

Sorry for the delay in replying. Thanks for sending this along. I struggle
with what the material evidence will look like as well.

You may be interested to read Judith Bennett's book, "History Matters" in
which she talks about studying "lesbian like" women -- women who choose to
live/socialize primarily with other women. Her argument is that sexual
acts are only a small part of homosexuality and that there is really no
way to track that historically anyway.

Regards,
Megan.

> I attempted to examine 19th century Western Australian convict sites as
> potential sites of homosexual activity, given the historical hysteria
> surrounding potential sexual activity between male convicts. The
> documentary record is full of references to the necessity of preventing
> "unnatural acts" between convicts, although there is limited actual
> evidence of these occuring. The general perception amongst historians is
> that much of the hysteria was anti-convict propaganda based in attempts to
> demonise convicts and end convict transportation to Australia.
>
> Nevertheless, following Matthews (2000) - (full reference below) I
> examined
> the sites for evidence of homosexual relationships between convicts. This
> was part of a larger attempt to investigate how convicts enacted personal
> relationships in a colony where there was a stigma against them to begin
> with and where there were two men for every woman. I found absolutely zip.
> Matthews (2000) contends that much of the material culture related to
> homosexuality will be everyday items reused and that the historical
> tendency of LGBTQ people to act covertly to avoid sanction, means that
> identifying queer behaviour within the archaeological record will be
> difficult.
>
> If you want more info email me off list and I'll be happy to discuss it
> further. Here's the reference:
>
> Matthews, K. 2000. The Material Culture of the Homosexual Male: A Case
> Study for Archaeological Exploration. In: Donald, M., & Hurcombe, Linda.
> (ed.) Gender and Material Culture in Archaeological Perspective, 3-17.
> Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan.
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 8, 2013 at 7:59 AM, Megan Springate
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> I am working on a project focusing on LGBTQ history and heritage in the
>> United States. As an archaeologist, I want to make sure that
>> archaeological sites and discussion of the potential of LGBTQ sites to
>> expand our historical understanding are included.
>>
>> To this end, does anyone know of archaeological excavations of sites
>> associated with LGBTQ history? I would be interested in learning about
>> them.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Megan Springate
>> PhD Student
>> University of Maryland, College Park
>>
>