It seems unlikely that pig bones ever made their way into soap.  If the
early British settlers of the Tidewater region really did eat more pork
than beef, the absence of those pig bones from the archaeological record
has nothing to do with soap-making.
 
The fat from pigs can be used in making soap.  But the butchery of pigs
did not involve the separation of the meat from the (limb) bones.  The
bones were part of these joints of meat.  The bones only became trash
after the meat was consumed.  One informant suggests these leftover
bones were thrown to the dogs.  Pork bones, she says, are not as dense
as beef bones, and will not shatter in the dog's jaws.  If these early
settlers really did eat more pork than the archaeological record
suggests, none of my informants has any idea as to what became of their
teeth or skulls.
 
Brian Siegel
(curious town boy)