Dane,
        At the Johnson's Island Civil War Prison site (1862-1865) we have both
written accounts of the use of marbles by the POWs there as well as
physical evidence.  There were only adult males at the site, except for the
one POW that gave birth while a POW.  Hope this helps
dave bush
At 12:47 PM 12/1/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Hey fellow histarchers:
>
>I've worked on a number of 19th century sites where marbles were recovered,
>and they've always been interpreted as evidence for the presence of
>children, and therefore families, even on sites with a highly industrial
>focus.  While reading an old novel this summer ("The Forge" by T.S.
>Stribling, ca. 1931), I came across a passage detailing a game of marbles
>played by a group of "underclass" adult men on the steps of the local
>General Store.  The setting was Alabama in the very late antebellum period,
>and this was the first time  I had ever seen a reference to marbles being
>used by adults for gambling, even though it is a suspicion I have had for a
>number of years.
>
>The purpose of this posting is certainly not to refute the presence of
>families on industrial sites, but to instead inquire if anybody else has
>found similar references to the use of marbles by adults.
>
>Dane Magoon
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>
>

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David R. Bush, Ph.D.
Center for Historic and Military Archaeology
Heidelberg College
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