Katherine:

Your friend may have an opium den instead of a brothel, about which I have
only knowledge from a historical, not an archeological viewpoint. I have
found that brothels have a very high frequency of liquor bottles, with the
evidence of drug use being minor (but certainly present in significant
quantities). If the frequency of liquor bottles is low in comparison with
the other artifacts, I seriously doubt it is a brothel.

However, if he wants to know something about the archeology of American
brothels,  I'll send you an electronic copy of a paper I gave at the SHA
meetings in Atlanta a few years ago (off-line of course). About six of us
presented a session on brothels, and we're in the process of doing a
special issue for Historical Archaeology on the subject. My paper
references some of the work in the session. The references cited can give
him other places to turn to.

What part of the 19th century is he interested in?

Cathy Spude
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