Subsistence and Foodways (Other Keyword)
301-325 (486 Records)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Research on storage in small-scale societies has, until recently, narrowly focused on determining the form and scale that food storage took, and its relatedness to increasing social complexity. This research, instead, looked at the purposeful decision-making behind the use of food storage as a risk management strategy in non-sedentary societies....
Nuancing the Maya Feast: A Reexamination of the Function of Ceramic Feasting Assemblages (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Feasting is a commonly cited interpretation across the Maya area for middens which include large quantities of ceramics and animal bones. This poster takes a closer look at previously published Maya feasting contexts by further examining the functional make up of their ceramic assemblages. By moving beyond the standard open/closed or serving/storage functional...
Nutritional Benefits of Bone Fat in Rabbits (Leporidae): Implications for Understanding Prehistoric Human Foraging (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bone fat has been recognized by prehistoric and modern societies as an important source of lipids and other nutrients. Experimental and ethnoarchaeological research have provided a number of archaeological correlates for identifying the role that such nutritional resources were exploited by prehistoric peoples. To date, the bulk of such research has...
Nutritional Stress and the Maternal-Infant Nexus: Insights from Isotopes and Paleopathology in the Ancient Chilean Atacama (ca 9000–1500 BP) (2018)
The Atacama Desert is a remarkably marginal environment. Children are vulnerable individuals and the perinatal and weaning periods are high-risk even under ideal conditions. Investigation of stress during early life is therefore vital to the characterisation of human adaptation in this region. We compared isotopic evidence for infant diet and stress with paleopathological data to assess potential changes in maternal and infant health between the pre-agricultural Archaic Period (9000 – 3500 BP)...
Nuts for Nuts: Assessing Hypotheses of Nut Preparation and Cracking Experiments (2023)
This is an abstract from the "The Expanding Bayesian Revolution in Archaeology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Throughout prehistory, Indigenous peoples in the Interior Eastern Woodlands of North America relied heavily on hunted and gathered resources. They commonly gathered and consumed nuts, which resulted in many archaeological sites containing these carbonized remains. Hammerstones and nutting stones in archaeological contexts suggest that...
Of Elderberries and Alder: Collaborations on the Paleoethnobotany of the Pacific Northwest (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2019, construction monitoring of a large, King County-directed levee replacement project identified a diffuse and deeply buried archaeological site on the Green River, south of Seattle, Washington. This poster presents the results of paleoethnobotanical and AMS analyses conducted on plant materials from precontact-era combustion features and pits....
Of Islands and Dogs: Ethnohistoric and Isotopic Pathways toward Understanding Past Dog Diet in Tropical Oceania (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Dogs in the Archaeological Record" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Ethnohistoric accounts suggest people treated dogs differently across Oceania at the time of European contact. European accounts often state that the dogs of Oceania were fed plant foods such as breadfruit, coconut, yams, and taro. Some sources also reference dogs eating fish or taking on the roles of scavengers and hunters. Collectively these accounts...
Oh Deer: A Zooarchaeological Approach to Understanding Hominin Behavior during the Last Interglacial (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Our understanding of hominin subsistence behavior during the Last Interglacial is limited. Le Grand Abri aux Puces (GAP), a cave in Southern France in the foothills of the Alps, can provide a closer look into subsistence behavior as most of its layers are dated to the Last Interglacial. It has been suggested that hominins living around GAP during...
Old Bones, New Data: Pigs and Dogs from Prehistoric Non Pa Wai, Lopburi Province, Central Thailand in a Regional Context (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Paradigms Shift: New Interpretations in Mainland Southeast Asian Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the 1980s and 1990s, excavations by the Thailand Archaeometallurgy Project (TAP) at prehistoric Non Pa Wai in the Khao Wong Prachan Valley of central Thailand produced a large assemblage of animal bones. These include many pig and dog bones that provide evidence for management for food. Since their initial...
On Using Archaeology within an Indigenous Rights-Based Approach to Sustainability (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Advancing Public Perceptions of Sustainability through Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the U.S., indigenous communities often suffer poor health at far greater rates than non-native populations. Lower life expectancy and the disproportionate disease burden exist often because their local food diversity and sources have been diminished by restricted access and economic stresses. To remedy these health...
One Tamale, Four Digestions (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Thinking about Eating: Theorizing Foodways in Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Drawing from long-established fields in anthropology (structuralist, semiotic, identity-oriented, subsistence-focused, human ecological, and many others), food scholars have actively developed hybrid perspectives and novel pursuits. Here, I focus on four: modeling foodways linguistically, theorizing gastropolitik, situating the...
Oneota Subsistence Patterns: Wild Versus Domesticated (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The late pre-contact Oneota populations of Southwestern Wisconsin practiced a mixed economy of wild resources, in addition to a full suite of domesticated corn, beans, and squash. Analysis of floral remains from the sites prior to European contact, as well as those at the time of contact will examine the impact of external stressor on the use of wild...
Opportunity in the Garden: An Analysis of Zooarchaeological Materials from Southwest Agricultural Sites (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This research provides a biogeography of animals using zooarchaeological remains on the Colorado Plateau, a geographical region encompassing the Four Corners. The data are used to develop an environmental reconstruction for the northern Southwest to examine the conditions in which agriculture developed, specifically the human exploitation of animals in...
The Organic Residue Analysis from the Early Bronze Age Site of Sotira Kaminoudhia in Cyprus (2018)
This paper presents the final results of organic residue analysis from the Early Bronze Age settlement and associated cemeteries of Sotira Kaminoudhia. A total of twelve pottery samples were analyzed using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (gc/ms) as part of a larger research program that aimed to identify prestigious, organic substances that would have been utilized on the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus during the prehistoric Bronze Age. Three categories of prestigious substances...
An Osteological and Isotopic Assessment of Diet at Ancient Corinth and Ancient Paphos (2018)
Corinth and Paphos were two key centers of the ancient Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and Roman eras. While the commercial and political lives if these communities have been studied, less is known about aspects of day to day life such as diet and health. Here we present some insights based on paleopathology and collagen stable isotope analysis. This study (n = 275 individuals for Paphos; 94 individuals for Corinth) suggests populations that were under a certain amount of stress. Mean...
Pacific Herring: Methodological and Interpretive Considerations of a Keystone Species for Zooarchaeological Analyses (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Bones of the Pacific herring, abundant in many Pacific Northwest shell middens, are increasingly recognized as important indicators of past complex foodwebs and the ecosystemic role of humans. For decades, zooarchaeologists interpreted the presence of herring bones at these sites as reflecting indigenous fishing during a limited late winter-early spring...
Paleoenvironment, Population, and the Origins of Resource Intensification on the Eastern Edge of the Colorado Plateau (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Geoarchaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Site 5ME13127, a Formative-Era camp at the eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau, was excavated in 2018. Macrofloral and faunal analyses indicate small seeds and lagomorphs dominated subsistence by AD320-420, and the bow was adopted by AD560-650. Sediment cores from Kannah Creek fen on Grand Mesa (27km southeast) provide paleoenvironmental context for interpretations of...
A Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of Ceramic Residues from Caches and Burials at the Lowland Maya Site of Holtun, Guatemala (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Among the Maya, plant-based foods were not just important for sustenance but also had ritual meaning, especially emphasized when placed in graves and caches. Food offered during ritual performances created a reciprocal relationship between living individuals, their ancestors, and the gods. This poster will present the paleoethnobotanical results from...
A Paleoethnobotanical Analysis of the Trincheras Tradition: Community, Identity, and Foodways (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Trincheras Tradition thrived in the Altar Valley, Sonora, Mexico between AD 400 to 1400. The Hohokam are known for their extensive irrigation systems and reliance on agriculture. Lacking evidence of similar features, the Trincheras were interpreted as primarily hunters and gatherers, a rustic branch of the Hohokam. This characterization of Trincheras...
Paleoethnobotanical Remains from an Early Classic Maya Tomb at Buenavista del Cayo, Belize (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the tropics, paleoethnobotanists often face challenging preservation environments, making most of the macrobotanical specimens that we analyze those that are preserved through processes of carbonization. This preservation issue is often framed as limiting the questions we can ask and the interpretations we can make about ancient Maya relationships with the...
Paleoethnobotanical Remains from Yunkaray (Cusco, Peru) (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Yunkaray, a site located located in Cusco Peru and located on the Maras Plain was occupied from approximately 1050 -1450 principally by the Ayarmaca group. This group lived on the fringe of the Incan political influence and faced differing modes of interaction. This investigation will utilize the analysis of paleoethnobotanical remains recovered from the site...
The Paleoethnobotanical Remains of the Archaeological Site of Cerro Azul, Cañete (Lima, Peru): Changes through Occupation (2018)
The archaeological site of Cerro Azul is located near the sea in the Cañete valley, Central Coast of Perú. This site is related with the Late Intermediate ethnic group called "Huarcos", that lasted through the Inca influence during the Late Horizon. This study presents a preliminary analysis of the botanical remains based on the presence, diversification and amount of certain species such as maize, roots, fruits and legumes in relation with the changes through the occupation of this...
Paleoethnobotany of the Connley Caves, Oregon: Investigating Pleistocene Plant Food Economies (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Questions concerning human paleoecology and subsistence strategies continue to shape Paleoindian research in the Great Basin. Despite significant advances in our understanding of human lifeways during the terminal Pleistocene, the relationship between human populations and plant food communities is still unclear....
Panem Bonum Fert: The Panis Quadratus as an Archaeologically Defined Cereal Grain Consumption Metric in First-Century Rome (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study is focused on cereal grain consumption in ancient Rome and the food value of the commercially produced Roman bread product, the Panis Quadratus, in the Roman daily diet in first century AD. While some Roman-era cereal grain consumption estimates have been published in recent decades, no study has yet attempted to consider the assemblage of...
Patterns of Faunal Procurement and Consumption at the Mission Santa Clara de Asís Ranchería (CA-SCL-30H) (2023)
This is an abstract from the "Recent Archaeological Research by PaleoWest" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations at the ranchería at Mission Santa Clara de Asís (CA-SCL-30H) yielded a large and well-preserved faunal assemblage. Using data from the analysis of these remains, this poster explores the domestic subsistence behaviors of the Native Americans who occupied the adobe structures at the mission. Although the predominance of cattle...