Plant use practices of an ancient St’át’imc household, Bridge River, British Columbia

Summary

This poster focuses on the interpretation of archaeobotanical macroremains from Housepit 54 occupations at the Bridge River site, on the British Columbia Plateau, dating 1100-1500 cal. B.P. Recent excavations have revealed living floors spanning a critical period when this village reached peak size and then began to decline during a period of climate transition. Previous research at Bridge River suggests that access to salmon and deer may have declined after ca. 1200-1300 cal. B.P., triggering heightened socioeconomic competition between households. Very little is known, by corollary, regarding the role of plant foods in the site economy during this time. This poster draws on palaeoethnobotanical studies which investigate what the plant remains can tell us about harvesting, subsistence, consumption and cooking practices by Housepit 54’s residents. The analysis allows us to determine which plant resources were being utilized in which seasons and at what distance from the site, as well as diet breadth, technological activities, and spatial use of the pithouse. The plant data also allow us to consider the relative involvement of Housepit 54 residents in local and regional networks of trade and interaction, and patterns of continuity and change amongst ancient St’át’imc communities.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Housepit 54 Project at Bridge River, British Columbia: Archaeological Perspectives on Demography, Cultural Inheritance, and Household History   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage