Household Hearth-Centered Activity Areas at the Bridge River Site, British Columbia: Formation Processes and Site Structure

Summary

Archaeological investigations at Housepit 54 within the Bridge River site have identified approximately 15 discrete floors dating between 1500 and 100 years ago. In this poster we draw data from a Bridge River 3 (ca. 1300-1000 cal. B.P.) period floor to examine the formation of activity areas with a larger goal of reconstructing "site structure" in a constrained space. We address questions specifically directed at formation processes as well as potential relationships between at least two hearth-centered activity areas by examining variability in artifacts, faunal remains, and features. More specifically, we examine feature form and function, lithic tool production and maintenance, animal and plant processing, taphonomic processes, and potentially, ritualistic practices to reconstruct the means by which the items in each activity area came to be co-associated. From these studies, we draw conclusions regarding the roles of these spaces on the house floor. We then seek to address potential relationships between activity areas by application of re-fitting analysis and examination of inter-assemblage variability. Results of this research permit us to develop a range of implications regarding household occupational history and sociality.

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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