Negotiating Identity through Food Choice in the Pre-Columbian Mid-Continent

Author(s): Ryan Maureen Tubbs; Jeffrey M. Painter; Jodie A. O'Gorman; Terrance J. Martin

Year: 2015

Summary

Recent research has deepened our understanding of intergroup interactions in the Mid-continent of North America during the late prehistoric period, and archaeological investigations have revealed evidence not only for conflict, but also for cohabitation and cooperation between the migrant Oneota people and local, maize-reliant Middle Mississippian groups. This poster utilizes the broadly defined framework of foodways and explores dietary changes in this interaction through time along with post-migration shifts in Oneota serving vessels. Information gathered from the analysis of stable isotopes in human remains from Norris Farms 36, a mortuary site associated with Morton Village (11F1), is used to shed light on how food choice was used to manipulate ethnic identity. Several years of excavation at the Morton Village site continues to enhance the faunal assemblage, demonstrating the diverse faunal resource base that was available to the Mississippian and Oneota population at the Morton site. The data produced by these investigations suggest that social boundaries between the two groups were permeable and actively manipulated. The evidence for the creation of hybrid ceramic types and diet suggest the development of a new ethnic group in the region, incorporating aspects of both Oneota and Middle Mississippian identity.

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Cite this Record

Negotiating Identity through Food Choice in the Pre-Columbian Mid-Continent. Ryan Maureen Tubbs, Jodie A. O'Gorman, Jeffrey M. Painter, Terrance J. Martin. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 397232)

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Keywords

General
food choice • Identity • Subsistence

Geographic Keywords
North America - Midwest

Spatial Coverage

min long: -104.634; min lat: 36.739 ; max long: -80.64; max lat: 49.153 ;