Toward a social archaeology of food in later Newfoundland pre/history

Summary

Archaeologists have long been interested in understanding and modelling subarctic hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies. Traditionally, much of this work has relied on the ethnographic record for analogy and sought to situate forager decision making processes in terms of the calculus of optimal foraging and adaptations to the natural environment. While useful, these approaches risk flattening pre/historic subsistence strategies to the point of timelessness and minimizing the social and cultural contexts in which food choices were also situated. Drawing on the later pre/historic archaeological record (AD 100-AD 1829) of the Beothuk Amerindians of the island of Newfoundland, this paper explores the ways in which subsistence strategies and food projected identity, reflected changing historical conditions and social relations, played into ritual and ceremonial practice, and embodied a cultural worldview.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Toward a Social Archaeology of Food in Northern North America

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14356