Black Bear Among the St. Lawrence Iroquoians: Food, Tools, and Symbols
Author(s): Claire St-Germain; Christian Gates St-Pierre; Krista McGrath; Keri Rowsell; Matthew Collins
Year: 2017
Summary
Bear bones have been identified in the faunal assemblages of Iroquoian sites of the St. Anicet cluster near Montreal, Quebec. Three village sites will be the focus of this presentation: McDonald, Droulers, and Mailhot-Curran, with comparisons with other Iroquoian sites, especially Hurons and Iroquois. Bear bones are few in the St. Anicet faunal assemblages, but a ZooMS analysis indicates a high frequency of bear bones used in the production of bone projectile points. This unexpected result will be explained using a blend of archaeological, ethnohistorical and ethnographic data, including Iroquoian mythology and ethnonyms, providing a glimpse of the economic and symbolic importance of black bear for St. Lawrence Iroquoians.
Cite this Record
Black Bear Among the St. Lawrence Iroquoians: Food, Tools, and Symbols. Claire St-Germain, Christian Gates St-Pierre, Krista McGrath, Keri Rowsell, Matthew Collins. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 431208)
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Keywords
Geographic Keywords
North America-Canada
Spatial Coverage
min long: -142.471; min lat: 42.033 ; max long: -47.725; max lat: 74.402 ;
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 14444