What's In A Seed?: An Experimental Archaeological Study of Elderberry (Sambucas sp.) Processing on the Pacific Northwest Coast

Summary

Uncharred botanicals are commonly found on archaeological sites but seldom assigned interpretive significance owing to their assumed ambiguous origins. Thousands of uncharred, fragmented Sambucas racemosa (red elderberry) seeds have been recovered at Welqámex, a Stó:lō-Coast Salish settlement in the Upper Fraser Valley of southwestern British Columbia. In Stó:lō-Coast Salish territory and beyond, Sambucas was used as both a food and a medicine. Owing to the presence of cyanide-like glycosides, uncharred elderberry seeds are seemingly preserved in archaeological deposits for well over a hundred years. This poster highlights archaeological and experimental archaeological research addressing the stratigraphic and taphonomic circumstances under which unburned seeds can be linked to food-processing activities. We present the results of five experiments in which elderberry fruit was subjected to different preparation and cooking techniques.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22079