Fire-Cracked Rock: Domestic Life and Subsistence Practice, a Case Study in Coast Salish Territory

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Fire-Cracked Rock: Research in Cooking and Noncooking Contexts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Two of the most common features that frequently appear in many Northwest Coast archaeological sites are pit ovens and rock griddles with abundant remains of rock heating elements or fire-cracked rocks (FCR). Ethnohistorical and ethnographic sources have provided documentation of the different types of culinary traditions and the earth oven morphologies used among Coast Salish people. However, considering the use of different technologies and its understudied archaeological signatures, there are gaps in understanding traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). My research examines the possible function(s) of a large steaming or roasting feature in the Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island. This presentation discusses the methods and the results of experimental research conducted in collaboration with Coast Salish people in the Cowichan Valley, applying their Indigenous worldviews to understand how their culture is embedded in their foodways, technologies, and the socioecological landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)   •
• Fire-Cracked Rock: Research in Cooking and Noncooking Contexts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36439.0