Food, Fuel, or Fluke? The Interpretive Potential of Microbotanical Remains Recovered from Burnt Residues on Koniag Pottery from the Malriik Site (KOD-405), Kodiak Island, Alaska

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

On Kodiak Island, Alaska many aspects of life changed during the Koniag Phase (650–200 BP): houses became larger and side-rooms were built to store food, social status and labret wearing intensified, community buildings known as qasgit ("men's houses") were built, and people began to use pottery. Zooarchaeological evidence demonstrates that marine mammals, marine fish, and salmon were important foods, and lipid evidence suggests that pottery was used to cook or render oil from whale blubber and salmon. Ethnohistoric records demonstrate that starchy roots, bitter leaves, tender shoots and berries are important plant foods for contemporary Alutiiq people and their ancestors, yet there is limited archaeological evidence revealing how plant foods were incorporated into meals during the Koniag Phase. Here, I present my preliminary analysis of phytoliths and wood charcoal fragments recovered from burned food adhered to the interior of Koniag Pottery. My results suggests that the identification of leafy greens may be challenging, but starchy tubers and woody shoots may be identifiable. I suggest that understanding how animal and plant foods were combined to make meals can improve understandings of gender and status based eating and feasting practices that arose during the Koniag Phase.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36139.0