Generationally-Linked Archaeology: "Living-Off-The-Land" for 4,000 Years on the Salish Sea

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ed Carriere, Suquamish Elder and Master Basketmaker and I published on how ancient Salish Sea basketry styles statistically linked through 4,000+ years in style to the basketry Ed learned from his Great Grandmother Julia Jacobs (born 1874) who raised him from infancy. Ed helped me analyze 2,000-year-old wet archaeological basketry from his traditional territory and we were able to replicate these styles from 100 generations back demonstrating a continuity of styles through statistics and his current basketry. We called this a Generationally-Linked Archaeology approach. If this worked with ancient basketry, then it should work with other cultural practices of his early life. Since he was raised by Julia and they had little but their shoreline Indian Allotment land the first ½ of his life, they essentially “lived-off-the-land” using all the native resources to support themselves: shellfish, fish, ducks, mammals and berry crops. We are comparing their practices with the archaeological fauna/flora analyses within 20 miles of his allotment land for 4,000+ years. The initial results show a trend supporting Generationally-Linked Archaeology, with similar resource occurrences and frequencies through time. Also information not preserved archaeologically is presented: resource behaviors, capture techniques, preparation procedures, cooking, taste, and storage practices.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38858.0