aDNA analysis of prehistoric salmon remains at Housepit54

Summary

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

Salmon were a critical resource in the Indigenous economies of the Pacific Northwest. There are five Pacific Salmon species that spawn within the Fraser River and its tributaries: sockeye (Oncorhynchus nerka), Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch), pink (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and chum (Oncorhynchus keta). Since each species exhibits different spawning behaviors, determining which species were consumed helps archaeologists better understand ancient socio-economic strategies. This project utilizes ancient DNA (aDNA) to identify salmon species variation to test alternative hypotheses about the economics and social impacts of fishing behavior at Housepit54, Bridge River site located in British Columbia. aDNA analysis is conducted on samples of thoracic and atlas vertebrae taken from the sequence of 15 stratigraphic floors, which can be segregated by two occupational periods represented as Bridger River 2 (1600-1300 cal. B.P.) and Bridge River 3 (1300-1000 cal. B.P.).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39582.0