Reconstructing the life-history of salmon from seven archaeological sites along the Feather River, Butte County, California – a multi-collaborative approach.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Beyond Academia: Zooarchaeological Case Studies from CRM and Other Nonacademic Spaces" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Far Western Anthropological Research Group Inc., worked on a project to mitigate the effects of levee improvements along a seven-mile stretch of the lower Feather River in Butte County, California, which resulted in the excavation of seven Native Maidu village sites. Careful excavation of these sites, combined with 110 radiocarbon dates, produced the largest and best dated fish assemblage from California’s Central Valley. These sites show nearly continuous use of the region for the last 6,000 years. From these efforts, a wide diversity of fish remains were recovered and 32,000 were identified to family or species including ~13,346 salmon bones from distinct temporal components.

In collaboration with the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe of Enterprise Rancheria, Far Western has worked alongside non-CRM colleagues, using zooarchaeological methods, stable isotopes and ancient DNA studies to reconstruct individual salmon key life metrics (age, size, habitat use, etc.).

Preliminary data shows that over time a change in salmon age, size, and habitat use occurred along this stretch of the Feather River. By combining forces, the data produced will make a stronger contribution to the archaeological record, modern salmon restoration efforts and provide a foundation for future salmon studies in the region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Beyond Academia: Zooarchaeological Case Studies from CRM and Other Nonacademic Spaces

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52346