Transcontinental Perspectives on Pleistocene Plant Foods

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Foodways reflect many aspects of people’s lives, cultures, and environments. Despite a rich history of subsistence studies, Pleistocene dietary information from across the Americas has yet to be systematically compiled. This project aims to consolidate that information, focusing first on plant foods in arid regions of western North and South America. Although Pleistocene archaeological research in the Americas has historically underrepresented plant foods, recent advancements are beginning to fill this gap, and our understanding of ancient diets is expanding. We will study these data to explore how plant foods may reflect regional environments, subsistence strategies, and archaeological biases. This project seeks to create a comprehensive database that will enhance our view of foodways, identify productive areas for future inquiry, and highlight the enduring connections between Indigenous peoples and their traditional foods.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51807