Faunal Remains as Markers of Ethnicity: A case Study from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada (Text)
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- Faunal Remains as Markers of Ethnicity: A case Study from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada (Text)
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Title
Faunal Remains as Markers of Ethnicity: A case Study from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada (Text)
Description
This paper won 1st Place in the 2006 Junior Researcher Open Zooarchaeology Prize.
Abstract: The strong relation between food and ethnicity has been well demonstrated by cultural anthropology. Archaeologists, however, still experience much difficulty when they try to establish similar links between faunal remains and ethnicity. This paper presents a rare case study of that kind. More precisely, it will be shown that Iroquoian and Algonquian populations who lived in the St.Lawrence Estuary, about 500 to 1000 years ago, had developed different patterns of coastal resource exploitation in the same natural environment. Differences are clearly visible in the proportions of land mammals vs. sea mammals in the bone assemblages, as well as in the proportions of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) vs. harp seals (Phoca groenlandica), the two main species of phocidae present in the area. Moreover, these patterns provide some information about seasonality and some clues as to how borders and resource exploitation were being negotiated between these two neighbour populations during recent prehistory.
Abstract: The strong relation between food and ethnicity has been well demonstrated by cultural anthropology. Archaeologists, however, still experience much difficulty when they try to establish similar links between faunal remains and ethnicity. This paper presents a rare case study of that kind. More precisely, it will be shown that Iroquoian and Algonquian populations who lived in the St.Lawrence Estuary, about 500 to 1000 years ago, had developed different patterns of coastal resource exploitation in the same natural environment. Differences are clearly visible in the proportions of land mammals vs. sea mammals in the bone assemblages, as well as in the proportions of harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) vs. harp seals (Phoca groenlandica), the two main species of phocidae present in the area. Moreover, these patterns provide some information about seasonality and some clues as to how borders and resource exploitation were being negotiated between these two neighbour populations during recent prehistory.
Creator
Christian Gates St.-Pierre
Source
Gates_Text.pdf
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pdf
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182
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Citation
Christian Gates St.-Pierre. "Faunal Remains as Markers of Ethnicity: A case Study from the St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada (Text)," in BoneCommons, Item #454, http://www.alexandriaarchive.org/bonecommons/items/show/454 (accessed February 3, 2012).
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