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NOTE.TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. TEE FRUIT OF THEIR LABOUR: A PALAEOETHNOBOTANICAL STUDY OF SITE EeRb 140, A MULTI-COMPONENT OPEN-AIR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE ON TEIE BiUTISH COLUMBIA PLATEAU Michde M. Wollstonecroft B.A. (Hon.), Simon Fraser University, 1995 A THESIS SUBMïlTED IN PARTIAL FüLFiLLMENT OF THE REQUREMENTS FOR TIIE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Departmat of Arcbaeology O Michéle M. Wollstonecmft, 2000 Simon Fraser University, December 2000 AH dghts reserved. This thesis may not be roproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other meanq withoiit the permission of the author. uisiaons and AcquilMcm et "9Bib iographii Senrices seniiEes biMiographiiues The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant & la National Li'brary of Canada to Bibliothéque nationale du Canada de reprodwe, loan, distriiute or seii reproduire, @ter, distriiuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fime de microfiche/fiim, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format 61ectronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des exûaits substantiels may be printed or othhse de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. The quality of preservation and richness of the plant assemblage recovered hmsite EeRb 140 demonstrate the great potential for investigating plant-use at archaeological sites on the British Columbia Plateau, EeRb 140 is an open-air multi-component site located on a g~aciolaucusirineterrace on the north side of the South Thompson River. It is situated witbin the Kamloops indian Reserve #1, the homeland of the StR'emlupsemc ~laopsBand) of the Secwepemc First Nation. From the lithic assemblage, it appears that this site was initiaily occupied on a temporary basis dwing the Middle Prehistoric Period, between 7,200-3,800 B.P. During the subsequent Late Prehistonc Period, between 3,8W200 B.P., the site appears to have been accupied more extensively, probably as a çpecial purpose site used by residents of the nearby pithouse village (site EeRb 77). The objectives of the archaeobotany project at EeRb 140 were to identiQ the patterning in the deposition of charred plant remains, and to compare the observai patteniing with the ethnographic record. During the 1996 field season, sediment samples were collected hm dl excavated contexts of EeRb 140 and processed by flotation. in the laboratory, sarnples hmLate Period contexts were selected and sorted for ch& plant rnaterials, Thirty taxa were identifid hmseeds, conifer needles, charcoal and vegetative tissue. Most of these plants are hown ethnographically to have been important resources of Plateau First Peoples. The archaeobotany of EeRb 140 pmvides evidence that during the Late Prehistoric Period this site was used for the processing and presewation of plant foods, probably for winter consumption. The plant remains clustered in two 'hearth' features, one of which was usai for the open-hearth drying of bemes, and aiso as a pit-oven. Among the identifled taxa, edible plants are the most nwnerous including nine trpes of "berry foods" and a "mot food". The plant assemblage ahincludes grasses, sedges, birch bark, conifer boughs and wood, taxa that are known ethnographicaily to have been used as fiel for processing foods andior as raw materials for the manufacture of household items. Moreover, cornparisons of site EeRb 140 with ethnobotanical data and other archaeobotanica1 data hmthe region suggest that EeRb 140 was used for a range of activities pertaining to daily life, such as the preparation of medicinal plants and the pmcessing of fdfor inmediate consumption. Plants appear to have been collected between June and August hmthe smunding Bunchgrass, Ponderosa Pine and Douglas-fir zones. Plant processing and presewation activities probably took place between August and September. Bad on cornparisons with ecological, botanical, archaeological and ethnographic data, it is argued here that EeRb 140 represents a seasonally used work area utilisai by the residents of the adjacent village site EeRb 77. 1 have many people to thank. First, 1 would like to acknowledge the Kamloops Indian Band who generously pennitted me to study the plant material hmsite EeRb 140. 1 would also like to acknowledge Dr. George Nicholas whose archaeological excavations made this study possible. Further appreciation is extended to Dr. Nicholas, Dr. Nancy Turner, and Dr. Marianne Ignace for kindly including me in the Secwepemc Ethnobotany Wect. Above dl, great thanks to Dr. Catherine D'Andrea who has ken a superb senior supervisor and a wonderhl mentor. It is due to Dr. D'Andrea's teaching that 1 decided to follow a career in palaeoethnobotany. 1 am also especially grateful to Dr. Dana Lepofsky for her teaching on wood identification. Dr. Lepofsky generously gave me hours of her time such that her son, George, was almost bom in the archaeobotany lab! Dr. Jack Nance is to be thanked for helping me to see the forest for the trees, a palaeoethnobotanists dilemma that only a statistician could solve! Other members of faculty who kindly provided advice and encouragement are Dr. Diane Lyons, Dr. Richatd Shutler, Dr. Roy Carlson, Dr. Brian Hayden and Professor Phi1 Hobler. Tina van Gaalen patiently produced the graphics for this thesis. Jarnie Everard generously doiiated many hours to editing the early drafts. Jon Hather, Ann Butler, Gordon Hillman, Seona Anderson and Mark Nesbitt at the Institute of Archaeology in London, England provided assistance with plant identifications. Many SFü students contributed to this study. The volunteers who helped with the flotation and lab work include Sara Bergquist, Alison Cameron, Kay Farqueson, Megan Fisher, Sara Howell, Yoon Hee Jang, Laurie Kennedy, Kim Nehrer, Karen Sharkey, and Karen Spicer. These acknowledgements would not be complete without mentionhg my wonderfùl fiiends and colleagues in the SFU graduate program who made the expenence at SFU a remarkable tirne of friendship and learning. 1 am especially grateful to Julie Park, Judy McLellan, Mirjana Roksandic, Sara Yoshida, Mike Brand, Tom Amold, and Tiffany Rawlings. Furthermore, Lynda Przybyla, Robyn Banerjee and AM Sullivan, the SFü Archaeology Department administrative staff, contributed to this study in countless ways. 1 am forever grateful to my loved ones for their unllagging encouragement iacluding my parents, John and Beryl Waterman, my sister Sue Brooks, my brother Anthony Waterman, my cousins Pat and Nick Blackett, and my wonderfùl ûiends Julia and Audrey Madsen, Darlyne Jewitt, Jan de Grass, Kelly Martin, Pat Feldhammer, and Judith Doulis. Finally, this thesis is dedicated to Gladys Baptiste and her family. Gladys made significant contniutions to the archaeobotany of site EeRb 140, with both field and labotatory research. Furthermore the Baptiste family are to be thanked for their kiadness and hospitality during the summer of 1996, when 1 Lived in Kamloops. 1 am entirely responsible for any flaws in this paper. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements Table of Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Plates 1. INTRODUCTION 1 Prehistoric Plant-use on the British Columbia Plateau Site EeRb 140 The Goals of the Palaeoethnobotanical investigation at Site EeRb 140 The Secwepemc Ethnobotany Project The Organisation of this Thesis II. THEORETICAL APPROACE TO ETHNOGRAPaC ANALOCY 14 introduction Defining Ethnoarchaeology and Constructing Ethnographie Analogies Chapter Summary iiï. LONGTERM PLATEAU LAM)-USE AND SUBSISTENCE Introduction The Study Area: Secwepemc Temtocy The Resource Availability Mdel Plateau Subsistence Systems: Economic Strategies Diversification. radiath mobilitv and the vertical zonation of habitats 35 Resource s~ecialisation 37 Visitinp; and exchange 42 Debates about why Plateau Groups took on Diversification, Radiating Mobility and Specialisation 42 The Archaeological and Archaeobotanical Evidence for Plant-use on the British Columbia Plateau 44 The Plant-use Mode1 48 Chapter Summary 48 IV. METHODS OF SAMPLING, RECOVERY, IDENTLFICATION AND INTERPRETATION 54 introduction 54 Sampling Methods 55 Recovery Procedures and Laboratory Analysis 56 Identification Methods -Seeds Wood charcoal Non-wood vegetative tissue Identification ~roblems Chapter Summary V. RESULTS: THE ARCHAEOBOTANICAL ASSEMBLAGE FROM EeRb 140 65 Introduction 65 Seeds Gymnospermae PINACEAE Angiospermae CYPERACEAE POACEAE BETULACEAE POLYGONACEAE CHENOPODIACEAE BRASSICACEAE GROSSULARIACEAE ROSACEAE CORNACEAE ERICACEAE BORAGINACEAE ASTERACEAE Unknown Seed Types Conifer Needles Wood Charcoal Gymnospermae PINACEAE Angiospermae SALIACACEAE ASTERACEAE Other Charred Wood BETULACEAE Charred Vegetative Tissue Angiospermae LILiACEAE ROSACEAE Unknown Vegetative Tissue Type 1 Chapter Summary VI. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PLANT REMAINS 108 introduction 108 Methods of Tabulation 108 Spatial and Chronological Distriiution of the Plant Remains: Density and Richness 110 Horizontal (s~atiaildistribution Vertical (cbronoloaical) distribution over the site Plant-use at Site EeRb 140: Abundance Features Non-feature contexts Wood Charcoal Ubiauity Phvsical character and condition of wood charcoal Ethnomhic and archaeoloeical cornparison of the charcoal Seasons