Taché, Karine, Tremblay, Roland, Lucquin, Alexandre orcid.org/0000-0003-4892-6323 et al. (3 more authors) (2025) Farmers with a Taste for Fish: New Insights into Iroquoian Foodways at the Dawson Site. American Antiquity. ISSN 0002-7316
Abstract
Iroquoian groups inhabiting the St. Lawrence Valley in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries AD practiced agriculture and supplemented their diet with fish and a variety of wild plants and terrestrial animals. Important gaps remain in our knowledge of Iroquoian foodways, including how pottery was integrated to culinary practices and the relative importance of maize in clay-pot cooking. Lipid analyses carried out on 32 potsherds from the Dawson site (Montreal, Canada) demonstrate that pottery from this village site was used to prepare a range of foodstuffs—primarily freshwater fish and maize, but possibly also other animals and plants. The importance of aquatic resources is demonstrated by the presence of a range of molecular compounds identified as biomarkers for aquatic products, whereas the presence of maize could only be detected through isotopic analysis. Bayesian modeling suggests that maize is present in all samples and is the dominant product in at least 40% of the potsherds analyzed. This combination of analytical techniques, applied for the first time to Iroquoian pottery, provides a glimpse into Iroquoian foodways and suggests that sagamité was part of the culinary traditions at the Dawson site.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Keywords: | Bayesian modeling,Iroquoians,Iroquoiens,Nord-est américain,Northeastern North America,analyses lipidiques,lipid analysis,modélisation bayésienne,poterie,pottery |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Archaeology (York) The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Chemistry (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 04 Mar 2025 11:50 |
Last Modified: | 31 Mar 2025 23:11 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2024.51 |
Status: | Published online |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1017/aaq.2024.51 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:224026 |
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