Boundary conditions : macrobotanical remains and the Oliver Phase of Central Indiana, A.D. 1200-1450 / Leslie L. Bush.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bush, Leslie L.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--Food--Indiana.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--Ethnobotany--Indiana.

Indians of North America--Indiana--Antiquities.

Paleoethnobotany.

Plant remains (Archaeology).

Indians of North America--Ethnobotany.

Indians of North America--Food.

Indiana.

Antiquities.

Plant remains (Archaeology)--Indiana.

Paleoethnobotany--Indiana.

Indiana--Antiquities.

Physical Description:

xiv, 182 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Tuscaloosa : University of Alabama Press, [2004]

Summary:

Prehistoric plant use in the Late Woodland of central Indiana. -- This book explores the extent to which foodways, an important marker of group identity, can be recognized in charred macrobotanical remains from archaeological sites. From analysis of mere bits of burned plants we can discern what ancient people chose to eat, and how they cooked it, stored it, and preserved it. Leslie Bush compares archaeobotanical remains from 13 Oliver Phase sites in Indiana to other late prehistoric sites through correspondence analysis. The Oliver area is adjacent to the territories of three of the largest and best-known archaeological cultures of the region--Mississippian, Fort Ancient, and Oneota--so findings about Oliver foodways have implications for studies of migration, ethnogenesis, social risk, and culture contact. Historical records of three Native American tribes (Shawnee, Miami, and Huron) are also examined for potential insights into Oliver foodways. The study determines that people who inhabited central Indiana during late prehistoric times had a distinctive signature of plant use that separates them from other archaeological groups, not just in space and time but also in ideas about appropriate uses of plants. The uniqueness of the Oliver botanical pattern is found to lie in the choice of particular crops, the intensity of growing versus gathering, and the use of a large number of wild resources.

Contents:

Defining Oliver

Food, identity, and charcoal

Archaeological and ecological background

Methods used in the selection, recovery, and analysis of macrobotanical samples

Oliver sites and their macrobotanical remains

Quantitative analysis of macrobotanical remains from Oliver and other Native American sites in the Eastern Woodlands

Implications of the Oliver macrobotanical pattern for other aspects of Oliver life.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [143]-173) and index.

ISBN:

0817314342

0817351418

OCLC:

55208335