Fallback foods and foraging demographics in early Thule diets: Paleoethnobotanical and zooarchaeological results of a column sample from Ganigak (49-NOB-001), Norton Sound, Alaska

Abstract

Bulk sediment samples can contribute high-resolution subsistence and paleoenvironmental data from archaeological sites excavated before the adoption of modern zooarchaeological and paleoethnobotanical recovery methods in the 1990s. We present faunal and botanical analyses of sediment samples collected from Ganigak (49-NOB-001; 1185–1465 cal CE), Norton Sound, from a “fish layer” identified by J. Louis Giddings in his excavation trench in 1948. Findings reveal that saffron cod and salmonberries were a crucial resource. Although these food items have low caloric yields, we argue that both provide essential nutrients to supplement marine-mammal dominant diets. Drawing on ethnographic accounts, we argue that saffron cod were crucial fallback resources, likely harvested by women and were relied on in times of resource scarcity. These data shed novel insight into Thule coastal subsistence strategies, which may otherwise be overlooked when the focus is on analysis of tool technologies or on unscreened faunal samples. Future research requires additional processing of sediment samples to fully understand the role of small-bodied fauna and plant foods to Thule subsistence strategies.