XXI. General Poster Session

Micronutrient deficiency, or hidden hunger, is a global challenge that affects hundreds of millions of people each year. Traditionally, fermentation has served as a practice to enhance nutrient availability, mitigate anti-nutritive compounds, and provision probiotics. In many African nations, traditional beers, often characterized by low alcohol content, are crafted from a wide range of crops. Despite their nutritional richness, these beverages remain largely understudied. As diets change and growing culture shifts to a focus on quantity, the importance of these traditional beers can be overlooked despite their contribution to nutritional balance and economic and socio-cultural well being of local peoples. The persistence of these drinks is threatened by introduced foods, changing lifestyles, and global development initiatives that neglect the value of traditional foodways and crops. We provide a review of African beers, taking into account cultural contexts, fermentation processes, and nutrition. We discuss the prospects of fostering continuity and revitalizing knowledge, production, and utilization of African beers.

Agriculture has long been recognized as a pivotal factor in the emergence of early civilizations. Investigating agricultural management practices within their historical context is essential for comprehending the development of social complexity. This study employs phytolith research as a powerful tool for uncovering critical aspects of water management and crop processing, both integral to ancient agricultural systems. Our analysis of phytolith assemblages at the Liangchengzhen archaeological site provides intriguing insights into rice cultivation in arid conditions and reveals shifts in crop processing patterns during the construction of moats. These findings shed new light on the intricate relationship between agriculture, water management, and the evolution of societal structures, offering valuable contributions to the broader understanding of early urban settlements.

Using historical-ecological approaches, this research presents proposed pathways for better understanding settler colonial and Quw’utsun (Cowichan, Coast Salish) land-use histories over decadal and centennial scales. Focusing on the Cowichan River Estuary, a highly developed and industrialized inlet on eastern Vancouver Island, and in collaboration with Cowichan Tribes, this research will integrate primary source data (ship logs, trader diaries, early surveys), ecological surveys, and ethnographic interviews, to assess how land-use in the estuary has changed over time. Preliminary results indicate that at the onset of early colonial incursions, the estuary was a dynamic food system characterized by forest gardens of Garry oak savannah, native fruit tree orchards, and intertidal root gardens. Within decades, commercial logging and farming resulted in a net turn-over in species and increased sediment loading (upwards of 2 m of sediment deposited in ~70 years), drastically reducing plant diversity and Quw’utsun food system resilience. 

Archaeological and paleoethnobotanical research done along the Pend Orielle River in Northern Washinton offers insight into the ancient food ways of the Kalispel Tribe. Part of our contemporary collaborative work seeks to understand the Tribe’s history of food security and provisioning practices. In this poster we draw on the findings of the Calispell Valley Archaeological Project report to look at one pillar of food security: availability. We show that past food availability can be traced through the botanical remains among both camas processing sites and residential sites. Through this record, it is clear that camas processing sites were carefully curated while in comparison residential sites held much more diversity in botanical remains. Our goal of this poster is to present these findings and discuss the modern applications of food security regarding the ancestral usage of camas in the Pacific Northwest. At the center of our discussion is the ability to have preference regarding access to food products. 

This study addresses the scarcity of resources on Southwestern macro botanicals, emphasizing seed documentation within herbaria. Serving diverse disciplines like archaeology, anthropology, biology, botany, and agriculture, the establishment of reference collections organizes and preserves essential macro botanical specimens. By documenting native seed varieties in the Southwestern United States, the research aims to fill existing gaps, offering a user-friendly resource for both remote and hands-on applications. This collection, focused on various seed families, contributes to a deeper understanding of regional flora and supports crucial research in botanical fields. The resulting archive facilitates identification, comparison, and exploration of unique macro botanicals in the Southwestern U.S., promoting biodiversity appreciation and preservation. 

The Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa), under which the Buddha became enlightened in India ~2,500 years ago, is highly significant to Buddhist cultures. Bodhi trees were introduced to Hawai’i in the 1900s by multiple conduits, including Buddhist-Japanese migrants. The Kaua’i Invasive Species Committee identified this plant as a High Risk Invasive, but also acknowledged its important religious relevance. To better understand this complex ecocultural issue, we conducted a transdisciplinary project that integrated genetics, biological fieldwork and community engagement at the Kaua’i Soto Zen Obon Festival. We studied seven trees around residential spaces in Kaua’i and found that the majority shared chloroplast DNA with the tree of enlightenment in India. We took part in Japanese Buddhist cultural activities, including an art project that utilized Bodhi tree leaves. Approaching this issue through an ecocultural transdisciplinary lens may inform the ethical quandary of how to balance the invasive yet sacred relevance of F. religiosa. 

The American beautyberry (C. americana) is a member of Lamiaceae native to the American Southeast, characterized by its bunches of small, bright purple berries. Historical accounts detail the preparations of C. americana used by Southeastern Indigenous groups to treat several ailments, including dysentery, arthritis, and fevers. As recently as the early 20th century, Rural Euroamericans used the leaves of C. americana as an insect repellent for themselves and domestic animals. Two biologically active compounds, callicarpenal, and intermedeol, were isolated from C. americana leaves and demonstrated experimentally to be as effective as DEET against common mosquito species and deer ticks. In the summer of 2022, I spent a couple of days processing Beautyberry leaves to extract the essential oil and found it effective against mosquitos in Central Arkansas. Further study into the viability of these compounds could prove important in producing sustainable insect repellents in the future.

In the Pend Oreille Valley of northeastern Washington State, USA, intensive plant food processing sites are quite common. In this area, the site 45PO358 offered an opportunity to examine how and when these places formed, why people chose these locations, and how they made bulk plant food processing and storage decisions. Consequently, this study aimed to identify fuel wood used in Kalispel food systems and preparation practices. For this study, bulk soil samples were collected during archaeological excavations, and floated to extract macrobotanical remains, including charred and partially charred wood. The data collected from nine features indicated an abundance of gymnosperms. Overall, the results suggested practices for selection and treatment of wood, as well as uses of wood fuel for food processing (i.e., roasting, drying). We further compare our results with other contemporaneous sites ca. 3,000 cal BP throughout the valley to explore inter-site patterns in fuel use.

Traditional Maya land-use strategies have been maligned as primitive, yet they demonstrate persistence and resilience to this day. Denigrating the milpa forest-garden cycle as shifting agriculture fails to see it as an asynchronous cycle that includes open fields of annual crops, perennial succession providing products used in the home, and closed-canopy forests for fruits and construction materials. This poster addresses this issue using spatial analysis and traditional ecological knowledge from living Maya farmers. Combining settlement data and DEM to quantify slope thresholds, we examine the landscape of El Pilar. We test the limits of land use at El Pilar, explore potential variability for subsistence and construction at El Pilar, and investigate strategies of traditional land use in the tropical Maya lowlands. The results guide a discussion of the sustainability of the milpa cycle within the Maya forest.

Indigenous farming systems face pressure to change globally, with unintended cascading impacts on resilience and soil health. Mesoamerican milpa systems face rapid changes or complete abandonment in many regions. To understand the potential unanticipated agroecological consequences of shifting from traditional milpas to tilled monocultures, we are working with partners in Wixárika community of Xatsitsarie, Nayarit. In this area, the living roots of leguminous trees such as ɨpa (Vachellia pennulata) and xuuyá (Vachellia farnesiana) are allowed to persist in the soil, resprouting rapidly alongside crops after the aboveground parts are cut back before sowing. Our methodology involves conducting semi-structured interviews to gain insights into the management practices used and soil analyses to understand nitrogen fixation in these systems. This research aims to understand and raise awareness about the potential benefits of this understudied management practice.