The Fruitful Knowledge Provided by Paleoethnobotany;
Elderberry Usage on the Northwest Coast
by Kyla Overbay
Plants are hugely important to human life, as they are a significant resource of food, medicine, shelter, and other necessities for survival. Despite this, paleoethnobotany is an often neglected subset of Northwest coast archaeology due to mistaken assumptions in addition to a focus on hunting rather than gathering. Yet paleoethnobotany can reveal a wealth of information about the lives of people in the past. Paleoethnobotany reveals the importance of red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) across the Northwest Coast.
As outlined by Dana Lepofsky and Natasha Lyons (2013) in “The Secret Past Lives of Plants,” there are many assumptions about analyzing plant remains. As seen in Figure 2, these assumptions are problematic. Plants preserve in many sites on the Northwest Coast despite the “harsh” environment.
Lepofsky and Lyons (2013:46)
Red elderberry is a common plant, but is rarely consumed by most mammals due to the toxins in its seeds.. While in most cases consuming the berries is not fatal, they can cause significant bouts of nausea and vomiting, and are generally considered unpleasant (Losey et al. 2003:696). Yet elderberries were used by many Northwest Coast groups. To ascertain how and why these toxic elderberries were used, we can turn to various paleoethnobotanical studies.
Losey et al.examined seed data from excavations on the Oregon and Washington coast, focusing on Netarts Sandspit, Ozette, and Hoko River. At Netarts multiple seed concentrations were found during the1957-58 excavations and around half of those were available for study during Losey’s work on this site (2003:697). Two other seed concentrations were found during 1999, one in a house pit and the other in a midden. These were identified as red elderberry using a zoom binocular microscope. Very little rodent debris was found among the seeds, nor were signs of burrowing, indicating that the seeds had been placed (or displaced) by humans. The site was dated ~550 RYBP, and the seed concentrations varied from 500 to >3500 per cache (Losey et al. 2003:700). All but three of these thousands of seeds were not charred, indicating they were not cooked (Losey et al. 2003:699). This is particularly interesting, as it is known from ethnography that elderberries were often cooked to detoxify them and make them palatable. At Netarts, the berries were either processed by seed removal before cooking and consumption, or were consumed in an entirely different way. Red elderberries are not found growing at the Netarts site today, with the closest plant found to be 500 km away (Losey et al. 2003:696).
At the Hoko River site, concentrations of elderberry seeds were mixed with Vaccinium and Rubus seeds (Losey et al. 2003:701). Ethnographically, elderberries were often mixed with other fruits because of their tartness, and the mixed berry concentrations found at Hoko River appear to provide archaeological evidence of that. Most seeds at sites besides Netarts were charred, indicating that these berries were cooked (Losey et al. 2003:702). Perhaps this indicates they were consumed differently among different First Nations.
Andrew Martindale and Irena Jurakic (2004) focused on two sites in Northern Tsimshian territory on the B.C coast; Psacelay and Ginakangeek. Seed concentrations were identified during excavation, the seed lenses were removed, and screened through fine mesh (Martindale and Jurakic 2004:263). Because flotation wasn’t used, seed identification may be skewed towards certain species. The highest concentrations of seeds were found in the house middens, indicating that seed removal occurred after processing and during consumption (Martindale and Jurakic 2004:266). These concentrations are estimated to date from ~100-1230 RYBP. There was a decline in plant processing during the 19th century, which Martindale and Jurakic (2004:271) suggest coincides with a decline in the value of the Tsimshian subsistence foods following European contact.
These studies provide significant information on red elderberry as an important dietary and cultural plant in different First Nations. Paleoethnobotany provides critical evidence regarding the importance of plants to Northwest Coast groups throughout their long histories.
References
Lepofsky, Dana and Natasha Lyons (2013)The Secret Past Life of Plants:Paleoethnobotany in British Columbia. BC Studies 179:39-83.
Losey, R.J., N. Stenholm, P. Whereat-Phillips, and H. Vallianatos (2003) Exploring the Use of Red Elderberry (Sambucus racemosa) Fruit on the Southern Northwest Coast of North America. Journal of Archaeological Science 30: 695–707.
Martindale, A., and I. Jurakic. 2004.Northern Tsimshian Elderberry Use in the Late Pre-contact to Post-contact Era. Canadian Journal of Archaeology 28:254-280.