Paleoethnobotanical Contributions to 18th-century Inuit Economy: An Example from Uivak, Labrador Cynthia Zutter* Abstract - Only a small number of archaeological research projects have investigated the interaction between the Inuit and their use of plants as part of their economy. The research presented here provides a robust illustration of the potential that archaeobotanical analysis can bring to arctic archaeology. As part of a larger multidisciplinary archaeological investigation at Uivak 1 site (HjCl-11), northern Labrador, archaeobotanical samples were recovered from multiple of contexts within the site. Results suggest that a variety of plant taxa in significant quantities were recovered from all contexts of the site. Of note are the ubiquitous berry seeds recovered throughout site, suggesting that berries were an important aspect of 18th-century Inuit life-ways Introduction Only a small number of archaeological research projects have investigated the interaction between the Inuit and their use of plants as part of their economy. This underemphasis is due to a variety of research assumptions made by northern archaeologists, some of which are realistic and others that are not (Leposky et al. 2001). Primarily, it is assumed that low plant productivity and poor preservation conditions in the Canadian north will not facilitate successful archaeobotanical research. This presumption is true in various regions of the high arctic; however, there are numerous localities across the arctic and sub-arctic that have excellent preservation and abundant seasonal plant growth. Other flawed research assumptions include the perception that plants were not an important food source and archaeobotanical research is too expensive to include as part of their research program (Leposky et al. 2001). While it is unquestionable that sea and land mammals provide the bulk of the calories for sustenance for northerly populations, numerous vitamins and minerals available in the variety of berry and other plant species that grow in the shrub tundra ecosystem have the potential to contribute vital elements to the Inuit diet. Archaeobotanical results from recent archaeological projects in the arctic call these erroneous research assumptions into question. There is evidence that plants contributed important aspects of the Inuit diet, including berries as food and other plants for consumption or medicinal purposes. As part of the Meta Incognita project (Fitzhugh 1992), plant remains were documented from various Inuit-European contact sites located in the Eastern Arctic. At numerous sites, there was an abundance of woody twigs, evergreen needles, and berry seeds (Laeyendecker 1992). In Greenland, Böcher and Fredskild (1993) identified abundant berry seeds, herbaceous macrofossils, and woody twigs at the Disko Bay site, implying Paleoeskimos were utilizing plants as a source of food and for fuel. Plant use in rituals is also evident in the graves of the Qilakitsoq Greenland mummies, where bodies were laid out on layers of flowering plants and grasses, and where the people made kamiks from grasses such as lyme grass (Elymus; Brescani et al. 1991). Furthermore, current research on pot and tool residues from Inuit and Paleoeskimo sites are also providing promising results of the use of plants in the Inuit diet (Hartery 2006, Pigford 2008, Salazzo and Erhardt 2007). The following paper provides a robust illustration of the potential that archaeobotanical analysis can bring to arctic archaeology. The recovery of multiple taxa in abundant quantities reveal the variety of contributions that plants made to 18th-century Inuit life-ways. Archaeobotanical research was carried out as part of a larger multidisciplinary archaeological investigation at the Uivak 1 site (HjCl-11), northern Labrador. Between 1993–2000, Susan Kaplan, Bowdoin College, ME, USA, and Jim Woollett, Université Laval, PE, Canada, led excavations at this proto-historic Inuit site. The goal of the Uivak project was focused on examining the role of the Labrador Inuit subsistence economy within the context of larger environmental (e.g., Little Ice Age cooling) and cultural (e.g., European/Moravian missionary settlement) changes, both directly influencing the Inuit society (Kaplan and Woollett 2000, Woollett 2003). Paleoenvironmental analyses, including dendrochronology, zooarchaeology, archaeobotany, and paleoentymology were recognized as essential components of the excavation and research plans for the Uivak site and landscape. Together, these works draw together separate, yet complementary data sets that inform the goals of the Uivak project and assist in understanding the local environment (Woollett 2003). Site Description Uivak 1 is located in the Okak Bay region of northern Labrador (Fig. 1). Moravian missionary accounts describe the site as a principle winter settlement in the area between the years of 1776–1799, with up to 125 occupants (Taylor and Taylor 1977:60). The site consists of 9 large, communal semi-subterranean houses, some with associated middens and most of which date to the 18th century (Fig. 2; Woollett 2003). The site was known as a whaling site, and sea mammal remains dominate the midden constituents on the site (Woollett 2003). Bulk samples were excavated from a variety of archaeological contexts (floor, midden, sleeping platform, and entrance-way) for archaeobotanical and paleoentymological research purposes. The majority of samples were recovered from House 7, the largest house at the site, and it’s associated midden (Fig. 3). Methods In the summer of 1996, 44 bulk soil samples were collected from Uivak for archaeobotanical analysis and twenty eight of these, exclusively from house 7, were examined following established archaeobotanical methods (Pearsall 1989). All samples represent the main contexts of the site: the midden, sleeping platforms, house floor, and entrance-way. The floor, entrance-way, and sleeping platform samples were collected as scatter samples from arbitrary layers (5 cm) in discrete excavation units. The midden samples were collected as a column series at every 5 cm rather than distinct layers, as the midden strata was comprised of numerous discrete lens-shaped deposits, few which extended throughout the deposit (Woollett 2003:360). A set of samples were also collected from an offsite trench to provide an example of naturally occurring macro-botanical remains in local soils. As a result of excellent preservation conditions at the site, only 1 liter or less from each sample was wet sieved through #20 (0.85-mm) and #30 (0.65-mm) mesh Tyler screens to disperse mineral sediment and facilitate sorting of identifiable floral remains from indeterminable residue. 100% of the sediments from both screens were examined using a low-power binocular microscope (12x to 50x). A macro-botanical reference collection consisting of approximately 50 species of Labrador flora were assembled to assist in the identification process. These species were selected because they are documented in ethnobotanical literature as culturally utilized by the Canadian Inuit (Blondeau 1994; Hawkes 1916; Lazarus and Aullas 1990, 1991, 1992; Porsild 1953; Thorton 1999; Wilson 1978). The reference collection is curated and currently stored at Grant MacEwan College, Edmonton, AB, Canada. To supplement this reference collection, various seed-identification manuals and websites were utilized (Berggren 1969, Delroit 1970, Martin and Bartley 1961, Meades et al. 2000). Results Over 15,500 plant macro-fossils representing 26 taxa were recovered from the Uivak site (Table 1). Empetrum nigrum (crowberry) was ubiquitous and had the highest concentration of seeds/liter, with over 10,000 alone recovered in one sample (5S6E). Picea glauca (white spruce) needles were also common in various samples, with concentrations as high as 702/liter in the sleeping platforms samples (3S6E, 3N7E, and 3N8E). Herbaceous/weedy species, including Montia fontana, Cerastium sp., Silene sp., and Stellaria sp. were abundant in the entrance and house floor samples (H7-1N5E, 1S1E) and present in the sleeping platform samples. Sedges (Carex spp.) were retrieved from the house floor and entrance samples, but in very low numbers. Offsite samples (Trench 1: 0–5cm, 5–10 cm, 10–15 cm) were composed mainly of herbaceous seeds and leaves from Betula nana (bog birch) and crowberry. These samples had very low concentrations of macro-botanicals (≈20/liter). In contrast, onsite samples had much higher concentrations of macro-botanicals, averaging more than 300/liter. The general trends apparent in the different archaeological contexts are as follows: 1) The house floor/entrance way samples were dominated by woody plant macro-fossils, including twigs and leaves from crowberry and birch as well as seeds from crowberry and herbaceous plants. 2) The sleeping platforms had the highest concentration of coniferous needles, mainly spruce, along with crowberry seeds and leaves, birch catkins/nutlets, and a variety of herbaceous species. 3) The midden was a conglomeration of taxa, dominated by crowberry, Arctostaphyllus uva- ursi (bearberry), and Vaccinium sp. (blueberry) seeds as well as spruce needles. One noteworthy sample was recovered from directly below a sleeping platform in House 7 (5S6E; 55–60 cm). It was globular in form and tentatively classified as a coprolite. It had more than 10,000 seeds, primarily crowberry, in 100 ml. To determine if it was human or mammal coprolite, trisodium phosphate analysis (TSP) was performed on the sample following coprolite analysis techniques (Bryant and Dean 2006, Fry 1977 ) and comparison was made to other bear scats recovered from Labrador (Zutter and Pigford 2007). Results from the TSP anlysis were inconclusive; however, in-depth analysis of the macro-botanicals identified pedicels (i.e., berry stems) in the bear scats but not in the Uivak sample (Table 2). Discussion Only a small body of literature exists that examines the interaction between the Inuit people and the plants in their environment. Some of the oldest sources are from geographer E.G. Hawkes (1916) and W.H. Oswalt (1957), both of whom acknowledge a variety of plants were used for medicinal and food purposes by Labrador and Alaskan Eskimo (sic). Of note, are the more recent and germane research from P. Dritsas (1986: Plants in Inuit Culture—The Ethnobotany of the Iglulingmiut) and the community-based Arctic Flora project in Nunavik from the early 1990s (Blondeau 1994; Lazaraus and Alenas 1990, 1991, 1992). The latter studies evaluate the relationships between plants and circumpolar peoples and describe the dietary contributions and medicinal properties found in arctic berries and other edible plants used for teas and other purposes. To facilitate comparison of the macro-botanical results from the various archaeological contexts, the plant taxa were condensed into five generalized plant-use categories based on ethnobotanical research of Arctic peoples (Blondeau 1994; Dritsas 1986; Hawkes 1916; Lazarus and Aullas 1990, 1991, 1992; Porsild 1953; Thorton 1999; Wilson 1978). Table 3 categorizes the plant species identified in this study and their potential cultural use by the Labrador Inuit. Figure 4 illustrates the relative percentages of the five plant categories from all of the archaeological contexts, including the entrance way (4A) , house floors (4B) , midden (4C), and sleeping platforms (4D). Samples from the offsite trench are represented in Figure 5 as a baseline comparison of macro-botanical remains in natural contexts. The offsite samples (Fig. 5) are comprised of macro-botanicals from categories 2, 3, 4, and 5; representing a variety of plant taxa commonly found in the shrub tundra vegetation of the subarctic (Lamb 1984). These samples differ markedly from the onsite samples with low overall macro-botanical concentrations, the absence of conifer remains, and few berry seeds. These findings suggest that Inuit were selectively gathering plants from the surrounding vegetation and bringing these back to the site to be used for a variety purposes. The coprolite sample (Fig. 6) provides the best example of plant foods that were being consumed by humans at Uivak. 99% of the total plant macro-fossils in the coprolite samples were from category 3 (edible plants). The 10,100 seeds recovered in this sample represent approximately 1222 individual crowberries and blueberries. There was also an abundance of black globules, likely animal fat residues. This extremely high concentration of macro-botanicals and fatty residues likely represents a cache of human excrement placed under a sleeping platform that was not re-deposited into the midden. The absence of pedicels or berry stems (Table 2) supports the hypothesis that this was in fact a human coprolite rather than a bear scat (Zutter and Pigford 2007). Perhaps this deposit represents the consumption of an authentic, Inuit delicacy, known as “Eskimo ice cream” created by mixing berries and animal fat together. In this way, berries were preserved in hardened fat to be provisioned for later winter consumption (Dritsas 1986, Porsild 1953). The midden samples (Fig. 4C) are similar to the coprolite sample, with approximately 80% of the macro-botanicals from category 3. This high percentage of berries and edible plants suggests the deposition of human waste onto the midden. The remaining 20% of the macro-botanicals in the midden are a combination of categories 1, 2, and 5. Coniferous needles are probably the result of periodic cleanings of the house and sleeping platforms, but may also represent the use of these for respiratory medicinal purposes (Wilson 1978). The presence of seeds from apophytic/weeds are possible in situ growth on the midden itself. There is little difference in the midden samples from 1996 above and below 40 cm, with the exception of the presence of two taxa. Vaccinium (blueberry) and Alnus (alder) were recovered solely from the samples from below 40 cm. This finding may represent changes in plant use, or possible environmental perturbations effecting local vegetation. Alder and blueberry tend to grow in moist conditions, so their absence in the older samples may indicate a drying out of the local area during that period. Floor samples (Fig. 4B) are comprised of macro-botanicals mainly from category 3 (55%) but with high percentages (≈25%) from weeds/apophytes (category 5). The floor was likely a repository for garbage that didn't make it to the outdoor midden and a rich context for the growth of weeds that thrive in disturbed trampled areas. The floor also had the highest percentage of sedges (category 4), which may be remnants of woven mats on the floor used to absorb odors. The sleeping platform samples (Fig. 4D) have the highest percentages of category 1 macro-botanicals (coniferous plants) in the site, averaging 45%. Percentages of macro-fossils from category 2, fuel plants, are also significant at 15%. It is likely that coniferous needles and woody twigs provided bedding and insulation on these sleeping platforms. Berry seeds are also present, perhaps remnants of a meal consumed on the platform. The entrance sample (Fig. 4A) is a combination of plant macro-fossils from category 1 (30%), category 3 (40%), and category 5 (25%). As one would expect, this mixture of taxa is similar to the floor samples, with the exception of the significant amount of coniferous macro-fossils. The entrance was probably littered with remnants of house cleanings that were not deposited on the midden, representing the combination of plants that were being used inside the house. Alternatively, the abundance of conifer macro-botanicals and the presence of sedges (category 4) may be remnants of branches and reeds used to assist in blocking out cold air from outside the house. Conclusion As one of the first rigorous investigations of Inuit archaeobotanical remains, the results of this study confirm that plants and plant foods contributed to the diet and life ways of the 18th-century Inuit. Perhaps the most significant information regarding the consumption of plants by Inuit is represented by the coprolite sample, with seeds from over one thousand berries. This find suggests that crowberries were important in the Inuit diet, and may have been stored in these winter houses to be consumed at various times of the year, a practice noted by Oswalt (1957) with the Alaskan Eskimo. If so, it supports the conclusions made by Woollett (2003), who suggests the intensification and expansion of house sizes in Uivak represents an opportunity for the accumulation of surplus by the Inuit rather than an example of defraying subsistence risk from unpredictable food resources. Berry crops apparently were the essential plant resource in Labrador and across the circumpolar area. Thornton (1999) has recently examined the importance of berry crops in various groups from the western arctic. Not only are the berries an important dietary resource to the Tlingit, they also provide a way for this group to structure their landscape and plan their seasonal rounds. Berries contribute essential nutrients as part of the traditional Inuit food system as well (Kuhnlein and Soueida 1992). The collection of conifer branches and other woody twigs for insulation and comfort on the sleeping platforms is also a common practice for arctic peoples and other aboriginal groups (Lepofsky et al. 1996, Moerman 1998). As previously mentioned, woody twigs were recovered from various historic Inuit sites as part of the Meta Incognita project (Laeyendecker 1992) and at the Paleoeskimo site, Qeqertasussuk, in western Greenland (Böcher and Fredskild 1993). Small quantities of the spruce needles may also represent the use of these leaves as cough medicine, a common practice in various arctic groups (Moerman 1998). Other plant taxa that were used by the Inuit, but to a lesser extent, include Elymus, Epilobium, and Eriophorum. Elymus roots were used for weaving, and young shoots provided an excellent source of Vitamin C (Blondeau 1994). Epilobium leaves and flowers were edible and could also be used as tea (Lazarus and Aullas 1991). Eriophorum was used as wicks for oil lamps, a common practice for all arctic peoples (Lazarus and Aullas 1991). As these results suggest, archaeobotanical analysis of Inuit and other arctic sites has the potential to afford a broader perspective on subsistence practices in the north. Preservation does not appear to be an issue, nor does the limited availability of plants. 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