Friday Seminar: Gail Wagner
November 05, 2010 04:00 PM
November 05, 2010 06:00 PM
November 05, 2010
from 04:00 pm to 06:00 pm
|Where||A 222 Fowler|
|Contact Name||Lana Martin|
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Colonial Exchanges: New Worlds, New Plants
By Gail E. Wagner, Associate Professor of Anthropology (University of South Carolina)
The period of initial Colonial entanglement was long and complex in South Carolina, and included Spanish, French, English, and far-distant Indian colonization beginning as early as 1521. Colonial groups potentially brought food customs, crops, and even livestock new to the Indians who lived here. Colonial settlement, the establishment of the deerskin and slave trades, and the introduction of diseases contributed to comprehensive changes in Indian life. Beginning with the assumption that all groups prefer to maintain their own food customs and foods, I examine the dietary practices of South Carolina Indians during the Colonial period as revealed by flotation-recovered macrobotanical plant remains from five coastal and inland Indian settlements dating between A.D. 1590 and 1715. It appears that during the early Colonial period in South Carolina, Indian knowledge of plant foods affected Euroamericans more than Euroamerican plant foods affected Indians.
Part of the Fall 2010 series "Food for Thought: The Archaeology of Diet and Subsistence." Guest scholars explore approaches to and methods of investigating the foodways of past human societies.