Papers by Suzanne Needs-Howarth
McGill-Queen's University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2013
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Ontario Archaeology, 2022
This contribution discusses a sample (n = 8,586) of faunal remains excavated from the British nav... more This contribution discusses a sample (n = 8,586) of faunal remains excavated from the British naval dockyard on Lake Ontario, which was in use during the War of 1812 and beyond. We use this sample, representing all bones from the primary contexts that were selected for faunal analysis by the archaeologist, to answer the following questions: How were the workers and military personnel living at the dockyard provisioned? What other animal foods were they able to gain access to? Did the diet at the base differ by social status or military rank? And, related to that, do the faunal remains support the hypothesis by the excavators that contexts in the northern area are mainly associated with the barracks and mess for the officers and those in the southern area are mainly associated with the enlisted men’s encampment and the civilian artificers’ (skilled tradespeople) shanties (the latter since confirmed by a newly located map)? Our results support this hypothesis, and they include numerous indications that both the officers and the poorer, lower-status people in the southern part of the site ate barrelled and fresh pork; barrelled and fresh beef; (presumably fresh) mutton; and fish, trapped resources, and hunted resources. They also include indications of dairying and the raising of pigs on site. The contexts with the most “on-the-hoof ” sheep, including a lamb, are associated with the officers. There is, thus, some correlation between the type and quality of meat from domesticated mammals and the status or rank of the consumer. However, everyone at the base seems to have had equal access to wild resources. Finds of mutton in the southern area may indicate there was not enough barrelled pork and beef available to provision the enlisted men, because according to military sources, fresh mutton was only provisioned to the enlisted men in times of crisis. This variation in the non-provisioned food resources is not documented in military records, and the only way we were able to learn about these aspects of diet at the base is through the bones. This shows the utility of zooarchaeological analysis even for sites with ostensibly well-documented diets.
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Arch Notes, 2023
More than a century of archaeological work in Ontario and surrounding areas has resulted in a mas... more More than a century of archaeological work in Ontario and surrounding areas has resulted in a massive quantity of archaeological data and collections, much of which has been subject to relatively limited analyses. For the past several years, our research team has been working on (re-)analyzing legacy faunal collections to understand past subsistence and economic activities, technologies, environments, and social relations at individual sites, while also contributing data and insights to larger, multi-site research projects that also use non-legacy data generated by ourselves and others. Drawing on this growing database of new and legacy zooarchaeological data, we have started to conduct largescale meta-analyses to explore broad trends across various aspects of the archaeology and historical ecology of the Lower Great Lakes region through roughly the past 1000 years. A theme that runs through all of this research is our desire to gain a better understanding of species that are now extinct, extirpated, or endangered. Through a combination of zooarchaeological meta-analysis and the use of modern analytical tools and techniques—including geographic information systems (GIS), stable isotope analysis, and ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis—our research is providing fascinating insights into past human interactions with, and the historical ecology of, such animals as the now-extinct passenger pigeon and the now-extirpated (locally extinct) Atlantic salmon. In this paper, as part of our commitment to sharing the results of our research with a wider audience, we provide a brief overview of some of our completed and ongoing research projects and publications that show how we use legacy faunal collections and legacy faunal data as a basis to explore various aspects of past human–animal relationships and the ecological history of these iconic species—and other species as well—in southern Ontario and the broader Great Lakes region.
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Environmental Archaeology, May 26, 2016
In a 1993 paper, Noble and Crerar suggested, based on the age and sex distribution of white-taile... more In a 1993 paper, Noble and Crerar suggested, based on the age and sex distribution of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) longbones from four Attawandaron Iroquoian sites around the western end of Lake Ontario, that the contact-period Attawandaron were managing local deer populations, in response to the aboriginal trade in hides. Having observed similar patterns of differential preservation of elements and epiphyseal fusion at nearby Iroquoian sites that are not ascribed to the Attawandaron, and which pre-date the hypothesised trading period, we argue that these patterns may instead relate to bone density and/or vulnerability to taphonomic effects of late-fusing epiphyses. We further support our argument through age profiles based on dental eruption and wear.
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American Antiquity, Jul 1, 2016
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The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, 2017
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Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2022
Sulfur isotope (δ34S) analyses are an important archaeological and ecological tool for understand... more Sulfur isotope (δ34S) analyses are an important archaeological and ecological tool for understanding human and animal migration and diet, but δ34S can be difficult to interpret, particularly in archaeological human-mobility studies, when measured isotope compositions are strongly 34S-depleted relative to regional baselines. Sulfides, which accumulate under anoxic conditions and have distinctively low δ34S, are potentially key for understanding this but are often overlooked in studies of vertebrate δ34S. We analyze an ecologically wide range of archaeological taxa to build an interpretive framework for understanding the impact of sulfide-influenced δ34S on vertebrate consumers. Results provide the first demonstration that δ34S of higher-level consumers can be heavily impacted by freshwater wetland resource use. This source of δ34S variation is significant because it is linked to a globally distributed habitat and occurs at the bottom of the δ34S spectrum, which, for archaeologists, is primarily used for assessing human mobility. Our findings have significant implications for rethinking traditional interpretive frameworks of human
mobility and diet, and for exploring the historical ecology of past freshwater wetland ecosystems. Given the tremendous importance of wetlands’ ecosystem services today, such insights on the structure and human dynamics of past wetlands could be valuable for guiding restoration work.
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Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Sulfur isotope (δ34S) analyses are an important archaeological and ecological tool for understand... more Sulfur isotope (δ34S) analyses are an important archaeological and ecological tool for understanding human and animal migration and diet, but δ34S can be difficult to interpret, particularly in archaeological human-mobility studies, when measured isotope compositions are strongly 34S-depleted relative to regional baselines. Sulfides, which accumulate under anoxic conditions and have distinctively low δ34S, are potentially key for understanding this but are often overlooked in studies of vertebrate δ34S. We analyze an ecologically wide range of archaeological taxa to build an interpretive framework for understanding the impact of sulfide-influenced δ34S on vertebrate consumers. Results provide the first demonstration that δ34S of higher-level consumers can be heavily impacted by freshwater wetland resource use. This source of δ34S variation is significant because it is linked to a globally distributed habitat and occurs at the bottom of the δ34S spectrum, which, for archaeologists, i...
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International Journal of Osteoarchaeology
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Raw data for the Coleman [AiHd-7] vertebrate fauna dataset obtained from the Neotoma Paleoecology... more Raw data for the Coleman [AiHd-7] vertebrate fauna dataset obtained from the Neotoma Paleoecology Database.
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Canadian Journal of Archaeology, 2021
The Quackenbush site (BdGm-l) is located in what is now Ontario, at the northeastern limit of the... more The Quackenbush site (BdGm-l) is located in what is now Ontario, at the northeastern limit of the area known to have been occupied by the Huron-Wendat pre-dispersal and visited by the Anishinaabeg of the Canadian Shield. Excavations of portions of the site half a century ago uncovered parts of three longhouses and midden deposits. We generated the data presented here as part of a larger scholarly effort aimed at analyzing and writing up all of the material culture from the site. We investigate ways in which faunal remains can be used to inform on the nature of the activities conducted at the site and to trace past interactions between the site’s occupants and people living on the Canadian Shield and in the St. Lawrence Valley at that time, finding tentative evidence for the former and more conclusive evidence for the latter. We hypothesize that people originating from the St. Lawrence Valley were present at the Quackenbush site and making bone artifacts as a way of maintaining or ne...
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International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2022
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American Antiquity, 2020
Resource depression and garden hunting are major topics of archaeological interest, with importan... more Resource depression and garden hunting are major topics of archaeological interest, with important implications for understanding cultural and environmental change. Garden hunting is difficult to study using traditional zooarchaeological approaches, but isotopic analyses of animals may provide a marker for where and when people exploited nondomesticated animals that fed on agricultural resources. To realize the full potential of isotopic approaches for reconstructing garden hunting practices—and the impacts of agriculture on past nondomesticated animal populations more broadly—a wider range of species, encompassing many “ecological perspectives,” is needed. We use bone-collagen isotopic compositions of animals (n = 643, 23 taxa, 39 sites) associated with the Late Woodland (~AD 900−1650) in what is now southern Ontario to test hypotheses about the extent to which animals used maize, an isotopically distinctive plant central to subsistence practices of Iroquoian-speaking peoples acros...
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Limnology and Oceanography, 2020
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Northeast Historical Archaeology, 2013
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2019
Abstract During the Late Woodland period in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario, Indigen... more Abstract During the Late Woodland period in what is now the Canadian province of Ontario, Indigenous peoples met their nutritional needs through a combination of maize horticulture, gathering, hunting, and fishing. Recent research on stable isotopes in human tissue (Pfeiffer et al. 2016) suggests that the protein component in the diet of one of the groups of Iroquoian-speaking peoples in Ontario varies over time and came in part from high trophic level fish taxa. We present a pilot study that examines similar questions by means of zooarchaeological data from >100 previously analysed zooarchaeological assemblages using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Our findings indicate differences in the consumption of fish through time. In addition, we observe patterned variation across the landscape of southern Ontario. In areas close to Lake Ontario, the primary high tropic level fishes exploited were members of the family Salmonidae. By contrast, in the Lake Erie drainage, Sander spp., in the family Percidae, makes a greater contribution to zooarchaeological samples. These findings suggest that the Indigenous peoples exploiting these fish sources would have faced different challenges with respect to harvest technology and scheduling.
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Scientific Reports, 2016
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Environmental Archaeology, 2016
In a 1993 paper, Noble and Crerar suggested, based on the age and sex distribution of white-taile... more In a 1993 paper, Noble and Crerar suggested, based on the age and sex distribution of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) longbones from four Attawandaron Iroquoian sites around the western end of Lake Ontario, that the contact-period Attawandaron were managing local deer populations, in response to the aboriginal trade in hides. Having observed similar patterns of differential preservation of elements and epiphyseal fusion at nearby Iroquoian sites that are not ascribed to the Attawandaron, and which pre-date the hypothesised trading period, we argue that these patterns may instead relate to bone density and/or vulnerability to taphonomic effects of late-fusing epiphyses. We further support our argument through age profiles based on dental eruption and wear.
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Papers by Suzanne Needs-Howarth
mobility and diet, and for exploring the historical ecology of past freshwater wetland ecosystems. Given the tremendous importance of wetlands’ ecosystem services today, such insights on the structure and human dynamics of past wetlands could be valuable for guiding restoration work.
mobility and diet, and for exploring the historical ecology of past freshwater wetland ecosystems. Given the tremendous importance of wetlands’ ecosystem services today, such insights on the structure and human dynamics of past wetlands could be valuable for guiding restoration work.