Bloodletting, Totems, and Feasts: Reconsidering Garfish in the Archaeological Record of the Prehistoric Southeast (original) (raw)

Zooarchaeological remains of gar (Lepisosteidae) appear throughout the prehistoric archaeological record of the American Southeast. Although these remains have been predominantly interpreted as food waste or residue of elite feasting events, ethnographic and ethnohistoric data provide conflicting views on how these fish were used by Native Americans. By examining ethnohistoric accounts, modern ethnographic studies, archaeological contexts, and archaeofaunal remains we attempt to explore the full range of gar use in the ethnographic past and present, and suggest new interpretive possibilities for archaeologists faced with gar remains from prehistoric contexts.