An Examination of Botanical Materials from Mashantucket Pequot Site 72-58

Seventy-nine flotation samples from an 18th century Mashantucket Pequot homestead in Connecticut were submitted to the Fiske Center for Archaeological Research for paleoethnobotanical analysis in order to examine both the maintenance of and changes in subsistence practices during the reservation period. Wood, nutshells and nutmeat, seeds, and other plant parts were among the thousands of botanical remains recovered. These plant remains came from a variety of ecozones, and may show evidence for an increasing reliance on wild plant foods during the reservation era. Trigg and Bowes argue that this shift to wild foods may represent not only a period of increasing nutritional stress, but also an increase in diversified economic strategies such as gathering wild fruits for sale to colonists.

来自康涅狄格州一处18世纪马尚特克特佩科特（Mashantucket Pequot）定居点遗址的79份浮选样品，被提交至菲斯克考古研究中心开展古植物考古分析，旨在探究保留地时期生计模式的延续与变迁。本次回收的数千件植物遗存涵盖木材、果壳与果仁、种子及其他植物组织；这些遗存源自多种生态区，或可证明保留地时代人类对野生植物食物的依赖程度逐渐提升。特里格（Trigg）与鲍斯（Bowes）认为，这种转向野生食物的趋势，不仅反映了当时日益加剧的营养压力，也体现出多元化经济策略的增强——例如采集野生果实向殖民者售卖以获取经济收益。