Data from: A fish-focused menu: An interdisciplinary reconstruction of Ancestral Tsleil-Waututh diets

<b>Abstract</b><br/><p>The study of past subsistence offers archaeologists a lens through which we can understand relationships between people and their homelands. Tsleil-Waututh Nation is a Coast Salish Nation whose traditional and unceded territory centres on Tsleil-Wat, Burrard Inlet, British Columbia, Canada. Tsleil-Waututh people are fish specialists whose traditional diet focuses primarily on marine and tidal protein sources. In this research we draw on the archaeological record, Tsleil-Waututh oral histories, community knowledge, fisheries ecology, and historical records to build an estimated pre-contact diet that ancestral Tsleil-Waututh people obtained from Tsleil-Wat. Based on prior archaeological research, we assume a high protein diet that is primarily (90-100%) from marine and intertidal sources. The four pillars of sTsleil-Waututh pre-contact diets (salmon, herring, clams, and waterfowl) offer anchor points that ensure the diet is realistic, evidence-based, and representative of community knowledge. We consider the caloric needs of adults, children, elders, and those who are pregnant or lactating. Finally, we consider the variation in the edible yield from different animal species and their relationships in the food web. Together, these data and anchor points build an estimated pre-contact diet averaged across seasons, ages, and biological sex from approximately 1000 CE up until early European contact in approximately 1792 CE. This work offers an empirically based reconstruction of Tsleil-Waututh lifeways and subsistence practices, which were based in a myriad of stewardship techniques, and that they were forced to halt due to colonial polices. This research offers a baseline that aids in understanding the pre-contact relationship between Tsleil-Waututh Nation and their territory.</p>