W8banaki Subsistence Patterns During the 18th and 19th Centuries at the Fort Odanak Site, Québec, Canada

ABSTRACT

Built in the early eighteenth century on the banks of the Saint-François River (Québec, QC, Canada), the fortified Jesuit mission of Saint-François-de-Sales was an important W8banaki centre during the colonial period. Between 2010 and 2021, archaeological excavations conducted by the W8banaki Nation led to the discovery of the mission’s remains at the Fort Odanak site (CaFe-7) in the historical centre of the village of Odanak. They revealed numerous pit features (used for food storage or refuse disposal), post moulds and hearths, along with diverse artifact assemblages. The analysis of plant macro-remains found in six pits and two hearths at the site was undertaken to document the evolution of culinary practices at the mission and to reconstruct the local environment and its exploitation by the mission’s inhabitants. Results suggest the persistence of traditional Indigenous subsistence patterns during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as well as the integration of European foods into the Abenaki diet via trade and close contact with Canadien (i.e. French Canadian) farmers in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Archaeobotany
• Fort Odanak site
• Abenaki or W8banaki
• pit features
• Québec
• Canada

Acknowledgements

This work is the result of an ongoing collaboration between the W8banaki (previously Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki, the tribal council of the Nation), the Musée des Abénakis, and Université Laval. The authors wish to thank the W8banaki, the Musée des Abénakis, the Groupe de Recherche en archéométrie (GRA), and the Centre d’études nordiques (CEN) of Université Laval for making this research possible. The authors also wish to acknowledge the work of the field crew of the 2018 and 2021 excavations, and the contributions of Serena Hendrickx, Jean-Nicolas Plourde, Daniel Ducharme, Louis-Vincent Laperrière-Désorcy, Alexandre Tellier, Isaak Lachapelle-Gill and Marilou Dauphin. Special thanks are also extended to Suzie O’Bomsawin, David Bernard and Edgar Blanchet of the Ndakina office (W8banaki), and to Patricia Lachapelle and Mathieu O’Bomsawin of the Abenaki Museum. We also wish to thank the Abenaki community of Odanak for their warm welcome and encouragement during the archaeological excavations. Radiocarbon dating was undertaken by Guillaume Labrecque (CEN) and radiocarbon results were calibrated by Joshua Tremblay (CEN) and Sarah Robert (Université Laval). Wood charcoal analysis of the hearth features was provided graciously by Ann Delwaide (CEN). The site location map (Figure 1) was produced by Louise Marcoux (Université Laval) and the map of the Fort Odanak site (Figure 3) was provided by the Ndakina office (W8banaki). We are grateful to Dr. Anne-Marie Faucher (GAIA) for her help with challenging archaeobotanical identifications. The authors also wish to thank the reviewers for their careful reading and thoughtful comments which improved this manuscript.

We dedicate this article to the memory of one of our coauthors, Dr. Geneviève Treyvaud, who sadly passed away in January 2024. This research collaboration (W8banaki – Université Laval), and many others were made possible thanks to Geneviève, and we honour her memory – Kchi Wliwni!

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The symbol « 8 » represents a nasal « o » in aln8ba8dwaw8gan, the w8banaki language.

2 « Ndakina » means « Our Territory » in aln8ba8dwaw8gan.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FRQSC [Fonds de Recherche du Québec-Société et Culture] [grant number 2021-SE3-283916] and the CRSNG [Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada] [grant number RGPIN-2020-06699]. Logistical support and accommodation during field work at Odanak was provided by W8banaki and the Musée des Abénakis.

Notes on contributors

Sarah Robert

Sarah Robert is a Ph. D. student in Archaeology in Université Laval’s Department of Historical Sciences and a member of the Centre de recherche Cultures – Arts – Sociétés (CELAT) in Québec, Canada. As part of her doctoral project, she is studying Indigenous domestic pit features from archaeological village sites in the province of Québec, using a multidisciplinary approach that combines geoarchaeology and archaeobotany.

Allison Bain

Allison Bain is a full Professor of archaeology in the Department of Historical Sciences at Université Laval in Québec (QC, Canada) and a member of the Centre de recherche Cultures – Arts – Sociétés (CELAT). She directs the Environmental Archaeology Laboratory and specialises in archaeoentomology. She is interested in human-environment interactions during the historical periods as well as the evolution of the landscapes around Indigenous and colonial settlements in Northeastern North American and the West Indies.

Najat Bhiry

Najat Bhiry is a full Professor in the Department of Geography at Université Laval in Québec (QC, Canada) and a researcher at the Centre d’études nordiques (CEN). Her area of expertise is Quaternary geology, geomorphology and geoarchaeology. Her research focuses on past and present environmental changes in response to climate, and on the interactions between humans and their environments in northern regions.

Geneviève Treyvaud

Geneviève Treyvaud (1965–2024) was an archaeologist specialising in the Contact period and the impact of European colonisation on Canadian First Nations and their environments. She led the team of archaeologists at the Ndakina office of the W8banaki for seven years and developed archaeological research projects to better understand the ancestral occupation of the w8banaki territory.

Roxane Lévesque

Roxane Lévesque is an archaeologist with an expertise in archaeozoology. She works at the Ndakina office of W8banaki and is involved in various archaeological projects in the Ndakina, the ancestral w8banaki territory.