Bear-Human Relationships in Native Eastern North America

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 271-310
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Waselkov ◽  
J. Lynn Funkhouser
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Black Bear ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Population Densities ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Foot Bones ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ontological Turn

This volume’s case studies recognize the black bear (Ursus americanus) to be among the most socially consequent of species in Native Eastern North America, despite meager remains at many archaeological sites. Indeed, that sparseness offers valuable evidence for the social roles long played by bears. Ethnohistorical sources suggest bear population densities in some habitats were greater than seen today in Eastern North America. Most archaeological assemblages of bear skeletal remains have skull parts and foot bones but lack most other postcranial elements, often reflecting ritual off-site discard of post-cranial remains and feasting on head and feet. Differences in quantities of bear remains, their relative proportions to other mammals, and differing representations of various parts of the bear skeleton are sensitive indicators of a society’s relationship with black bears. We apply precepts of the new animism, or the ontological turn, to animate the zooarchaeology of bears in Eastern North America.

Ethnohistorical and Ethnographic Sources on Bear-Human Relationships in Native Eastern North America

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 16-47
Author(s):  
Gregory A. Waselkov
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Native Americans ◽  
North America ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Meat Consumption ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
The Many ◽  
Eastern Half

This chapter compiles outsiders’ reactions to relationships observed between Native Americans and black bears (Ursus americanus) in the eastern half of the continent, with emphasis on the Southeast, during the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries. Written accounts provide a sense of the diverse patterns of bear-human relationships expressed by Native Americans that are potentially revealed by zooarchaeology. These accounts focus on economic transactions and food acquisition, preparation, and consumption. References cover bear hunting methods, bear meat consumption, the many uses of bear hides and bear oil, and some notes on bear cubs kept as pets. This systematic overview of ethnohistorical accounts and ethnographic sources on bear-human relationships in Native Eastern North America can inform interpretations of bear remains by zooarchaeologists who are studying Indigenous lifeways in contexts of hunting intensification, commodification of forest products, encroachment by intrusive settlers, missionizing, and cooption of Native American political elites.

Introduction

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Heather A. Lapham
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
North America ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human Relationships ◽  
Indigenous Worldviews ◽  
Human Animal

This chapter introduces the volume topic, bears and bear-human relationships in Native Eastern North America, and provides brief summaries of each chapter. It explains how ethnohistory, zooarchaeology, and ethnography are used to more fully understand and explore bear ceremonialism, human-animal relationships, indigenous worldviews, and Native American beliefs.

scholarly journals Black Bear Reactions to Venomous and Non‐venomous Snakes in Eastern North America

Ethology ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 120 (7) ◽  
pp. 641-651 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn L. Rogers ◽  
Susan A. Mansfield ◽  
Kathleen Hornby ◽  
Stewart Hornby ◽  
Terry D. Debruyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Black Bear ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Venomous Snakes

12. Black Bear Conservation efforts in Ontario

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Cummings ◽  
Erin Neville ◽  
Allison Slater ◽  
Nicci Zargarpour
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Community Outreach ◽  
Black Bear ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
Education Community ◽  
Bear Management

Over the past 200 years, large carnivore range has been decreased due to an increase in human density and influence through agriculture and industrialization. The black bear (Ursusa americanus) is a severely impacted species which has experienced nearly a 50% range loss and has been extirpated from parts of North America. Much public controversy surrounds this species, due to issues associated with hunting, human-bear interactions, and species management strategies. Increasing public awareness of black bear ecology, a charismatic megafauna, will spark positive and pro-conservation efforts across North America. Therefore, area and knowledge-specific education is important in engaging affected communities in black bear ecology and the importance of conservation. The Ministry of Natural Resources has made an effort in these areas by establishing the Bear Wise Program, however there is room within this program for expansion and development of their initiatives. Such expansions include improvement of public education, community outreach and youth awareness of black bears in a holistic ecosystem, versus case specific, approach. Identification of high-impact areas in Ontario would support the allocation of provincial resources to address these issues by implementing changes in local infrastructure, educational development and region-specific management. This project builds off of already established black bear management to increase region and province-wide conservation. The knowledge provided through this project will allow for future efforts across a wide geographical area. 

Bear-Human Relationships in Native Eastern North America:

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 271-310
Author(s):  
GREGORY A. WASELKOV ◽  
J. LYNN FUNKHOUSER
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human Relationships

ISOTOPIC ANALYSES REVEAL GEOGRAPHICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC PATTERNS IN HISTORICAL DOMESTIC ANIMAL TRADE BETWEEN PREDOMINANTLY WHEAT- AND MAIZE-GROWING AGRICULTURAL REGIONS IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 341-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Guiry ◽  
Paul Szpak ◽  
Michael P. Richards
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Domestic Animal ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Upper Canada ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Urban Contexts

Historical zooarchaeologists have made significant contributions to key questions about the social, economic, and nutritional dimensions of domestic animal use in North American colonial contexts; however, techniques commonly employed in faunal analyses do not offer a means of assessing many important aspects of how animals were husbanded and traded. We apply isotopic analyses to faunal remains from archaeological sites to assess the social and economic importance of meat trade and consumption of local and foreign animal products in northeastern North America. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analyses of 310 cattle and pigs from 18 rural and urban archaeological sites in Upper Canada (present-day southern Ontario, Canada; ca. A.D. 1790–1890) are compared with livestock from contemporary American sources to quantify the importance of meat from different origins at rural and higher- and lower-status urban contexts. Results show significant differences between urban and rural households in the consumption of local animals and meat products acquired through long-distance trade. A striking pattern in urban contexts provides new evidence for the social significance of meat origins in historical Upper Canada and highlights the potential for isotopic approaches to reveal otherwise-hidden evidence for social and economic roles of animals in North American archaeology.

Remote Sensing as Community Settlement Analysis at Moundville

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jera R. Davis ◽  
Chester P. Walker ◽  
John H. Blitz
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
North America ◽  
Magnetic Anomalies ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Geophysical Survey ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Innovative Research ◽  
Settlement Analysis ◽  
Cultural Features

AbstractRemote sensing has revolutionized procedures for locating buried features at archaeological sites in eastern North America. However, the potential of instruments such as gradiometers to shape innovative research in ways that move beyond survey and testing is not always realized in practice. At the Mississippian site of Moundville, Alabama, we conducted a landscape-scale geophysical survey to serve as the guiding method of community settlement analysis. First, we mapped the distribution of magnetic anomalies across the site. Next, we defined the variability of anomalies and selected a sample for test excavations to correlate specific anomaly shapes and amplitudes with specific cultural features. Once confirmed as cultural features, we extrapolated sample results to identify unexcavated anomalies as specific building forms and other features with a higher degree of probability than would have been possible without confirmation by test excavation. Results include the identification and mapping of over 450 unexcavated probable buildings, nearly five times the number previously discovered in decades of traditional excavation. Because the buried probable buildings have different forms, sizes, distributions, and chronological spans, the interpreted gradiometer map is transformed through interpretation from a static palimpsest of anomalies to a picture of changing community settlement organization.

Black Bears and the Iroquoians

Bears ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 138-159
Author(s):  
Christian Gates St-Pierre ◽  
Claire St-Germain ◽  
Louis-Vincent Laperrière-Désorcy
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Ursus Americanus ◽  
Black Bear ◽  
Black Bears ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Northeastern North America ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Faunal Assemblages

The study presented in this chapter uses archaeological and ethnohistorical data to discuss the role of black bears (Ursus americanus) among Pre-Contact Iroquoian societies from Northeastern North America. This role is proving to be complex and multifaceted, and the analysis of the archaeological and ethnohistorical records provide contradictory conclusions. According to the ethnohistorical documents considered in this study, black bear appears to be predominantly mentioned in subsistence and hunting contexts. In contrast, bones from black bear have been identified in a majority of Iroquoian faunal assemblages, but always in small numbers, indicating a ubiquitous, yet minor role for black bear in Pre-Contact Iroquoian foodways. Moreover, ethnonyms, myths, and legends also suggest that the symbolic and identity dimensions of black bear outweighed their economic role. The results of the ZooMS analysis of a set of Iroquoian bone projectile points is especially revealing in this respect.

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