In Feast and Famine

This chapter reviews the archaeological record of black bears (Ursus americanus) in the southern Appalachian Mountains and adjacent Piedmont region of Virginia and North Carolina between the eleventh and eighteenth centuries to better understand Native American bear procurement and use prior to and following European colonization. A contextual study of bear remains from two sites more clearly defines the role of bear in subsistence, ritual behavior, and mortuary practices, deepening our understanding of bear-human relationships. Differences among sites in geographic location, occupation period, disposal methods, and other variables suggest changing patterns of bear use through time and space. Careful consideration of bear-human relationships reveals the many roles and multiple functions that bears and their body parts had in Native North American societies, from subsistence resource, to gifted object, marketable good, ritual offering, and political symbol, among others.

The Multifaceted Bear

Archaeological excavations at the Bell Site, in eastern-central Wisconsin, have provided extensive insights into the culture of the Meskwaki Indians, whose principal village was located at the site circa 1680–1730. Among the many discoveries were several ritually buried bear skulls. This chapter uses ethnographic and ethnohistoric data to demonstrate the spiritual and nutritional importance of bears to the historic Meskwaki, and links the ritually buried skulls with food remains consumed during feasts. The feasts likely served an important role in the politics and economics of Meskwaki society at the time, and the central role played by bears at the feasts further underscores the importance they would have had to the Meskwaki.

Introduction

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.

Bears, Bear Grounds, and Bovines in the Lower Southeast

In the late eighteenth century, U.S. Indian agent Benjamin Hawkins observed that Creeks maintained “beloved bear-grounds” near towns to protect bear habitat. However, Hawkins also noted, “as the cattle increase and the bear decrease, they are hunted in common.” Hawkins’ observations suggest a relationship between the frequency of the two species, and zooarchaeological assemblages from Creek towns support this hypothesis. A frequency index of bear and cattle remains indicate that as cattle increased over time, bear decreased precipitously. Creek hunters initially despised cattle, believing that beef would make the consumer slow and dim-witted. However, with the decline of the deerskin trade, Creek hunters turned to animal husbandry. The best graze for cattle was found in the “beloved bear grounds” and cattle husbandry quickly devastated native bear habitats. By the end of the eighteenth century, cattle displaced bears from their native habitat, and replaced bears in Creek life.

Menageries and Bearskin Caps

North American bears have had cultural significance outside the United States. This chapter explores the role of black, brown, and polar bears in Britain, focusing on the period following the founding of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the late 1600s. Both live bears for exhibition and their products (particularly skins) are considered. The most culturally significant bearskin artifact is the bearskin cap—worn by Buckingham Palace guards—and their history is explored here. Key exhibited animals include an ancient grizzly bear called “Old Martin,” who was one of the last members of the Royal Menagerie at the Tower of London and one of the earliest inhabitants of London Zoo, and “Winnie,” the Canadian black bear who was the inspiration for Winnie-the-Pooh.

Reexamining the Evidence for Bear Ceremonialism in the Lower Mississippi Valley

This chapter reexamines the archaeological evidence for black bear (Ursus americanus) ceremonialism in the Lower Mississippi Valley (Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi). While the environment of the Lower Mississippi Valley was certainly favorable for black bear, we find that not only do ethnohistorical records indicate the importance of black bear but there is a particularly high amount of bear remains at sites dating to the Late Woodland period (AD 700–1200). Feltus, a Coles Creek mound center in southwest Mississippi, is then presented as a case study of black bear ceremonialism. Extensive excavations show that black bear remained a consistent focus throughout the site’s use. Although the specific nature of bear use differs when comparing off-mound and pre-mound contexts to summit-related activities, black bear is consistently found in association with feasting events and ritual activities related to the setting of freestanding posts.

“Dear, Honored Guest”

Bears are represented in Minnesota’s archaeological record through rock art, effigy earthworks, and portable art, but most frequently through zooarchaeology. Most identified bone fragments are American black bears (Ursus americanus), with rare identifications of grizzly bears (U. arctos). These finds are found throughout the state, but are most frequent in the forested biomes of the Laurentian Mixed Forest and Eastern Broadleaf Forest. The sites are archaeological expressions of bear ceremonialism, culturally connected to the Dakota, Ojibwe, or related American Indian nations, and descriptions by native elders and cultural anthropologists Irving Hallowell and Ruth Landes. Analyses of body part representation and taphonomy (such as burned or calcined bone) allows interpretation of sites representing feasts or bear graves where the remains were respectfully placed. Traditions of bear ceremonialism in Minnesota also include cultural manifestations of bear power, such as by healers, warriors, spiritual societies, or clans.

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

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.

Bear-Human Relationships in Native Eastern North America

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.

Black Bears and the Iroquoians

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.