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SUMMARY:Recipes for Success: Paleoethnobotanical Evidence for Women’s We
 alth through Root Processing on the Canadian Plateau - Dr. Monica Ramsey (
 University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20210226T131500Z
DTEND:20210226T140000Z
UID:TALK155833@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Laura Courto
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\nThis talk explores the paleoethnobotanical (macrobo
 tanical) evidence for\nancient pit-cooking practices at the White Rock Spr
 ings site (EeRj 226)\n– a large root-processing complex on the Canadian 
 Plateau (British\nColumbia) where people have harvested and processed edib
 le root\nresources for the last 2\,000 years. According to the ethnographi
 c\nliterature\, collecting and cooking of edible roots was the\nresponsibi
 lity of women\, and through these efforts\, women accumulated\nwealth and 
 prestige.  Thus\, women’s knowledge of root foods\, and\npractices of pr
 ocessing them\, can be viewed as “recipes for success”. I\npresent the
  results of a comprehensive paleoethnobotanical analysis of\nthe ancient p
 lant remains recovered from three earth oven features at\nthe site. Drawin
 g upon ethnographic analogy\, I examine the idea that\nearth ovens – as 
 critical food processing structures – were ‘owned’ over\ngenerations
  by the women who built and used them.\n\nBio:\nMonica Ramsey is an enviro
 nmental archaeologist with an expertise in\npaleoethnobotany\, she studies
  how people used their environments to\nunderstand how long-term human-env
 ironment interactions shape cultural\nresilience and adaptation. She has t
 wo ongoing regional scale\nenvironmental archaeology research projects\, i
 n the Southern Levant and\nthe Canadian Plateau. The projects employ a hum
 an niche construction\nperspective\, with a broad range of paleoethnobotan
 ical approaches\n(phytolith\, starch\, microcharcoal and macrobotanical re
 mains) to\ninvestigate how human-environment interactions impacted transit
 ions in\nplant-food production. Monica Ramsey earned her PhD in Anthropolo
 gy at\nthe University of Texas at Austin (2015) and has since held competi
 tive\npost-doctoral positions at the University of Toronto (SSHRC\nPost-do
 ctoral Fellow (2015-2017)) and the University of Cambridge (Marie\nCurie F
 ellow (2017-2020) and Leverhulme Early Career Fellow (2020-2023).\n
LOCATION:Online via zoom
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