Exploring late Holocene subsistence practices at sites EeRb 77 and EeRb 140, Kamloops, British Columbia through zooarchaeology

Zooarchaeological analysis of sites EeRb 77 and EeRb 140 on Tk'emlúps te Secwépemcúlecw [Tk'emlúps traditional territory], in Kamloops in the Interior Plateau, British Columbia was conducted. The study contributes to a larger project documenting the long-term land use by the Secwépemc. A quantification system that predicts number of specimens based on weight was developed to accommodate the highly fragmented assemblages. The results from EeRb 77 and 140 were compared with 11 selected assemblages from the Kamloops, Ashcroft, and Lillooet localities, and with the Interior Plateau subsistence pattern. The EeRb 77 assemblage contains large amounts of salmon and deer, whereas carp/minnow and bighorn sheep are more common at EeRb 140. High value, low survival potential artiodactyl skeletal parts are under-represented at both sites. Fish were harvested more intensively during the Kamloops horizon/historic period at EeRb 77 than they were at other sites in the region with comparable dated components. The EeRb 140 assemblage is too mixed to view change in subsistence practices through time. The results of this study contribute to refining the Interior Plateau subsistence pattern.