Household Economy at Wall Ridge

Household Economy at Wall Ridge tells the story of a Native American household that occupied a lodgeon the eastern Plains border during the early 1300sAD. Contributors use cutting-edge methods andthe site's unparalleled archaeological record to shed light on the daily technological, subsistence, anddietary aspects of the occupants' lives. This workrepresents the first comprehensive study of a prehistoric Central Plains household in over half a century. The research covers archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, dating, ceramics, lithics, bone and shell tools, diet, climate, ecology, and more. The study of plant and animal usage from the lodge stands as a tour de forceof analytical methods, including stable isotope data that permit the discovery of dietary items missed by traditional studies. Many of these items have never been reported before from Central Plains sites. The book firmly sets the site's occupancy at AD 1305, with a margin of error of only a few years. This result, based on high-precision dating methods, exceeds in accuracy all previously dated Plains lodges and provides a temporal backdrop for evaluating household activities.