Micromorphological Analysis of Archaeological Abenaki Pit Features from the Fort Odanak Site (CaFe-7), Québec, Canada

Abstract

Built in the early 18th century on the banks of the Saint-François River (Quebec, QC, Canada), the fortified Jesuit mission of Saint-François-de-Sales was an important Abenaki centre during the colonial period. Between 2010 and 2021, archaeological excavations conducted by the Waban-Aki Nation led to the discovery of the mission’s remains at the Fort Odanak site (CaFe-7) in the historical centre of Odanak (Quebec, QC, Canada), and revealed numerous pit features likely used for storage or refuse disposal. A sedimentological and micromorphological investigation was undertaken in two areas of the site to identify the function and use of four pit features and to clarify site formation and evolution over time. Our study indicates that all pit features were used as refuse facilities prior to abandonment, but two of them were possibly used for storage. Chronological (14C) results indicate that Indigenous people frequented the site during the 16th century, before the establishment of the Jesuit mission, and that an initial domestic Abenaki occupation occurred during the second half of the 18th century in one of the sampled sectors. The use of traditional pit features by the Abenaki of Odanak seems to have persisted into the late 19th century.

Keywords

• archaeology
• geoarchaeology
• micromorphology
• Fort Odanak site
• Abenaki
• Saint-François River