Studying technology through archaeology science often focuses on the material science aspects of the artifacts such as the raw material, changes in the raw material through its production, and application of the raw materials to its use. Technology is but one aspect of the past. To learn from the masters in the past in their techniques and production, we must look beyond the results of archaeological science from the material science and technological application point of view and understand the human factors involved in the changes of raw materials in the form of specialization, organization, and how the knowledge was passed down, while keeping in mind the geographical landscape, technological knowledge, and cultural preferences. Without these factors the artifacts will not exist in the form we see them today. This paper will use Wendat pottery and Chinese bronze casting as examples to learn from the artisans. The artisan theory combines landscape archaeology, sequence of production, and knowledge theory to bring a new avenue of discussion by focusing on the artisans beyond the technology.

Reconstructing past diet is important for Indigenous reclamation of traditional foodways and our understanding past human economic systems. The Six Seasons of the Asiniskaw Īthiniwak (Rocky Cree) project seeks to contribute to Indigenous reclamation of language, history, and knowledge (including food systems). As part of this larger project, my goal is to investigate the traditional foodways of the Asiniskaw Īthiniwak’s ancestors, through the analysis of carbonized residues preserved on a series of Late Woodland Selkirk Composite vessels from South Indian Lake in Northern Manitoba. A fundamental goal of this project is to establish what foodstuffs were cooked in these vessels, and therefore what plants and animals may have contributed to the Asiniskaw Īthiniwak ancestor’s diets. Microbotanicals, such as phytoliths and starch granules, are readily recoverable from these residues, allowing the identification of plant foods. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analyses of these same residues can identify proteins, in particular the presence of aquatic sources. Combining these two methods allows for a broader assessment of past diet than either of these methods does alone liking them to a specific vessel and therefore to the final meals cooked in those vessels.