Abstract

We know the earliest people living on Mud Bay made full use of the abundant sea foods and land mammal resources available at this place. But we do not know to what extent they used the floral and herbaceous resources, or which plants those resources consisted of. By preserving and identifying floral remains and seeds from Qwu?gwes wet site we hope to determine the kinds of plant resources used and recreate the plant distribution and ecology along the banks of South Puget Sound 400, and more, years ago. To accomplish this we will be comparing specimens from herbariums and studying macrofloral samples recovered from six years of excavations. From the location of specimens in the site we also hope to test whether seeds, nuts and mosses found were deposited naturally or as a result of cultural use.