Archaeological knowledge of Indigenous human–plant relationships within the Canadian northern plains is comparatively limited to more southern areas of the Great Plains. This is partly due to a lack of standardized requirements and methodologies for paleoethnobotanical research in Canadian cultural resource management; in addition, often such research is only routinely practiced by paleoethnobotanists, of which there are few in the study region. However, deep-rooted traditions of Eurocentric Western ontologies have also shaped archaeological knowledge of precolonial Indigenous human–plant relationships. This article illuminates how archaeological knowledge of precolonial Indigenous Ways-of-Being has been highly influenced by early historical, anthropological, and settler-colonial logics. We then collate and reevaluate archaeological evidence of Indigenous plant management from the Canadian northern plains (e.g., paleoethnobotanical evidence) and problematize contemporary archaeological approaches to past Indigenous human–plant relationships in the study area. To conclude, we suggest pathways for expanding archaeological knowledge of Indigenous human–plant relationships in the Canadian northern plains through engaging with Indigenous Knowledge, dismantling remnant colonial foundations in archaeological practices, and expanding archaeological science approaches.

Throughout the precolonial era, monumentality in the midcontinent was expressed through a variety of earthen constructions from circular mounds to animal effigies to geometric shapes to depictions of spiritual beings. Here, we describe an example of megalithic monumentality located at the Menominee Reservation in Wisconsin, USA. This archaeological feature uses a mix of the natural geology alongside anthropogenic efforts to depict the Menominee legend of a battle between the Thunderbird and Serpent. The encountering and documentation of this megalith were the result of ongoing collaborative efforts that brought together archaeological techniques with Menominee knowledge sets. We describe the megalith and draw on the only other known megalithic effigy from Wisconsin, a serpent effigy, located in ancestral Menominee territory and documented more than a century ago. Together, these two megalithic features illustrate currently unrecognized monumental construction efforts in the midcontinent and highlight the value and importance of collaborative approaches to documenting and preserving archaeological heritage.

Across many global contexts of colonial interaction, glass trade beads serve a cultural role as social signifiers and gifts that solidify relationships among people and communities. Through frameworks of technology studies and communities of practice, this study examines how glass bead manufacturing processes in historical European production centers left identifiable markers of access to exchange networks across eastern North America. The case study uses laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to characterize the composition of 413 glass bead chemistries from 13 archaeological sites associated with four distinct nations of the Wendat confederacy. The sites represent both large centers and smaller villages inhabited during the first half of the seventeenth century. We demonstrate that Wendat people from communities of different sizes obtained polychrome and monochrome glass beads made in multiple European glasshouses, with distinct technological styles, likely located in Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, and/or Rouen, and other cities and towns. The finding highlights both the powerful meaning of beads as adornment items and the interconnectedness of European producers and Wendat communities in Wendake yehen’, the location in present-day southern Ontario where the study is centered.

Historic accounts often cite mesquite gum as a component of O’odham material culture and medicinal practices. This study reevaluates these claims through chemical analysis of artifacts and reconsiders historical accounts in light of the chemistry of mesquite exudates. Museum artifacts previously identified as containing mesquite gum were instead identified as insect lac, consistent with its use in Hohokam artifacts and suggesting technological continuity. Mesquite polyphenolic exudate—distinct from polysaccharide gum—was identified as the base for carbonaceous black paints and, given its chemical properties, was likely used in traditional medicinal applications. Linguistic distinctions in O’odham terminology reflect a detailed understanding of mesquite resources. These findings highlight the importance of precise material identification in interpreting cultural and technological practices in the American Southwest, as well as the value of reevaluation of museum collections.

Efforts to decolonize archaeology have gained significant momentum in the last few decades, but have yet to extend robustly to zooarchaeology. Zooarchaeology is, however, well positioned to make unique contributions to decolonial practice. Drawing on insights from Indigenous studies, animal studies, and models of Indigenous science, we argue that North American zooarchaeology must engage in decolonization if reconstructions of past human–animal relationships are to be robust and ethically grounded. We identify some of the colonial legacies embedded in zooarchaeology’s methods, classifications, and interpretive frameworks, and highlight how these structures constrain knowledge production. We offer a series of interventions and actionable recommendations—from analytical protocols to disciplinary practice—that create pathways for zooarchaeologists to participate in the wider decolonial project.

The Eastern, or Rio Grande, Pueblos have always been more resistant to anthropological study than their Western Pueblo neighbors, a fact usually attributed to the impacts of Euro-American colonialism in New Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley. There are, however, internal structural differences between the Eastern and Western Pueblos that bear on the question of secrecy and resistance and that long predate the colonial period. All Pueblos have secret societies. In the Western Pueblos, these societies are embedded in and controlled by matrilineal descent groups (lineages and clans). In the east, kin-based organizations had declined by the late precolonial period (AD 1300–1600), and political power shifted to secret societies that control their community’s ceremonial calendar and virtually all governmental functions. The secrecy that surrounds these institutions strongly resists observations by—and questions from—both outsiders and uninitiated insiders. This article explores the origins of these differences and proposes that the Chaco Phenomenon (circa AD 900–1100) was a critical hinge point in the ritual and political divergence of East and West.