Recent zooarchaeological analyses of faunal materials recovered from the Steward (BfFt-2), Beckstead (BfFt-1), and Driver's (BeFu-2) archaeological sites in Eastern Ontario have demonstrated that the late prehistoric Iroquoian peoples who inhabited the upper St. Lawrence River valley depended to a great degree upon the exploitation of freshwater fish resources. Among the fish species found to be of primary importance to these peoples was the American Eel (Anguilla rostrata [Lesueur]). The author examines both the ethnographic evidence and the available archaeological data concerning the native exploitation of this species to reconstruct the methods used in its capture and preparation, as well as its role in the St. Lawrence Iroquoians' seasonal cycle of faunal resource exploitation activities.
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