Microbotanical starch analysis as a tool for Indigenous foodways research: An early Navajo case study from the U.S. Southwest

• Minimally invasive, field/lab-based archaeological starch microremains analysis in US Southwest context. • Identification of 2 starch granule morphotypes and starch-derived evidence for 4 different food processing techniques. • 18th century Diné (Navajo) foodways insights via ethnographic comparison with contemporary Diné foods and cooking techniques. Microbotanical starch analysis is currently underutilized in U.S. Southwestern archaeological research. The general resilience of starch granules embedded in groundstone tools and ceramic vessels makes this approach ideal for investigating the dynamics of ancestral Southwestern foodways in a minimally invasive manner in line with the tenets of the Indigenous archaeology movement. This paper reports the results of a starch-focused analysis of ceramic sherds and groundstone tools recovered from the surface of a Gobernador Phase (c.1625–1760 CE) Diné (Navajo) habitation site in northwest New Mexico. Microremains evidence for a variety of early Navajo food preparation techniques is discussed in conjunction with ethnohistoric studies of Diné foodways and the ongoing food sovereignty movement in Indigenous communities.