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Acorns and Bitter Roots
Starch Grain Research in the Prehistoric Eastern Woodlands
By TIMOTHY C. MESSNER
THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS
Copyright © 2011 The University of Alabama Press
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8173-5649-1
Chapter One
Introduction
The selection and utilization of subsistence resources filters through most aspects of prehistoric lifeways, influencing how archaeologists perceive and interpret the archaeological record. Human/environment relationships can even be understood by detecting evidence of the plants and animals people targeted and the methods utilized in their exploitation. For these reasons, archaeologists rely heavily upon subsistence data in their quest to understand ancient lifeways and human/environment interactions. Ultimately, our understanding of prehistoric people and plant relationships is contingent upon our ability to detect evidence of them in the archaeological record.
Over the past several decades, researchers have made great strides in advancing Eastern Woodlands paleoethnobotany (Asch and Asch 1985b; Crawford and smith 2003; Fritz 1990; Gremillion 1997, 2002a; Scarry 1993; Smith and Yarnell 2009). However, given the inherent fragmented nature of the archaeological record we remain left with an incomplete picture of the past, especially when we rely upon unilateral approaches to archaeobotanical inquiry. Starch grain analysis enables researchers to gain further entry into many of the complex relationships between ancient humans and their environments, as starch is not subject to the same preservation biases found in macrobotanical, phytolith, or pollen analyses. As a result, starch grain analysis, when viewed in combination with all other archaeobotanical inquiries, provides the most accurate representation of prehistoric people and plant interactions.
The seven chapters presented here provide an in-depth examination of Woodland period people and plant interactions in the Middle Atlantic's Delaware River Watershed (DRW) and adjacent areas. To accomplish this task, starch grain analysis is used in combination with findings from other key archaeobotanical studies. These data provide empirical evidence for many local ecological and cultural developments/adaptations witnessed as people increased, then abandoned, their focus on riverine and estuarine landscapes. These archaeobotanical data sets also illuminate both the conscious and the unintentional translocal movement of ideas and ecologies across large segments of the Eastern Woodlands.
Archaeologists from each of eastern North America's "four corners" have used a range of calendar dates and cultural-historic categories to bracket and divide the Woodland period (Anderson 1994; Anderson and Mainfort 2002; Custer 1989, 1996; Farnsworth and Emerson 1986; Ritchie 1980; Scarry 1997). Such diversity in categorization emphasizes the variability in lifeways once present across this physiographically, ecologically, and culturally variegated landscape. To provide clarity to this conversation, the Woodland is herein defined by the Late Holocene, that is, beginning ca. 3000 B.P. and continuing to just prior to European colonization. During this era, many Eastern Woodlanders increased their reliance upon food-producing economies.
The trajectory through which different groups of people adopted food-producing lifeways appears fraught with complexity, as localized subsistence strategies, in many areas, remained intact long after maize increased in importance within neighboring economies. Segments of the Middle Atlantic and Northeast regions typify this scenario (Ceci 1979–1980; Chilton 2008; Largy and Morenon 2008; Stewart 1992a). The use of domesticated plant resources in economies of the inner and outer coastal plains differed, often dramatically, from that among people inhabiting interior regions. Furthermore, the botanical composition of these agroeconomies consisted of crop assemblages introduced into the Middle Atlantic and Northeast regions from points west in the midcontinent and beyond. These introductions resulted in an intricate agroecological system with potential social, economic, and environmental ramifications.
This book accomplishes two independent yet complementary tasks. First, it establishes the foundation for starch grain research in eastern North America. Using this methodology, in conjunction with all other archaeobotanical data sets, this book, secondly, then addresses several critical questions surrounding prehistoric people's relationships to their environment. These questions include (1) what sorts of localized subsistence choices were people making and how were these plants being utilized; (2) how were relationships between people and plant resources embedded within larger settlement and subsistence practices throughout the Woodland period; (3) to what extent were people of the region connected with broader food-producing strategies consisting of midcontinental and tropical domesticates; and (4) what were the local ecological ramifications of these practices?
DELAWARE RIVER WATERSHED
To address the above questions, this study uses archaeological sites distributed throughout the DRW as a proxy for larger issues concerning Middle Atlantic and Northeast prehistory (Figure 1.1). The area in question extends from the headwaters of the West Branch Delaware River in southeastern New York to Cape Henlopen in the Atlantic Ocean (Delaware) some 410 miles (660 km) away. The entire basin includes some 13,539 square miles (21,773 km2). major tributaries in Pennsylvania—the Lackawaxen, Schuylkill, and Lehigh—extend to the Susquehanna River basin in south-central New York and Central Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, the Rancocas, Musconetcong, Maurice, Oldmans, and Raccoon rivers extend deep into the outer coastal plain. Tributaries in New York include the Mongaup and Neversink rivers and Callicoon Creek. When the Delaware River reaches the falls at Trenton, it becomes subjected to tidal influence and takes on both tidal and freshwater qualities. Abundant wetland ecosystems fill the landscape in this area. In fact, of the 500,000–1,000,000 ha of freshwater tidal wetlands along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, 100,000–140,000 ha are in New Jersey (Odum et al. 1979).
This watershed also incorporates several southwest to northeast–trending physiographic provinces, including the Allegheny Plateau, Ridge and Valley, Piedmont, Newark-Gettysburg Basin, Inner Coastal Plain, and Outer Coastal Plain. Diverse environmental settings characterize this watershed, as the geology, pedology, hydrology, and vegetation change depending on the province. Given its geographic position relative to the Ohio Valley, New York, and the Atlantic Coast, the DRW represents an important location for understanding prehistoric cultural interaction spheres and their relationship to plant utilization strategies, including the dispersal and adoption of maize-centered farming.
ETHNOHISTORY AND THE MISSING PAST
Throughout eastern north America early colonists describe the native population as utilizing a wide range of plant resources for utilitarian, medicinal, spiritual, and dietary purposes (e.g., Acrelius 1912; Banister 1970; Barlowe 1589; Carver 1974; Cheever 1848; Danckaerts 1913; Hamel and Chiltoskey 1975; Heckewelder 1819; Herrick 1977; Hilger 1951; Lindestrom 1925; Newcomb 1956; speck 1925, 1927; speck and Dexter 1951, 1952; Tantaquidgeon 1972; Turner et al. 1980; Whitthoft 1977). The variety of plant resources described in these accounts far outnumbers the taxonomic range witnessed in the macrobotanical record (see Yarnell 1964). These findings suggest that either (1) the plant resources utilized by historic native populations were a relatively recent sociocultural adaptation or (2) the archaeobotanical record as currently understood fails to account for the full range of plant resources utilized throughout prehistory. Given the time and complexity involved in knowledge acquisition, especially as it applies to dietary plants, it seems more probable that people maintained an in-depth understanding of their local floral communities and that the macrobotanical record neglects to represent many important aspects of these relationships.
APPROACHING THE PROBLEM
Examining plant resource selection and utilization through the Woodland period sheds light on the complex nature of human/environment interactions. The application of innovative approaches such as starch grain analysis can offer new insights into the range of plants utilized within the subsistence economies of the DRW and several immediately adjacent areas. Starch grain analysis uses identifiable microscopic plant-based residues isolated from processing tools and containers (e.g., chipped and ground stone tools, ceramics) to determine the taxonomic identity as well as the physiological origin (seed, tuber, fruit) of plant matter utilized for subsistence, medicinal, or utilitarian purposes. Starch residues are a powerful form of archaeobotanical inquiry due to (1) their resilient molecular composition facilitating their preservation for extended periods of time and (2) the ability of researchers to taxonomically identify plants based on morphological starch grain characteristics.
Many economic seeds, subterranean storage organs, and fruits commonly targeted for subsistence, medicinal, and utilitarian purposes often contain high levels of carbohydrates in the form of starch. In order to consume or ingest many of these plants, to preserve them for extended periods of time, or merely to adhere to cultural guidelines surrounding dietary preparation, humans must first process them. Processing carbohydrate-rich plant tissues often results in the deposition of starch grains upon and within the surfaces of tools or in ceramic pots. In these archaeological contexts, starch has the potential to preserve for extended periods of time in environmental conditions otherwise poorly suited for organic preservation (Loy et al. 1992; Piperno et al. 2004).
Additionally, starch residues recovered from plant processing tools enable researchers to further understand aspects of artifact function, strengthening interpretations based upon use-wear analyses (Babot 2001; Babot and Apella 2003; Barton et al. 1998; Chandler-Ezell et al. 2006; Fullagar 1991; Fullagar et al. 2006; Fullagar et al. 1999; Lentfer et al. 2002; Pearsall et al. 2004; Perry 2004; Piperno, Ranere, et al. 2000; Rots and Williamson 2004; Zarrillo and Kooyman 2006). Through these studies, insight into culinary practices can also be gleaned, as can aspects of the paleoenvironment (Chandler-Ezell et al. 2006; Denham et al. 2003; Fullagar et al. 1998; Lentfer et al. 2002).
While the ability to isolate starch from plant processing tools provides researchers with information concerning subsistence choice (e.g., carbohydrate vs. oily plants, seeds vs. nuts) and tool function (plant processing vs. mineral grinding), the ability to identify the plant represented by these starch residues, as well as the plant tissue (seed vs. root) targeted, requires a modern starch grain reference collection (Perry 2001; Piperno and Holst 1998; Torrence and Barton 2006; Zarrillo and Kooyman 2006). One of the primary goals of this research involved constructing a starch grain comparative collection composed of known economic plants indigenous to, or prehistorically introduced into, eastern North America. Assembling taxa for this purpose first involved conducting an extensive literature review.
The adage "work from the known to the unknown" is true in many aspects of our discipline. Paleoethnobotany is no exception. For the most part, our interpretations of the archaeobotanical record rely upon early historic studies conducted by anthropologists, ethnobotanists, and naturalists, as well as the "not so scholarly" chronicles of the early colonial era. Using these resources, archaeologists can begin to understand the range of possible plant resources utilized in the past based upon the types of plants historic Native Americans were utilizing at the time of European colonization—although empirical evidence of their prehistoric utilization is often lacking. Presented in Chapter 2 are the results of an extensive literature review geared toward establishing the range of known potential plant resources used by prehistoric groups in the Middle Atlantic region. This literature review covered not only groups from the study area but also a wide range of peoples from throughout the Eastern Woodlands and elsewhere in North America. Plant species selected were queried based upon their reported subsistence and medicinal value. In this analysis, attention is given to the intended uses of these plant tissues while focusing on the grey area that often exists between food and medicines and the fact that intent can freely shift depending upon changes in sociocultural perspectives (Etkin 2006; Johns 1990b; Moerman 1994). Many of the dietary and medicinal economic plant species identified in this review were subsequently procured for inclusion in the starch grain comparative collection.
BUILDING THE REFERENCE COLLECTION
Using the list of potential economic plant species generated from the literature review, this study puts forth the largest published assemblage of economic starches in eastern North America. This collection of digital images (found in the book's supporting materials) consists of 25 families, 63 genera, and over 100 different species. Included within this compilation are taxa ranging from mast such as Quercus ssp. (oak) and Castanea dentata (American chestnut) to tropical domesticates like Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) and Zea mays (maize), as well as wild progenitors of plants domesticated in the midcontinent such as Chenopodium berlandieri (chenopod), Polygonum erectum (erect knotweed), and Hordeum pusillum (little barley).
In addition, the supporting materials for this book contain pertinent information related to each plant. Those materials include the current distribution according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and usage as depicted within the ethnobotanical literature, as well as identifiable characteristics of the plant and starch assemblage. Also included for each taxon is an assemblage-wide starch description as well as a detailed characterization of potential taxonomically valuable morphotypes. Each of these important starch forms was then used to generate several taxonomic keys created to aid in future archaeological starch identifications. Lastly, the supporting materials contain several in-depth discussions on differentiating between closely related economic genera.
Several different approaches were used to assemble plant material for the reference collection. As detailed in Chapter 3, many specimens were obtained from the Academy of Natural Sciences herbarium (Philadelphia) or through the USDA Germplasm Resources Information Network. Each of these institutions played a critical role in the compilation of botanical material as well as in gaining insights into the historical phytogeography for many taxa. In order to supplement the tissue obtained from these institutions, numerous field collection trips were conducted over the course of several years.
Upon examination of the starch collection, readers will find that a wide range of economic plants can be distinguished based on their starch grain morphology. For instance, the tropical domesticate maize can be distinguished from closely related species native to the temperate climates of eastern North America. Given a large enough sample size, researchers may be able to distinguish between acorns of the red and white groups. Many of the most widely referenced geophytes can also be distinguished based upon distinctive morphological criteria. Thus, this research offers the potential to shed new light on the utilization of starch-rich plant resources such as the "acorns and bitter roots" (Aller 1954:62) of this book's title, not only in the current body of work but also in subsequent studies conducted throughout eastern North America.
In Chapter 3, a basic overview of plant carbohydrate production is provided while emphasizing the utility of starch in archaeobotanical inquiries. A significant amount of literature now exists pertaining to starch grain biology and its archaeological utility (Perry 2001; Piperno and Holst 1998; Torrence and Barton 2006). Thus, readers are directed to these studies for additional background information. Here, attention is given to the descriptive terms commonly used when discussing specific, recognizable starch grain morphologies and key surface features needed for determining taxonomy. In addition, this study also provides insight into starch degradation, preservation, and pathways of archaeological deposition as well as the methods of extraction used in archaeological sampling. In this regard, students interested in pursuing this form of archaeobotanical inquiry, as well as researchers seeking proficiency in broader methodological realms, can better utilize the reference material present within the supporting materials.
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Excerpted from Acorns and Bitter Roots by TIMOTHY C. MESSNER Copyright © 2011 by The University of Alabama Press. Excerpted by permission of THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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