Breadfruit Fermentation in Pohnpei,Micronesia: Site Formation,Archaeological Visibility,and Interpretive Strategies

Fermentation is a common method of processing and preserving breadfruit throughout the Pacific Islands. While these pits are often reported in the archaeological record, they can pose some interpretive challenges. This paper presents an analysis of probable archaeological breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis (Parkinson) Fosberg) fermentation pits on Temwen Island, Pohnpei, Micronesia. Using the existing ethnographic record as a guide, I present archaeological and paleoethnobotanical criteria for identifying fermentation features. Architectural and stratigraphic analyses from four excavated pits match ethnographic expectations. Phytolith analysis shows some concurrence in terms of taxonomic data, but is more useful for indicating disturbance specific to building activities. Based on the distribution and size of pits present in the survey area, I suggest that breadfruit fermentation took place as primarily a household level (rather than community level) activity during the late prehistoric and early historic period in Pohnpei.     

Multiple pathways to farming in precontact eastern North America

Hunter-gatherers in eastern North America utilized gourds at least 7000 years ago, operating at the early end of a sequence that ended with maize-based agriculture across most of the area. Various subregions differed from each other in timing and degree of participation in premaize crop production. A Midwestern record of native seed plant domestication preceding the adoption of maize is documented, and the significance of this phenomenon is now recognized. Recent archaeobotanical information highlights the amount of geographic variability, limiting the utility of earlier broad-scale interpretations. This paper includes a comparison of sequences in selected subregions: the Midwest/Midsouth, the Southeast, the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Trans-Mississippi South, and the Northeast.     

The status of phytolith analysis in the American tropics

Phytolith analysis is now sufficiently mature to provide an independent source of data in tropical paleoethnobotany and paleoecology. At the same time, ongoing studies of phytoliths from tropical plants and sediments are discovering new applications. There are, to be sure, problems in interpreting prehistoric plant use and paleoecology which cannot be addressed through phytolith analysis; some of the more important ones are listed. Through a review of recent studies in the New World tropics, this paper presents some contributions to, problems of, and prospects for phytolith analysis to inform the archaeological community about such issues as (1) the origins and dispersals of domesticated plants, (2) the development of tropical forest agriculture, (3) the uses of tropical plants in prehistory, and (4) the distribution and composition of past plant communities.     

Archaic Period Domesticated Plants in the Mid-Ohio Valley: Archaeobotanical Remains from the County Home Site (33at40), Southeastern Ohio

Late Archaic archaeobotanical remains from the County Home site (33AT40), southeastern Ohio, are described. Measurements of chenopod (Chenopodium berlandieri) seed-coat thicknesses and marshelder (Iva annua) achene and kernel lengths from the site are indicative of domesticated types (ssp. jonesianum and var. macrocarpa, respectively) dating to ca. 3000 B.P. to 3600 B.P. Together, these specimens represent some of the earliest evidence of plant domestication outside the oak-hickory and oak-savannah forests of eastern North America. The recovery of these plants with other cultigens in hearths and earth ovens at the County Home site indicates that the timing for the arrival of the Initial Crop Complex in the Appalachian mixed forest of the middle Ohio Valley occurred earlier than previously documented. The results of this research contribute to the growing database of early plant domestication and a broader understanding of the origins of food production.     

Recent Research in Paleoethnobotany

This article discusses paleoethnobotanical research and results presented in the recent literature. Although archaeobotany is a fairly recent addition to the study of the past, it now encompasses a diverse range of techniques, analyses, and new results. Issues that are prominent in this archaeological subdiscipline include the origins of agriculture, resource use, environmental reconstruction, anthropogenic environmental change, political-economic change, plant cultivation and crop production, plant processing, consumption (diet), and site deposition. Some of the plant identification methods for macrobotanical remains include morphology using light microscopes, histology with the scanning electron microscope, and statistics. The study of microbotanical remains has expanded greatly and now includes pollen, phytolith, chemical, and molecular analyses.     

Mano size,stable carbon isotope ratios,and macrobotanical remains as multiple lines of evidence of maize dependence in the American southwest

While the level of agricultural dependence affects many aspects of human adaptation, estimating levels of dependence on maize through traditional archaeological techniques is problematic. Here we compare various measurements of manos (e.g., grinding surface area), macrobotanical evidence of maize use, and human collagen stable carbon isotope values from six regions of the American Southwest, encompassing 16 phases, as a means of assessing the power and limits of each approach for considering agricultural dependence. The analysis of each data class is considered separately, taking into account formation processes and arguments linking data and inferences. Correlations among the three data classes suggest that mano area and maize ubiquity can be considered ordinal measures of agricultural dependence, but Southwestern stable carbon isotope data have the analytical potential only to discriminate between little or no maize use and substantial maize use. The formation processes and linking arguments associated with each method must be considered when multiple lines of evidence are integrated in order to make sound behavioral inferences. Our results suggest that there were at least three patterns in the adoption of farming in the Southwest: early substantial use followed by continuous increasing maize dependence, initial intensive dependence with little change in later periods, and a long period of minor use followed by substantial dependence.     

Fuelwood collection as daily practice: a wood charcoal study for the colonial period North Carolina Piedmont

ABSTRACT

European colonization brought innumerable changes and choices to Native groups across the Southeast. Scholars continue to examine the various ways communities navigated these disruptions. Studying the remains of daily practice offers a window into how communities negotiated continuity and change. Wood charcoal, representing the remains of daily fires, provides an important, but underutilized, method for examining people’s daily routines and interactions with their surrounding landscapes. This paper examines wood charcoal assemblages from several sites in the North Carolina Piedmont that span the precontact to early colonial periods (AD 1400–1705). Fuelwood collection models are used to consider the environments, practices, and preferences that influenced the composition of wood charcoal assemblages. Comparison of these datasets shows a consistent significant pattern of high-quality fuelwood selection with additional patterns potentially related to long-term use of the same environment and factors related to colonialism. Altogether, these patterns suggest continuity of some daily practices despite disruptions to other aspects of life.