Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T12:09:40.140Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Earth-Oven Plant Processing in Archaic Period Economies: An Example from a Semi-Arid Savannah in South-Central North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Phil Dering
Phil Dering*
Affiliation:
Center for Ecological Archaeology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Models of Archaic period economy in the Lower Pecos River region of southwest Texas and Coahuila, Mexico, are based primarily on coprolite, faunal, and macroplant analysis of materials recovered from rockshelters. The models maintain that during the Middle Archaic period residential mobility is reduced and tethered to rockshelters in canyons near water, and diet dominated by the plant resources lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), sotol (Dasylirion texanum), and prickly pear (Opuntia spp.). I use archaeobotanical analysis and actualistic studies to determine the contents of earth-oven features, the number of plant food calories produced by ovens, and the quantity of refuse they generate. Considered within the framework of a diet-breadth model, the data demonstrate that return rates and caloric yields for lechuguilla and sotol processed in earth ovens are typical of a broad spectrum, low-return economy. Intensive use of these low-ranked resources indicates periods of subsistence stress beginning in the Early Archaic period and continuing through the Late Archaic. Use of low-ranked, high-cost resources in canyon zones indicates that food and fuel resources were quickly depleted forcing high residential mobility. Depletion of local resources, not the distribution of water sources governed residential mobility.

Résumé

Résumé

Los modelos de la economía arcaica en la región baja del Río Pecos del sudoeste de Texas, E.E. U.U.,y Coahuila, México, están basados en análisis paleofecales, taunisticos, y botánicos recobrados en abrigos. Los modelos sugieren que durante el Acaico Medio la mobilidad residencial estaba reducida y ligada a abrigos en canoñes cerca de agua, y que la dieta era compuesta mayormente de lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), sotol (Dasylirion texanum), y nopal (Opuntia spp). Yo uso análisis arquebotánicos y estudios experimentales para determinar el contenido de los hornos de tierra, cuántas calorías vegetates que producen los hornos y la cantidad de desechos que se generaban. Considerados dentro del marco de la teoría deforraje, los datos demuestran que las proporciones calóricas obtenidas de la lechuguilla, y sotol procesados en hornos de tierra son típicos en una económia de baja productividady amplio espectro. Uso intensive de estos recursospoco importantes indica períodos deforzada subsistencia comenzando en el Arcaico Temprano y continuando a través del Arcaico Tardío. El uso de recursos de menor importancia y alto costo económico en zonas de cañones indica que la comida y los recursos combustibles fueron rapidamente agotados forzando una alta mobilidad residencial. El agotamiento de los recursos locales, y no la distribución de recursos de agua, gobernaron la mobilidad residencial.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 659 - 674
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Alexander, R. K. 1974 The Archeology of Conejo Shelter, A Study of Cultural Stability at an Archaic Rockshelter Site in Southwestern Texas. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Andrews, R. L., and Adovasio, J. M. 1980 Perishable Industries from Hinds Cave, Vol Verde County, Texas. Ethnology Monographs 5. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh.Google Scholar
Beck, W. 1992 Aboriginal Preparation of Cycas Seeds in Australia. Economic Botany 46: 133–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, W. H., and Castetter, E. F. 1941 The Utilization of Yucca, Sotol, and Beargrass by the Aborigines in the American Southwest. Biological Series 5(5). Bulletin 372, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Bement, L. C. 1989 Lower Pecos Canyonlands. In From the Gulf to the Rio Grande: Human Adaptation in Central, South, and Lower Pecos Texas, edited by Hester, T. R., Black, S. L., Steele, D. G., Olive, B. W., Fox, A. A., Reinhard, K. J., and Bement, L. C., pp. 63–76. Research Series 33. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1980 Willow Smoke and Dog's Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation. American Antiquity 45: 4–20.Google Scholar
Binford, L. R. 1982 The Archaeology of Place. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 1: 5–31.Google Scholar
Black, S. L. 1997 Oven Cookery at the Honey Creek Site. In Hot Rock Cooking on the Greater Edwards Plateau: Four Burned Rock Midden Sites in West Central Texas, by Black, S. L., Ellis, L. W., Creel, D. G., and Goode, G. T., pp.255–268. Studies in Archeology 22. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Black, S. L., Ellis, L. W., Creel, D. G., and Goode, G. T. 1997 Hot Rock Cooking on the Greater Edwards Plateau: Four Burned Rock Midden Sites in West Central Texas. Studies in Archeology 22. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Bogler, D. J. 1994 Taxonomy and Phytogeny ofDasylirion (Nolinaceae). Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Botany, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Brown, K. M. 1988 Some Annotated Excerpts from Alonso de Leon's History of Nuevo Leon. La Tierra 15(2): 5–20.Google Scholar
Brown, K. M. 1991 Prehistoric Economics at Baker Cave: A Plan for Research. In Papers on Lower Pecos Prehistory, edited by Turpin, S. A., pp. 87–140. Studies in Archeology 8. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Bryant, V. M. Jr. 1969 Late Full-Glacial and Postglacial Pollen Analysis of Texas Sediments. University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Bryant, V. M. Jr. 1974 Prehistoric Diet in Southwest Texas. American Antiquity 39: 407–420.Google Scholar
Bryant, V. M. Jr., and Holloway, R. G. 1985 ALate Quaternary Paleoenvironmental Record of Texas: An Overview of the Pollen Evidence. In Pollen Records of Late Quaternary North American Sediments, edited by Bryant, V. M. Jr. and Holloway, R. G., pp. 39–70. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists, Dallas.Google Scholar
Bryant, V. M. Jr., and Holloway, R. G. 1938 The Early Utilization and the Distribution of Agave in the American Southwest. Biological Series 5(4). Bulletin 335, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Chadderdon, M. F. 1983 Baker Cave, Val Verde County, Texas: The 1976 Excavations. Special Report 13. Center for Archaeological Research, University of Texas, San Antonio.Google Scholar
Chadderdon, M. F. 1976 Mesolithic Europe: The Economic Basis. In Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology, edited by B. de B. Sieveking, I.H. Longworth, and K. E. Wilson, pp 449-481. G. Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Clarke, D. 1976 Mesolithic Europe: The Economic Basis. In Problems in Economic and Social Archaeology, edited by Sieveking, B. de B., Longworth, I.H., and Wilson, K. E., pp. 449–481. Gerald Duckworth, London.Google Scholar
Curtis, E. S. 1972 The North American Indian. The North American Indian 1. Reprinted. Johnson Reprint, New York. Originally published.Google Scholar
Decker, S. 1997 Comparative Data from Excavated and Reported Burned Rock Middens in Greater Central Texas. In Hot Rock Cooking on the Greater Edwards Plateau: Four Burned Rock Midden Sites in West Central Texas, edited by Black, S. L., L. W. Ellis, D. G. Creel, and G. T. Goode, pp. 683–746. Studies in Archeology 22. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Dennis, T. S., and Dennis, T. S. 1977 Life of F. M. Buckelew. Reprinted. The Garland Library of Narrative of North American Indian Captivities, vol. 107, Washburn, W. E., general editor. III vols. Garland, New York. Originally published 1925, Hunter's Printing House, Bandera, Texas.Google Scholar
Dering, J. P. 1979 Pollen and Plant Macrofossil Vegetation Record at Hinds Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
Dering, J. P. 1997 Macrobotanical Remains: Appendix D. In Hot Rock Cooking on the Greater Edwards Plateau: Four Burned Rock Midden Sites in West Central Texas, edited by Black, S. L.,Ellis, L. W., Creel, D. G., and Goode, G. T., pp. 571–600. Studies in Archeology 22. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Dering, J. P. 1998 Archaeological Context and Land Use in the Western Rio Grande Plains. Technical Report 1. Center for Ecological Archaeology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Dibble, D. S., and Lorrain, D. 1968 Bonfire Shelter: A Stratified Bison Kill Site, Val Verde County, Texas. Miscellaneous Papers. Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. K. 1990 Investigations of Late Archaic Coprolites: Pollen and Macrofossil Remains from Hinds Cave (41W456), Val Verde County, Texas. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Ellis, L. W. 1997 Hot Rock Technology. In Hot Rock Cooking on the Greater Edwards Plateau: Four Burned Rock Midden Sites in West Central Texas, edited by Black, S. L., Ellis, L. W., Creel, D. G., and Goode, G. T., pp. 43–82. Studies in Archeology 22. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Fenneman, N. M. 1928 Physiographic Divisions of the United States. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 18: 261–353.Google Scholar
Freeman, C. E., and Reid, W. H. 1985 Aspects of the Reproductive Biology of Agave lechuguilla Torr. Desert Plants 7(2): 75–80.Google Scholar
Heubner, J. 1991 Cactus for Dinner, Again! An Isotopic Analysis of Late Archaic Diet in the Lower Pecos Region of Texas. In Papers on Lower Pecos Prehistory, edited by Turpin, S., pp. 175–190. Studies in Archeology 8. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, Austin.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, R. K., and Bartram, L. E. 1998 Social Boundaries, Technical Systems, and the Use of Space and Technology in the Kalahari. In The Archaeology of Social Boundaries, edited by Stark, M. T., pp. 12–49. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Howard, M. A. 1991 Burned Rock Midden Excavations, Hearths and Botanical Remains. In The Burned Rock Middens of Texas: An Archeological Symposium, edited by Hester, T. R., pp. 45–70. Studies in Archeology 13. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, Austin.Google Scholar
Hudson, D. T., and Blackburn, T. C. 1983 The Material Culture of the Chumash Interaction Sphere, vol.11: Food Preparation and Shelter. Ballena Press and the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Los Altos, California.Google Scholar
Irving, R. S. 1966 The Preliminary Analysis of Plant Remains from Six Amistad Reservoir Sites. In A Preliminary Study of the Paleoecology ofthe Amistad ReservoirArea, edited by Story, D.A. and Bryant, V. M., pp. 61–90. University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Jones, R., and Meehan, B. 1989 Plants Foods of the Gidjingali: Ethnographic and Archaeological Perspectives from Northern Australia on Tuber and Seed Exploitation In Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation, edited by Harris, D. R. and Hillman, G.C. pp. 120–135. Unwin Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Kelly, R. L. 1988 Bighorn, Pronghorn, Lagomorph, Rat: Great Basin Hunting Patterns and Their Bearing on Sedentism. In Diet and Subsistence: Current Archaeological Perspectives, edited by Kennedy, B. V. and M, G.. LeMoine. Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Conference of the Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary. University of Calgary Archaeological Association, Calgary.Google Scholar
Kelly, R. L. 1992 Mobility/Sedentism: Concepts, Archaeological Measures, and Effects. Annual Review of Anthropology 21: 43–66.Google Scholar
Kelly, R. L. 1995 The Foraging Spectrum. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Kelly, R.L., and Todd, L. C. 1988 Coming into the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility. American Antiquity 53: 231–244.Google Scholar
Kuchler, A.W. 1966 Potential Natural Vegetation of the Conterminous United States. American Geographical Society, New York.Google Scholar
Labadie, J. H. 1994 Amistad National Recreation Area: Cultural Resources Study. National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Southwest Regional Office, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Leslie, P. W, Blindon, J. R., and Baker, P. T. 1984 Caloric Requirements of Human Populations: A Model. Human Ecology 12: 137–163.Google Scholar
Lord, K. J. 1984 The Zooarchaeology of Hinds Cave (41W456). Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
McMahan, C. A., Frye, R. G., and Brown, K. L. 1984 The Vegetation Types of Texas: Including Cropland. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Austin, Texas.Google Scholar
Marks, M. K., Rose, J. C., and Buie, E. L. 1988 Bioarchaeology of Seminole Sink. In Seminole Sink: Excavation of a Vertical Shaft Tomb, Vol Verde County, Texas, compiled by Turpin, S., pp. 75–118. Memoir 22. Plains Anthropologist 33(122), pt. 2.Google Scholar
Marmaduke, W. S. 1978 Prehistoric Culture in Trans-Pecos Texas: An Ecological Approach. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Nobel, P. S. 1988 Environmental Biology of Agaves and Cacti. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Norwine, J. 1995 The Regional Climate of South Texas: Patterns and Trends. In The Changing Climate of Texas: Predictability and Implications for the Future, edited by Norwine, J., Giardino, J.R., North, G.R., and Valdes, J.B., pp. 138–154. Geo-Books, College of Geosciences and Maritime Studies, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Patton, P., and Dibble, D. S. 1982 Archeologic and Geomorphic Evidence for the Paleohydrolic Record of the Pecos River in West Texas. American Journal of Science 282: 97–121.Google Scholar
Reagan, A. D. 1928 Plants Used by the White Mountain Apache Indians of Arizona. The Wisconsin Archeologist 8: 143–161.Google Scholar
Reinhard, K. J., Olive, B. W, and Steele, D. G. 1989 Bioarcheological Synthesis. In From the Gulf to the Rio Grande: Human Adaptation in Central, South, and Lower Pecos Texas, edited by Hester, T. R., Black, S. L., Steele, D. G., Olive, B. W., Fox, A. A., Reinhard, K. J., and Bement, L. C., pp. 129–140. Research Series 33. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Saunders, J. W. 1992 Plant and Animal Procurement Sites in the Lower Pecos Region, Texas. Journal of Field Archaeology 19: 335–349.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1981 The Adaptive Technology of the Prehistoric Inhabitants ofSoutowest Texas. Journal of Field Archaeology 26(92): 129–138.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1986 Ancient Texans. Texas Monthly Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J. 1988 The Prehistoric Legacy of the Lower Pecos Region of Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 59: 23–52.Google Scholar
Shafer, H. J., and Bryant, V. M. Jr. 1977 Archeological and Botanical Studies at Hinds Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. Special Series No. 1. Anthropology Laboratory, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Simms, S. 1987 Behavioral Ecology and Hunter-Gatherer Foraging: An Example from the Great Basin. BAR International Series 381. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sobolik, K. D. 1991 Paleonutrition of the Lower Pecos Region of the Chihuahuan Desert. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Sobolik, K. D. 1993 Direct Evidence for the Importance of Small Animals to Prehistoric Diets: A Review of Coprolite Studies. North American Archaeologistl 4: 227–248.Google Scholar
Sobolik, K. D. 1996 Nutritional Constraints and Mobility Patterns of Hunter- Gatherers in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert. In Case Studies in Environmental Archaeology, edited by Reitz, E. J., Newsom, L. A., and Scudder, S. J., pp. 195–214. Plenum Press, New York.Google Scholar
Stock, J. 1983 The Prehistoric Diet of Hinds Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar
Story, D. A., and Bryant, J. V. M. Jr. 1966 A Preliminary Study of the Paleoecology of the Amistad Reservoir Area. University of Texas, Austin. Report submitted to the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Taylor, W. W. 1964 Tethered Nomadism and Water Territoriality: An Hypothesis. Actas y Memorias, 35r Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, Mexico, D.F.Google Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1983 The Archaeology of Monitor Valley: 2. Gatecliff Shelter. Anthropological Papers 59, Pt. 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York.Google Scholar
Thorns, A. V. 1989 The Northern Roots of Hunter-Gatherer Intensification: Camas and the Pacific Northwest. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Turner, N. J., and Davis, A. 1993 “When Everything was Scarce“: The Role of Plants as Famine Foods in Northwestern North America. Journal of Ethnobiology 13: 171–201.Google Scholar
Turpin, S. A. 1995 The Lower Pecos River Region of Texas and Northern New Mexico. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 66: 541–560.Google Scholar
Turpin, S. A. (compiler) 1988 Seminole Sink: Excavation of a Vertical Shaft Tomb, Val Verde County, Texas. Memoir 22. Plains Anthropologist 33(122), pt. 2.Google Scholar
Wandsnider, L. 1997 The Roasted and the Boiled: Food Composition and Heat Treatment with Special Emphasis on Pit-Hearth Cooking. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 16: 1–48.Google Scholar
Williams-Dean, G. 1978 Ethnobotany and Cultural Ecology of Prehistoric Man in Southwest Texas. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station.Google Scholar