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7 The environment of Paleoethnobotany if one wants to know what the environment of an organism is, one must ask the organism. —Lewontin 2000:54 over the past several decades researchers have significantly advanced our archaeological understanding of prehistoric lifeways in eastern north America. one of the most important developments has been the refinement and acceleration in the application of archaeobotany. numerous journal articles, edited volumes, and books that fill the stacks of university libraries bear testament to this achievement. With this data set in place, scholars have reevaluated long-held hypotheses concerning everything from the degree to which Paleoindians utilized plant resources (Asch sidell 1999; Gingerich 2011) to the role of indigenous and tropical domesticates in complex societies (scarry and scarry 2005;scarry and steponaitis 1997). increasingly, researchers are utilizing a diverse repertoire of complementary archaeobotanical approaches to improve the resolution of archaeological inquiries. By utilizing multiple independent lines of detection, the strengths of each data set counterbalance the inherent weaknesses in each of the others. As detailed here, starch grain analysis offers the potential to detect evidence of carbohydrate-rich plant material in the archaeological record in spite of deleterious environmental conditions. When viewed in combination with macrobotanical and phytolith data,our understanding of human/plant interactions ,and by extension relationships between people and the environment, are significantly advanced. sTArCh GrAin AnALysis While the isolation of starch from archaeological contexts strengthens interpretations regarding artifact function, the ability to determine plant taxonomy is dependent upon the presence of, and the researcher’s familiarity environment of Paleoethnobotany / 133 with, a comparative starch grain collection. one of the major contributions of this project has been the construction of a starch reference collection composed of taxa that are found across a significant portion of the eastern Woodlands. An in-depth literature review focused on ethnohistoric, ethnobotanical ,and both published and technical macrobotanical reports provided a means of synthesizing the available documentation concerning the range of economic plant resources potentially utilized by prehistoric peoples.Data collected from this survey served as the basis for the development of the starch reference collection. The comparative materials assembled and analyzed in the supporting material accompanying this book comprise 25 families, 63 genera, and over 100 different species. in many of these taxa, starch assemblages were differentiated according to tissue type, i.e., subterranean storage organs,seed,and/or fruits.With this collection in place,researchers now have a means of increasing our understanding of people and plant relationships as well as an approach for reevaluating long-held conventional interpretations based on macrobotanical evidence alone. This book also explores the wide range of techniques and technologies historic native peoples used to process plant material in eastern north America and beyond. Based on this information, starch residues may potentially be recovered from tools used for grinding (e.g., manos and metates), pounding (e.g.,mortars and pestles),and slicing and peeling (e.g.,flaked stone and perhaps shell).Additionally,ceramic vessels used to either cook plant material or store flour (or both) may also serve as potential contexts from which starch residues can be recovered. These artifacts serve not only as “traps” in which starch residues become embedded and preserved but also as contexts offering insight into how plant material was used and the manner in which it was processed. The extensive ethnographic, historic, and botanical examples included herein illuminate many different approaches taken to make economic plants of the eastern Woodlands edible.With this information, starch residues recovered from archaeological tools may be better understood not only on a taxonomic level but also as the product of peoples’ in-depth understanding of phytochemistry and the techniques and technologies necessary to make these plants fit for consumption.Damage to starch grains resulting from processing activities, in many cases, provides greater insight into the approaches used in the preparation of plant material.This research also highlights the tendency of people to process plants for the mere purpose of producing a desired texture (e.g., flour) or for preservation purposes. The findings from this archaeological starch grain analysis study, com- 134 / Chapter 7 bined with data derived from the extensive literature review,provide greater clarity into many aspects of prehistoric people and plant interactions in the Delaware river Watershed of eastern north America. During the Woodland period a wide range of annual and perennial grasses, herbs, and arboreal taxa were targeted for subsistence purposes. of particular interest is the presence of Iva annua (marshelder), Phalaris caroliniana (maygrass), Hordeum pusillum (little...

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