Early Agricultural Diet in Eastern North America: Evidence from Two Kentucky Rockshelters

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 520-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen J. Gremillion
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
North America ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Food Storage ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Eastern Kentucky ◽  
New Evidence

Systematic quantitative analysis of desiccated human paleofeces from two rockshelters in eastern Kentucky has yielded new evidence for early agricultural diet in eastern North America. Results indicate that native cultigens (including sumpweed, sunflower, and chenopod) were sometimes significant dietary constituents as early as ca. 1000 B.C., at least a millennium before agricultural economies became widespread across the region. However, variability in the quantity and frequency of cultigen remains suggests a dietary role that was somewhat limited compared to the practices of later Woodland period farmers. The predictions of foraging theory suggest that the utilization of cultigens would have been most advantageous in spring and summer (when many other foods were scarce) or in years of poor production by nut-bearing trees. The causal link between food storage and the development of food production in eastern Kentucky receives some empirical support and warrants further investigation.

Evidence for Stepped Pyramids of Shell in the Woodland Period of Eastern North America

2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 345-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Pluckhahn ◽  
Victor D. Thompson ◽  
W. Jack Rink
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Gulf Coast ◽  
Construction Material ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Alternative Form ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Late Woodland Period ◽  
Mississippian Period

AbstractAntiquarians of the nineteenth century referred to the largest monumental constructions in eastern North America as pyramids, but this usage faded among archaeologists by the mid-twentieth century. Pauketat (2007) has reintroduced the term pyramid to describe the larger, Mississippian-period (A.D. 1050 to 1550) mounds of the interior of the continent, recognizing recent studies that demonstrate the complexity of their construction. Such recognition is lacking for earlier mounds and for those constructed of shell. We describe the recent identification of stepped pyramids of shell from the Roberts Island Complex, located on the central Gulf Coast of Florida and dating to the terminal Late Woodland period, A.D. 800 to 1050, thus recognizing the sophistication of monument construction in an earlier time frame, using a different construction material, and taking an alternative form.

Invertebrate trace fossils and agglutinated foraminifera as indicators of marine influence within the classic Carboniferous section at Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (12) ◽  
pp. 2027-2039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen W. Archer ◽  
John H. Calder ◽  
Martin R. Gibling ◽  
Robert D. Naylor ◽  
Donald R. Reid ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
North America ◽  
Brackish Water ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Fluvial Systems ◽  
Biogenic Structures ◽  
Water Conditions ◽  
Marine Influence ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Agglutinated Foraminifera

The sea cliffs at Joggins, Nova Scotia, are the most extensive and continuous Carboniferous section in eastern North America. Although the section has been considered to have formed within a nonmarine depositional basin, paleobiological information indicates that parts of the section were deposited in brackish water. The occurrence of a trace-fossil assemblage, which includes Cochlichnus, Kouphichnium, and Treptichnus, is part of an assemblage of biogenic structures that apparently reflects paleodeposition within fluvial systems that may have experienced distal marine influences. Presence of agglutinated foraminifera characteristic of brackish-water environments supports this interpretation. This information provides new evidence of brackish-water conditions at Joggins such as those now being widely recognized in other Carboniferous coal-bearing sections.

Seed Processing and the Origins of Food Production in Eastern North America

2004 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen J. Gremillion
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Eastern Kentucky ◽  
Return Rates ◽  
Seed Processing ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
Resource Stress ◽  
Nutritional Studies

Despite the fact that small seeds are often inefficient to exploit, they are consumed and sometimes cultivated in many parts of the world, including eastern North America. Foraging models predict that seeds are likely to be utilized only if preferred resources become scarce, or if their own profitability is increased through processes such as domestication or technological innovation. Ethnographic, experimental, and nutritional studies of the small grains used prehistorically in eastern North America suggest that they offered low rates of return (measured as energy per unit time spent) compared to many alternative resources. These estimates rely on the assumption that some degree of post-harvest processing was required to make seed foods palatable and nutritious. That this assumption is reasonable is supported by archaeological and archaeobotanical evidence from rockshelters in eastern Kentucky. Resource stress and technological innovation are unlikely explanations for the adoption of such low-ranking resources in this region around 3500 B.P. However, estimation of return rates does not take account of the lowered significance of time costs in the winter season, when seed processing could take place with little competition from other productive tasks. The timing of the adoption of small seeds also reflects historical factors such as spatial distribution of plant populations and habitats.

Ohio Hopewell Trophy-Skull Artifacts as Evidence for Competition in Middle Woodland Societies Circa 50 B.C.. A.D. 350

1988 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark F. Seeman
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Woodland Period ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Middle Woodland ◽  
Middle Woodland Period ◽  
Ohio Hopewell ◽  
Human Skulls

During the Middle Woodland period in eastern North America, modified human skulls are interjected into a broader pattern of "trophy"-artifact manufacture. Interpretations of these human trophies have resulted in a polarity of opinion-that they are the remains of (1) revered ancestors, or (2) defeated enemies. Both previous investigations of the problem support exclusively the "revered-ancestor" interpretation. Results of the present study, which makes use of a six-site Ohio Hopewell sample and stylistic and biological analyses, do not support this position, and are seen as reflecting a competitive component in Hopewell society.

scholarly journals Patterns of Variation in the Seed Morphology of Iva annua var. macrocarpa, an Extinct North American Domesticate

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-89
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Weiland ◽  
Kristen J. Gremillion
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Seed Morphology ◽  
P Value ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Eastern Kentucky ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Post Hoc

Using measurements from archaeological achenes of the extinct North American cultigen marshelder (Iva annua var. macrocarpa [S.F. Blake] R.C. Jackson), we quantitatively explore patterns of variation of fruit length and width across mid-continental North America. Linear regression shows that while achene length and width increase significantly over time (length: p-value<0.0001, b=-126.04, r2=0.1037, width: p-value<0.0001, b=-230.85, r2=0.0964), overall, regions tend to show more variation. A high incidence of phenotypic variation among domesticated marshelder as measured by coefficient of variation may be a result of introgression with wild stands. An ANOVA Tukey post-hoc analysis of archaeological site samples resulted in homogeneous subsets which correspond to region with some overlap, interpreted as a cline. These results and the low numbers of wild-sized achenes in archaeological marshelder samples of eastern Kentucky support human introduction of domesticated marshelder into this region. Marshelder in the archaeological record reflects the long-standing mixed economies of hunting-gathering and agriculture used by indigenous communities of eastern North America.

Domesticated Chenopodium in Prehistoric Eastern North America: New Accelerator Dates from Eastern Kentucky

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce D. Smith ◽  
C. Wesley Cowan
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Eastern Kentucky ◽  
Chenopodium Berlandieri ◽  
Rock Shelters

Specimens of desiccated Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. jonesianum from Cloudsplitter and Newt Kash Rock-shelters in Menifee County, eastern Kentucky yielded accelerator dates of 3450 ± 150 B.P. and 3400 ± 150 B.P., respectively, extending the known age of this prehistoric domesticate by 1,000 years.

scholarly journals Assembly of the eastern North American herpetofauna: new evidence from lizards and frogs

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 388-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Robert Macey ◽  
James A Schulte ◽  
Jared L Strasburg ◽  
Jennifer A Brisson ◽  
Allan Larson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Dna Evidence ◽  
Bering Land Bridge ◽  
Biotic Diversity ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Dispersal Events ◽  
New Evidence

Darwin first recognized the importance of episodic intercontinental dispersal in the establishment of worldwide biotic diversity. Faunal exchange across the Bering Land Bridge is a major example of such dispersal. Here, we demonstrate with mitochondrial DNA evidence that three independent dispersal events from Asia to North America are the source for almost all lizard taxa found in continental eastern North America. Two other dispersal events across Beringia account for observed diversity among North American ranid frogs, one of the most species-rich groups of frogs in eastern North America. The contribution of faunal elements from Asia via dispersal across Beringia is a dominant theme in the historical assembly of the eastern North American herpetofauna.

LATE ARCHAIC RITUALISM IN DOMESTIC CONTEXTS: CLAY-FLOORED SHRINES AT THE BURRELL ORCHARD SITE, OHIO

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 683-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian G. Redmond
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Monumental Architecture ◽  
The Many ◽  
New Evidence

Past research on the development of Archaic ideological complexity in eastern North America has focused on ritualism and ceremony related to mortuary behaviors, with less attention to ritualism within what is commonly thought of as domestic contexts without overt mortuary ceremonialism or monumental architecture. The recent discovery of puddled clay architecture and associated features at the Burrell Orchard site (33LN15) in northeast Ohio provides new evidence of significant, nonmortuary ritualism within Late Archaic basecamp contexts. That such activity took place alongside normal seasonal subsistence tasks is revealed by thick midden deposits containing abundant burned rock, nutshell, and deer bone. The many bone and stone tool deposits associated with the floors, along with the labor-intensive nature of the clay construction for what appears to have been individually short-term use, support the interpretation of these features as shrines possibly associated with hunting ritualism.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document