Bottle Creek: A Pensacola Culture Site in South Alabama

311 Pages·2003·1.66 MB·English

by  Ian W. Brown

Food Plant Remains / 109
of the samples suggests that the grains were removed from the cobs at
off-mound locations on the site or at nearby sites associated with Bottle
Creek. This raises the possibility that some of the food remains in the
mound deposits are derived from feasting or from foodstuffs provided as
tribute to the Bottle Creek elite. It is worth noting that the proportions of
kernels relative to cupules are higher in the samples from Mound C than
in the samples from the other mounds. This may indicate that the midden
deposits on this mound derive from different activities than do those of
the other mounds.
Besides corn, the samples from Bottle Creek produced small numbers
of seeds from ¤ve indigenous plants—chenopod, knotweed, sun®ower,
maygrass, and little barley—that were grown as crops in parts of the East-
ern Woodlands. It is disappointing to have to note that the evidence for
whether the seeds at Bottle Creek came from wild or cultivated stands of
these plants is ambiguous. Seeds from domesticated chenopods have coats
that are thinner than those of wild types and margins that are truncate
rather than rounded or convex (Smith 1985a). The chenopod seeds from
Bottle Creek popped when they burned and most lack any trace of seed
coat. While it will take further analysis to be sure, there is a distinct pos-
sibility that the seeds are from the domesticated testa-less variety de-
scribed by Smith (1985b:130). Populations of domesticated knotweeds
can be recognized by a combination of two characteristics. The seeds are
generally longer than those from wild plants, and most seeds have thin,
smooth coats rather than thick, rough ones (Asch and Asch 1985; Fritz
1987). There were only a few knotweed seeds in the samples and those that
were present lacked their seed coats. Thus, it is not possible to determine
whether they came from domesticated or wild plants. Domesticated sun-
®owers produce seeds that are larger than those of wild plants, but we
recovered only a single fragment of a sun®ower seed from Bottle Creek
and it was not suf¤ciently intact to estimate its size. Although maygrass
and little barley were clearly part of the indigenous crop complex, no mor-
phological changes attributable to domestication have been identi¤ed for
these taxa. Thus, context is the only criterion we have for distinguishing
seeds from wild plants from those of cultivated plants. Maygrass is native
to the Black Belt prairies of Alabama but does not naturally occur in the
Mobile-Tensaw Delta (Harper 1944:67). Little barley is also a native of
Alabama, but it is found in dry habitats (Harper 1944:74–75) quite unlike
the conditions at and around Bottle Creek. Given that Bottle Creek is out-
side the natural range of maygrass and is an unlikely place to ¤nd wild
stands of little barley, it is possible that the seeds from both taxa came
from plants that were cultivated.
While seeds from these potential native crops occur in 20 of the 36
samples from Bottle Creek, they are much less abundant than corn re-
110 / C. Margaret Scarry
mains. If the people of Bottle Creek grew them, the evidence suggests that
they were minor crops in comparison to corn. This pattern is similar to
that found at other late prehistoric sites in the lower Southeast, where
native crops do not seem to have been as important as they were to con-
temporaneous societies of the Midwest and Midsouth (Johannessen 1993;
Scarry 1993b).
Both acorn and hickory shell are present in the Bottle Creek samples.
Acorn occurs in more samples and in slightly higher quantities than hick-
ory, but neither is abundant. Indeed, given that nuts were major foods
for many prehistoric peoples of the Southeast, nutshells are surprisingly
scarce at Bottle Creek. The paucity of nutshells in the deposits from the
mounds may be a result of a markedly greater reliance on cultivated over
gathered plant foods by the site’s inhabitants. Alternatively, nutshells may
be scarce because nuts were processed for their starch or oil elsewhere on
the site or at other sites in the region.
Seeds from three wild fruits—blackberry, persimmon, and maypop—
are present in the samples. None is frequent or abundant, however. Be-
yond noting their presence, little can be said about fruit use at Bottle
Creek.
The plants listed in the miscellaneous category in the various tables are
ones that do not ¤t into the other groups. Most taxa in this category are
represented only by one or two specimens, which may be incidental inclu-
sions in the deposits. Several plants, however, deserve special comment.
Seeds from a member of the holly family are present in ¤ve samples—
four from Mound C and one from Mound D. These compare well with the
seeds of yaupon (Ilex vomitoria). Leaves of the yaupon holly were the
principal ingredients in the black drink, a beverage that was consumed in
large quantities on many important ceremonial occasions (Hudson 1979).
Yaupon berries were not used in the black drink, but the seeds in the
samples were probably a by-product of brewing the beverage. Yaupon ber-
ries have short stalks and grow singly or in small clusters distributed along
the branches of the shrub. The fruit is persistent, remaining on the plant
for long periods after it is ripe (Grimm 1966: 172). If yaupon leaves were
harvested by cutting branches, then sometimes the persistent berries
would have been unintentionally collected and brought to where the bev-
erage was prepared. Likewise, if leaves were harvested by hand-stripping,
it would be more ef¤cient to collect both the leaves and the berries—which
could be discarded later—than to try avoiding the berries. In either case,
the presence of the seeds strongly suggests that the beverage was brewed
on some of the mounds at Bottle Creek.
Specimens from a large-seeded member of the grass family occur in ¤ve
of the samples from Mound C and in one sample from Mound A. I have
identi¤ed these seeds as wild rice. We know that wild rice was an impor-
Food Plant Remains / 111
tant food for Native Americans who lived in the upper Midwest. Its distri-
bution, however, extends to brackish and freshwater marshes throughout
much of the Eastern Woodlands including the Gulf Coast. The identi¤ca-
tion of wild rice seeds at sites in Tennessee (Chapman and Shea 1981), as
well as at Bottle Creek and Moundville (see Chapter 6) attest to the occa-
sional use of wild rice for food in the Midsouth and lower Southeast.
In addition to maygrass, little barley, and wild rice, there are at least
three other members of the grass family represented in the samples. One
of these grasses has seeds that resemble those of the panicoid group that
includes the Panicum and Setaria genera. Another has minute seeds that
resemble those of the Digitaria genus. The grass family is, however, an
enormous group containing numerous species with seeds that can be dif¤-
cult to distinguish. For now I merely note the presence of several grass
taxa in the miscellaneous category.
COB MEASUREMENTS
Besides the fragments of cupules and kernels found in most samples, we
recovered portions of 27 corn cobs from the smudge pit (Feature 172) in
Mound L. These portions are of interest because cob morphology differs
between corn cultivars (Nickerson 1953). The number of rows of grain per
ear is an important diagnostic trait. In addition, cupule size and shape,
cob shape, and row alignment vary by cultivar.
Ideally, we would use observations on the cobs from Feature 172 to iden-
tify the type or types of corn raised at Bottle Creek and its associated sites.
We know from ethnohistoric accounts that Native Americans elsewhere in
the Southeast grew several distinct varieties, which they planted at differ-
ent times and used for different purposes (Swanton 1946:268, 274, 290;
Williams 1930:437). Unfortunately, the standard typology (North Ameri-
can Pop, Midwestern 12-row, Eastern 8-row) that has been used for ar-
chaeological corn from the Eastern Woodlands does not adequately de-
scribe variation that is present in collections (King 1994; Scarry 1994;
Wagner 1994). While this problem is widely recognized, no one has yet
devised a satisfactory new classi¤cation. For the present, it seems best to
describe the cob remains from Mound L Feature 172 in detail, but to post-
pone assigning them to types until larger collections and better classi¤ca-
tion schemes are available.
Because row number is an important attribute, only the 18 cobs from
Feature 172 with complete cross-sections from which I could determine
row number are described here (Table 5.6). For each cob, I made obser-
vations on eight morphological attributes. The procedures used followed
the general methods described by Ford (1973:188–189). The attributes re-
corded include, among others, those that experiments by King (1987:118)
112 / C. Margaret Scarry
have shown to be among the most useful for distinguishing corn cultivars
grown in the Eastern Woodlands. They are also the attributes that I used
in my analyses of cobs from the Moundville area (Scarry 1986). Thus, cobs
from Bottle Creek can be readily compared to those from Moundville.
Three of the observed attributes are qualitative characteristics. I coded
cob section as whole, midsection, tip, or butt. I used combinations, such
as midsection-tip, to indicate segments present on larger fragments. I re-
corded cob shape as tapered when a fragment decreased in diameter to-
ward the tip; and straight, or cigar-shaped when a fragment tapered to-
ward both ends or toward the butt. I coded strength of row pairing as weak
when cupule wings overlapped, moderate when a narrow groove separated
adjacent cupules, and strong when the groove between cupules was wide.
Besides the qualitative characteristics, I recorded ¤ve quantitative at-
tributes for each cob. I counted row number as close to the midsection as
possible to avoid distortions caused by irregular rows at either end of a
cob. I also measured maximum and minimum diameter at the midsection,
and measured the width and height (internode length) of the largest cu-
pule near the midpoint of the cob in millimeters.
Table 5.6 lists the attributes of each cob from Feature 172; mean values
and standard deviations for the quantitative measures are given in the
last two rows of the table. The cob assemblage is composed of cobs with
Food Plant Remains / 113
8 (39 percent) or 10 (61 percent) rows of grain. Most cobs are straight and
exhibit weak row pairing. Mean cupule width is 5.77 mm and mean cupule
height (internode length) is 3.15 mm.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The Bottle Creek plant samples provide insights about the subsistence
practices of the site’s residents. Crops, or at least corn, dominate the plant
assemblage. It is clear that agricultural products played a major role in
feeding the population. Wild plants, with the possible exception of wild
rice, either were relatively unimportant in the diet or were processed else-
where and brought to activities on the mounds in forms (e.g., acorn meal,
hickory oil) that left few traces in the archaeological record. The abun-
dance of corn and the paucity of nutshell in the deposits are similar to the
situation that Gremillion (1993) found in her analysis of materials from
Waselkov’s test excavations at Bottle Creek. Based on the results of these
analyses, it would appear that the people of this site were as reliant on
agriculture as were their contemporaries living in the interior river valleys.
I think it is also quite possible that if we examine plant remains from sites
associated with Bottle Creek, we will ¤nd evidence that its neighboring
communities provisioned the elite at this center.
6 / The Use of Plants in
Mound-Related Activities at
Bottle Creek and Moundville
C. Margaret Scarry
INTRODUCTION
Bottle Creek, located in the Mobile Delta, and Moundville, located in the
Black Warrior Valley of Alabama, are the two largest Mississippian sites
in Alabama (Figure 6.1). As discussed by Fuller (Chapter 2), ceramics re-
covered from the two sites suggest interaction and exchange between the
polities, although neither community seems to have been under the direct
control of the other. Excavations in midden deposits on the mounds at
both sites have yielded plant remains. This chapter summarizes what we
know about the production and use of plant foods at the two sites and
explores the use of plants in mound-related activities.
Bottle Creek and Moundville are arguably the most impressive Missis-
sippian mound centers in the lower Southeast. The sheer scale of monu-
mental architecture at these two sites speaks to us of the commanding
authority of the paramount chiefs who ruled them. Undoubtedly many
factors contributed to the dominant role these centers achieved in regional
politics, but we can be certain that the power of the elite was based in part
on productive agricultural economies capable of generating substantial
surpluses.
For several reasons Bottle Creek and Moundville make a logical pairing
for examining late prehistoric subsistence practices in the lower Southeast.
Although the sites are located on the same drainage system, they are in
vastly different environmental settings. Moundville was built on a high
terrace overlooking the Black Warrior River, while Bottle Creek was built
on Mound Island, surrounded by the swamps and rivers of the Mobile-
Tensaw Delta. The occupation histories of the two sites overlap, but they
show different developmental trajectories (Figure 6.2). A basic common-
ality is that both sites are believed to have been paramount centers of poli-
ties that dominated the surrounding countryside.
In this chapter I present the results of analyses of plant remains recov-
ered from mounds at Bottle Creek and Moundville, and I place the results
Use of Plants in Mound-Related Activities / 115
6.1. Location of the Moundville site on the Black Warrior River, relative to the Bot-
tle Creek site in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.
116 / C. Margaret Scarry
6.2. A comparison of late prehistoric chronologies at Moundville and Bottle Creek.
in the context of previous studies from the two polities. For Moundville,
this entails ¤tting them into the larger picture I have developed over the
last twenty or so years. For Bottle Creek, we are dealing with baseline
studies that build on those done by Kristen Gremillion (1993) and myself
(Chapter 5). In addition to characterizing the plant assemblages, I will
examine evidence for provisioning of plant foods from outlying sites to the
centers and provide a glimpse of ceremonial uses of plants in mound-
related activities. The plant remains from both sites were recovered using
®otation and for most samples I examined both the light and heavy frac-
tions. I used standard procedures to sort and quantify the remains, and
the procedures were consistent for all samples, including those from ear-
lier analyses (see Chapter 5). In order to have sample populations large
enough to make quantitative comparisons, I combined materials spanning
several phases. Although this is far from ideal, it is unavoidable until we
have additional collections from mound contexts.
MOUNDVILLE
I do not intend to put Bottle Creek in Moundville’s shadow (Chapter 2),
but it makes sense to discuss the plant data from Moundville ¤rst. By do-
Use of Plants in Mound-Related Activities / 117
ing so we can use the better documented foodways from Moundville as
reference points for examining those from Bottle Creek.
Over the last few years we have substantially revised our interpretations
of the development of Moundville as a political center (Figure 6.3). The
Mississippian presence at Moundville begins about a.d. 1050 with a dense
cluster of farmsteads and two mounds. The inhabitants began a massive
construction project around a.d. 1150 and, by a.d. 1300, the mound-and-
plaza complex, as we know it today, was in place (Knight and Steponaitis
1998). The monumental architecture was clearly built according to a plan.
A palisade enclosed the ceremonial precinct, which exhibits bilateral sym-
metry on its east-west axis, pairing of mounds around the plaza, and a
status-related division of space along its north-south axis. Knight (1998)
has argued that this town plan was a sociogram designed to mark the so-
cial order among ranked clans. During this period of intense activity, the
resident population at Moundville reached its peak and the regional polity
was consolidated. After a.d. 1300, Moundville changed from a bustling
community to a “vacant ceremonial center.” It remained home for the
highest elite and a mortuary place for people from the surrounding region,
but the resident population dropped dramatically (Steponaitis 1998). There
was limited new construction on the mounds and some mounds, particu-
larly those along the southern periphery of the plaza, dropped out of use.
The plant data that are the focus of this discussion come from Knight’s
excavations in mounds Q and G (Knight 1992, 1995, 2001). Both mounds
were constructed during Late Moundville I and Early Moundville II and
both had later stages added in Moundville II and III. The plants from
Mound Q come from 15 contexts, the majority of which were slope middens
associated with the Moundville II and III stages. The plants from Mound
G come from ¤ve slope midden contexts dating to the Late Moundville II
phase. Mound Q contains burials and has generally been considered a
“mortuary-temple” mound. Mound G lacks burials and has been consid-
ered an elite residential mound. Knight’s (2001) investigations, however,
demonstrate that whatever their other differences, both mounds sup-
ported structures in which domestic activities took place. My previous
analyses of plants from an elite residential district North of Mound R (NR
on Figure 6.3), a residential district on the Riverbank, and two farmsteads
provide a source of comparative data for the mound samples (Scarry 1986,
1993a, 1995). Note, however, that the Mound Q and G plant remains date
to the Moundville II and III phases, while most of the comparative data
come from Moundville I contexts.
Table 6.1 compares the food plants identi¤ed from mounds Q and G to
those identi¤ed from non-mound contexts at Moundville. There is sub-
stantial overlap in the assemblages, especially those from Mound Q and
the non-mound contexts. The apparently limited array of plants from
Mound G is probably a result of the small sample size.
118 / C. Margaret Scarry
6.3. Plan of Moundville, showing the arrangement of its mounds.
If we consider frequency and abundance as well as presence, we ¤nd
that the pattern of plant use on the mounds is, in most respects, similar
to that seen in non-mound contexts. Corn remains dominate the mound
samples. Kernels and cupules are ubiquitous and are consistently the most
abundant plant food remains. Seeds from native crops occur in low num-