Acorns and Bitter Roots

Starch Grain Research in the Prehistoric Eastern Woodlands

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Archaeology, Anthropology
Cover of the book Acorns and Bitter Roots by Timothy C. Messner, University of Alabama Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Timothy C. Messner ISBN: 9780817385316
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: April 15, 2010
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Timothy C. Messner
ISBN: 9780817385316
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: April 15, 2010
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

People regularly use plants for a wide range of utilitarian, spiritual, pharmacological, and dietary purposes throughout the world. Scholarly understanding of the nature of these uses in prehistory is particularly limited by the poor preservation of plant resources in the archaeological record. In the last two decades, researchers in the South Pacific and in Central and South America have developed microscopic starch grain analysis, a technique for overcoming the limitations of poorly preserved plant material.

 

In Acorns and Bitter Roots, Timothy C. Messner establishes starch grain analysis in the temperate climates of eastern North America using the Delaware River Watershed as a case study for furthering scholarly understanding of the relationship between native people and their biophysical environment in the Woodland Period. Messner’s analysis is based on extensive reviews of the literature on early historic and prehistoric native plant use and the collation of all available archaeobotanical data, a review of which also guided the author in selecting contemporary botanical specimens to identify and in interpreting starch residues recovered from ancient plant-processing technologies. The evidence presented here sheds light on many local ecological and cultural developments as ancient people shifted their subsistence focus from estuarine to riverine settings. These archaeobotanical datasets, Messner argues, illuminate both the conscious and unintentional translocal movement of ideas and ecologies throughout the Eastern Woodlands.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

People regularly use plants for a wide range of utilitarian, spiritual, pharmacological, and dietary purposes throughout the world. Scholarly understanding of the nature of these uses in prehistory is particularly limited by the poor preservation of plant resources in the archaeological record. In the last two decades, researchers in the South Pacific and in Central and South America have developed microscopic starch grain analysis, a technique for overcoming the limitations of poorly preserved plant material.

 

In Acorns and Bitter Roots, Timothy C. Messner establishes starch grain analysis in the temperate climates of eastern North America using the Delaware River Watershed as a case study for furthering scholarly understanding of the relationship between native people and their biophysical environment in the Woodland Period. Messner’s analysis is based on extensive reviews of the literature on early historic and prehistoric native plant use and the collation of all available archaeobotanical data, a review of which also guided the author in selecting contemporary botanical specimens to identify and in interpreting starch residues recovered from ancient plant-processing technologies. The evidence presented here sheds light on many local ecological and cultural developments as ancient people shifted their subsistence focus from estuarine to riverine settings. These archaeobotanical datasets, Messner argues, illuminate both the conscious and unintentional translocal movement of ideas and ecologies throughout the Eastern Woodlands.

More books from University of Alabama Press

Cover of the book Creekside by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book The Blues Muse by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Mythical Trickster Figures by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Ecoviews by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Mythography by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Paper Empire by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Mother Box and Other Tales by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book 1865 Alabama by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Recovering the Margins of American Religious History by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book The Central Intelligence Agency by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Crafting Prehispanic Maya Kinship by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Islands at the Crossroads by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Anna's Shtetl by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Edgar and Brigitte by Timothy C. Messner
Cover of the book Tsewa's Gift by Timothy C. Messner
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy