Northeast Subsistence-Settlement Change: A.D. 700 –1300

Figure 9.9. Seed composition (excluding unidentified seeds).
sites, a pattern noted by Funk (1993:47) throughout the
Upper Susquehanna and Hudson Valleys.
Seed count, normalized by total charcoal weight,
indicates that seeds were incorporated into feature
contexts nearly 15 times more frequently at
Thomas/Luckey (Table 9.5). Not only were seeds
more common at Thomas/Luckey, but grouping seeds
by economic category also reveals differences between
the sites (Figure 9.9). Identified Thomas/Luckey seeds
primarily consist of grass (55.1 percent) and economic
weed (38.8 percent) seeds, with lesser amounts of
fleshy fruit (4.2 percent) and medicinal/beverage
seeds (1.9 percent) 8 . In contrast, identified Broome
Tech seeds are dominated by medicinal plants (54.1
percent) and fleshy fruits (40.6 percent), with minor
representation of economic weed (3.0 percent) and
grass seeds (2.3 percent).
The Broome Tech medicinal/beverage seeds are
almost exclusively (96 percent) white vervain (Verbena
urticifolia), the vast majority (80 percent) of which were
recovered from the single large storage pit. The only
other possible medicinal plants recovered from
Broome Tech are a single seed of bedstraw (Galium sp.)
and a single seed of dock (Rumex sp.). Although the
Iroquois are known to have used these two plants as
medicines (Herrick and Snow 1995), the recovery of
only a single seed of each taxon leaves their medicinal
use at Broome Tech an open question. Only four possible
medicinal seeds were recovered from
Thomas/Luckey—a single white vervain seed, and
three from sumac (Rhus sp.) whose fruits, according to
Iroquois informants, were used historically to cure
consumption, falling of the womb, measles, and other
ailments (Herrick and Snow 1995:187-189).
The fleshy fruits recovered at Broome Tech include
bramble (Rubus spp.: raspberry, blackberry, and dewberry),
hawthorn (Crataegus sp.), and blueberry (cf.
Vaccinium sp.). At Thomas/Luckey the only fleshy
fruits recovered were hawthorn and elderberry.
Analysis found a total of 118 seeds, representing at
least 5 distinct grass-family (Andropogon) members
present at Thomas/Luckey (Scarry 1995). These seeds
may come from grasses gathered for storage pit linings
(Scarry 1995). Interestingly, two of the three features
Chapter 9 Pits, Plants, and Place: Recognizing Late Prehistoric Subsistence and Settlement Diversity in the Upper Susquehanna Drainage 183