Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

148The macroplant assemblage includes 2 possible condiments (bayberry, sage), 3 domesticatedvegetables (common bean, maize, wheat), 2 fruits (mulberry, peach), 3 nuts (oak acorn, hickory,black walnut), 2 edible herbs (dock, bedstraw), and 2 noxious weeds (spurge, composite).Ten of these taxa represent probable economic plants (condiments, vegetables, fruits, mast). Thevegetables, fruits, and mast represent definite plant food remains. The condiments (bayberry, sage)may have originated from ornamental plantings in the Yauhannah Bluff Site yard. Both of theseplants were popular seasonings in eighteenth-century America. On the other hand, sage is also acommon constituent of dry woods, thickets, and old fields in the Southeast and bayberriescommonly are a major wild-growing shrub in coastal plain pocosins, marshes, and bogs (Radfordet al. 1968).The edible herbs may represent gathered foodstuffs that functioned as seasonally available dietarysupplements. One of these weedy taxa, dock, was widely consumed as a seasonal green by 18 thand 19 th -century Americans of both African and European descent. However, these edible herbsmay represent incidentally carbonized natural seed rain, since both taxa are common invaders ofdisturbed habitats. The herbaceous weeds and weedy grasses probably originated from naturallyoccurring weeds that were growing in the farmstead yard and surrounding gardens and fields(Table 13).The edible herb, herbaceous weedy herbs, and grasses are neither diverse, abundant, norubiquitous in the floated feature samples, which underscores our assertion that these seedsrepresent incidentally carbonized natural seed rain rather than byproducts of the consumption ofthese herbs (Table 16). First, only four taxa were identified. The diversity of edible and weedyherbs is commonly much greater in 18 th and 19 th century rural farming sites (Adams et al. 2005;Raymer 1997; 1999; 2003). Second, the numbers of recovered edible herb seeds was miniscule.Contexts which offer evidence of the roasting of herb seeds (like dock, goosefoot, and pigweed)such as subfloor pits in front of cabin hearths generally have greater numbers of seeds (see Raymer1997—the Hermitage, Tennessee; 2003—Jefferson’s Poplar Forest, Virginia). Third, with theexception of bedstraw, which exhibited a 21 percent ubiquity in the population of 14 historicfeatures, the edible herbs, herbaceous weeds, and grasses were only found in one historic featureeach (7% ubiquity).Maize and the nut crops were the most abundant and ubiquitous macroplant remains found in thehistoric features. In the case of maize, this is not surprising, given the importance of this crop aslivestock feed, a cash crop, and for the subsistence of pioneer families in the Southeast. Maizecupules and/or kernels were recovered from 43 percent of the historic features. The recovery ofcommon bean from one 18 th -century and one circa 1800 features (14% ubiquity) and wheat fromone circa 1800 feature (7% ubiquity) indicates the cultivation of these field crops to the 18 th and19 th -century farmers living at the Yauhannah Bluff locality.Interestingly, mast was more abundant, more ubiquitous, and exhibited significantly lower ratiosthan maize. Mast was found in 64 percent of the floated features. The nutshell to wood charcoalratio was a relatively low 1 to 36 for the entire population of 14 historic features (by weight ingrams--Table 15). The respective ratios from the 18 th century, circa 1800, and 19 th century featureswere 1:173, 1:39, and 1:50. By count, the nutshell assemblage consisted of 4 acorn shell, 2black walnut shell, 28 hickory shell, and 15 indeterminate hickory/walnut shell fragments.