Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

160White oaks, which prefer moist, rich soils, are common constituents of streambank forests, alluvialwoodlands, and swamplands. Upland forests contain varieties such as red, chestnut, black, andscrub oaks. All oaks produce acorns that yield a nutritious meal after being ground and leached.White oak acorns require minimal processing, while some types of red oak require successiveleaching treatments. Acorns are also an important food source for game animals such as turkey,deer, and bear. Eastern Woodland Indians in the Historic Period used the bark of various oaks inmedicinal preparations. These address physical and psychological problems ranging from sorethroats to loneliness. Decoctions of bark were also used in witchcraft (Moerman 1998).Pines were a common constituent of forests in the Outer Coastal Plain in early Historic times. Bailey(1980) reports that pines, which commonly include loblolly, longleaf, shortleaf, and yellow pines,can comprise up to 50 percent of forest cover. Archaeological evidence suggests that pinesinstead of hardwoods were often selected by Native Americans for building materials. Moerman(1998) reports that loblolly pine was used by the Cherokee for lumber and to make canoes. Othereastern species of pines were used for medicine, as a source of pitch for waterproofing buildings,and for carvings. The roots and bark of several eastern species were used as a topical treatmentsores and cuts, as a treatment for rheumatism, for hemorrhoids, for dysentery, and as a treatmentfor intestinal worms.Sycamores are large canopy trees that are common in deciduous forests from New England toFlorida (Britton and Brown 1970). This taxon, which favors moist soils of floodplain forests andswamplands, was probably readily available to the Site 38GE18 inhabitants in the Pee Dee Riverfloodplain in the immediate site locality. Sycamore was used for a wide range of ailments by theHistoric Period Indians (Moerman 1998). The wood is a relatively poor source of fuel.Past Forest Composition and Human Alteration of the Local EnvironmentThe identified taxa found within the flotation samples consisted of 1 conifer—pine, an unidentifiedmonocot, and 9 hardwoods (hickory, oak, red oak, ash, basswood, elm/hackberry, hophornbeam,maple, sycamore). The feature population from which these identified taxa originated include 5Woodland Period, 3 Mississippian Period, 3 18 th century, 4 circa 1800, and 2 19 th -centuryfeatures. Four prehistoric features were indeterminate Woodland/Mississippian and five historicfeatures were indeterminate 18 th /19 th century (Table 18). The nine mixed prehistoric and historicfeatures will not be included in the following discussion of past forest composition.Examination of the entire wood charcoal assemblage associated with each time period indicates adistinctly higher proportion of hardwoods in both the pre-Mississippian and the pre-19 th centurysamples. Pine, which is frequently dominant in modern coastal plain forests, accounts for 31percent of the Woodland, 60 percent of the 18 th -century, and 70 percent of the circa 1800identified wood charcoal assemblages. The proportion of pine associated with the Mississippian(73%) and 19 th -century (97%) components is much greater. Hardwoods consisting of 32 percenthickory, 14 percent oak, 8 percent maple, and 13 percent indeterminate hardwood comprise 67percent of the Woodland Period identified wood charcoal assemblage. All three of these taxa areexcellent sources of heating and cooking fuel (Table 19). The remaining 2 percent of the identifiedspecimens were indeterminate monocot, which may represent carbonized remains of tinder whichwas used as a fire starter. This material, which was found in two Middle Woodland pitscontaining pot busts, could also represent burned roofing material or pit linings.