Sego Lilies and Prehistoric Foragers: Return Rates, Pit Ovens, and Carbohydrates

Behavioral Ecology and Archaeology

“…This problem has been addressed satisfactorily for many sessile resources (e.g., plant foods, shellfish) through a combination of ethnographic and experimental work (e.g., Barlow and Metcalfe, 1996;Bettinger et al, 1997;Bird andBliege Bird, 2000, 2002;Bird et al, 2004b;Cane, 1989;Gardner, 1992;Hawkes et al, 1995aHawkes et al, , 1997Hurtado and Hill, 1989;Madsen and Schmitt, 1998;Hawkes, 1981, 1984;Petruso and Wickens, 1984;Reidhead, 1976;Simms, 1985Simms, , 1987Simms and Russell, 1997;Smith et al, 2001;Talalay et al, 1984;Thomas, 2002;Thoms, 1989); it has proven less tractable for mobile forms (though see Cosgrove and Allen, 2001;Kaplan and Hill, 1992, pp. 168-176;Lindstrom, 1996;Smith, 1991, pp.…”

Rocks of ages: propagation of hot-rock cookery in western North America

“…In forested regions of the Plateau, sego lilies were often steamed or cooked in hot coals for a few hours at most (Thoms, 1998(Thoms, , 2008b. In the fuel-poor Great Basin and similarly dry areas of the Plateau, these lily bulbs tended to be cooked overnight in rock-filled earth ovens (Smith et al, 2001). That the same geophytes were prepared in different ways, depending in part on the ecological setting, suggests that we also need to know about the nature and distribution of essential non-food components, especially fuel, packing material, water, and cook-stone raw material.…”

“…We need to know about the productivity of potential major food resources and about the cooking requirements of these food items (Kuhnlein and Turner, 1991;Peacock, 2008;Smith et al, 2001;Thoms, 1989;Wandsnider, 1997). By knowing about abundance, accessibility, seasonal availability, and processing costs of a given food resource, we can develop well-informed expectations and assess our interpretations about that food's relationship to cook-stone technology.…”

“…Analysis of feature size, morphology, and spatial distribution of FCR is especially useful in distinguishing among features that functioned as earth ovens for prolonged baking, as steaming pits and short-term baking pits, and as boiling pits (e.g., Clabaugh, 2000;Smith et al, 2001;Thoms, 2006Thoms, , 2008bWandsnider, 1997;Wolynec, 1977). For example, ethnographic and archaeological records indicate that ovens with rock heating elements more than 2 m in diameter tended to be fired for two or three days; those with heating elements a meter or so in diameter were typically used for 24 h or less.…”

Evolution of an interdisciplinary enterprise: the Journal of Archaeological Science at 35years

“…For example, seven papers published since 2000 have been downloaded well over a thousand times, some actively continuing to be so. These include themes such as ''Folsom point design and adaptation'' (Ahler and Geib, 2000); ''Sego lilies and prehistoric foragers'' (Smith et al, 2001); ''North American overkill'' (Grayson and Meltzer, 2003); ''Environmental history in the Mediterranean world'' (Butzer, 2005); ''The social bond between dogs and people'' (Morey, 2006); ''Rethinking Easter Island's ecological catastrophe'' (Hunt, 2007); ''Prehistoric population history (Late Glacial to Late Neolithic, in temperate Europe)'' (Shennan and Edinborough, 2007); or ''Methods of soil P analysis in archaeology'' (Holliday and Gartner, 2007). Computer searches for keywords evidently are important for dissemination as well as the fiscal viability of a journal.…”