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Page(s) ________ seem to be missing in numbering only as text follows. 13. Two pages numbered 74 Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled pages _ 15. Dissertation contains pages with print at a slant, filmed as received _____ 16. Other _______________________________________________________________________ University Microfilms International Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with with permission permission of the of copyright the copyright owner. owner.Further reproductionFurther reproduction prohibited without prohibited permission. without permission. PREHISTORIC OZARK AGRICULTURE THE UNIVERSITY OP ARKANSAS ROCKSHELTER COLLECTIONS by Gayle Jeannine Pritz A Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of^.the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Anthropology Chapel Hill 1986 Approved by: Reader Reader Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. GAYLE J. FRITZ. Prehistoric Ozark Agriculture, The University of Arkansas Rockshelter Collections (Under the direction of RICHARD A. YARNELL.) The dry Ozark rockshelter sites excavated by the University of Arkansas Museum between 1929 and 1934 yielded many samples of well preserved plant remains which are the products of prehistoric agriculture. These collections have been undated in the past and therefore of limited utility. The series of 34 new radiocarbon dates presented here allows the samples to be placed in perspective in Eastern North America. The earliest dates demonstrate that domesticated sunflower and chenopod were stored in Ozark rockshelters as early as 900 B.C., along with ragweed, knotweed, and cucurbits. Thin-testa Chenopodium was an important crop until the early centuries of the first millennium A.D., when a pale colored chenopod seed type was grown. Radiocarbon dates on samples of the pale-seeded type indicate that the importance of this crop may have declined after A.D. 1200. Three dates on maygrass bundles are all relatively early (92 B.C.-A.D. 980), supporting an interpretation of decreasing utilization of starchy seed crops during the Mississippian period. A different, more distinctly domesticated type of Polygonum, however, occurs only in a sample dated to A.D. 1165. Cultigen amaranth is rare in the Ozark assemblages and appears to have been introduced after Chenopodium was an established crop. Certain samples of sumpweed and sunflower achenes are larger than expected for the time periods to which they date, possibly reflecting their storage context. Two samples of relatively small sumpweed Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. achenes, however, yielded radiocarbon dates in the late Mississippian period, possibly due to a decline in emphasis, as with the starchy seed crops. Sunflower achene size did not decrease during late prehistory. Maize evidently became a stored crop just prior to A.D. 1000, although the earliest specimens may not have been dated. It increased in importance after A.D. 1200. Ozark maize differs considerably from midwestern and northeastern samples by having fewer large 8-row cobs and many robust 10 and 12-row cobs that do not fall into the Eastern eight- row, Chapalote, or any intermediate type. Among the desiccated samples are four peduncles of Cucurbita mixta, a species not previously documented prehistorically in eastern North America. There is also morphological evidence for husbandry of the native wild bean, Phaseolus polystachios. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CONTENTS Acknowledgments vi List of Figures ix List of Tables xi 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE COLLECTIONS AND THE SITES 1 Previous Studies of the Rockshelter Collections 4 Rockshelter Sites 9 Interpreting Context and Chronology 12 Brief Descriptions of Targeted Sites 14 2. REGIONAL OVERVIEW 28 The General Environment 28 Culture History 37 3. MODELS OF PREHISTORIC AGRICULTURAL GROWTH IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA 46 4. DATING THE ROCKSHELTER PLANT REMAINS 64 The Deposits in General 64 The Plants in Particular 69 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5. THE STARCHY SEED CROPS 76 Chenopodium 76 Polygonum 107 Amaranth 112 Maygrass 116 Little Barley 124 Summary and Discussion 125 6 . SUMPWEED AND SUNFLOWER 130 Sumpweed 130 Sunflower 141 7. THE CUCURBITS 151 Cucurbita Spp. 151 Lagenaria 163 8 . BEANS 172 Domesticated Common Beans 172 Native Beans 175 9. MAIZE 184 Chronometry 185 Discussion 205 10. IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 209 References Cited 217 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The many people who helped me through this project deserve better thanks than this, but I hope they all understand how much I appreciate their assistance. Analysis would have been impossible without the dedication and cooperation of the University Museum staff at the University of Arkansas. Mike Hoffman, Curator of Anthropology, handled my incessant requests and made valuable substantive contributions. Allyn Lord, a true saint, bore the responsibility for issuing and renewing loans and for shipping the many boxes. Other Museum staff members whose aid I am aware of include John Gentry, Peggy Hoffman, Marie Demeroukas, Nancy McCartney, Bob Winkleman, and Wanda Doty. I am especially grateful to Mary McGimsey for photographing plant remains and for furnishing prints of old negatives. The Arkansas Archeological Survey was a continuous source of assistance. I thank C. R. McGimsey III, Hester Davis, and George Sabo III for years of encouragement and for site file information. My two- month stay in Fayetteville in 1984 was enhanced by Hester’s hospitality as well as that of George and Deborah Sabo, Norma Hoffrichter, Marvin Kay, and Marvin Jeter. Dan Wolfman was a valuable consultant on matters relating to radiocarbon dating. I would like to thank the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, for allowing me to examine their Ozark collections. Mary Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vii Jane Lenz, Curator, scheduled my visit, and Shira Birnbaum assisted me with the collections. Necessary funding was provided by the Graduate School, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the form of an Off-campus Dissertation Research Grant. The National Science Foundation funded a Dissertation