Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor Heather Trigg

Northeast Historical Archaeology Volume 36 The Historical Archaeology of Sylvester Article 10 Manor

2007 Cider, Wheat, Maize, and Firewood: Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor Heather Trigg

Ashley Leasure

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Recommended Citation Trigg, Heather and Leasure, Ashley (2007) "Cider, Wheat, Maize, and Firewood: Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor," Northeast Historical Archaeology: Vol. 36 36, Article 10. https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol36/iss1/10 Available at: http://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol36/iss1/10

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 113

Cider, Wheat, Maize, and Firewood: Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

Heather Trigg and Ashley Leasure The paleoethnobotanical analysis program at Sylvester Manor is designed to investigate the rela- tionships between the Sylvesters, their workers, and the botanical environment. Most of the contexts sampled provide information about domestic household consumption. The site residents used large quantities of oak for fuel and possibly building construction. Documents provide more robust information about the production of crops and interactions with Native peoples, suggesting that local Native Americans provided a source of labor for the production of crops. Le programme d’analyse paleoethnobotanique au site du Sylvester Manor a été conçu pour exam- iner les relations entre les Sylvesters, leurs employés et l’environnement botanique. La majorité des contextes échantillonnés fournit des informations à propos de la consommation d’une maisonnée. Les résidents ont utilisé de grandes quantités de chêne comme combustible et peut-être même pour la construction. Les documents écrits offrent quant à eux des informations plus solides à propos de la production de plantes cultivées et des interactions entre les Autochtones. Ces documents suggèrent en effet que les Autochtones locaux consti- tuaient une source de main d’œuvre pour la production de plantes cultivées. Introduction examine the role of plants in plantation activi- As a provisioning plantation, Sylvester ties. Because of preservational issues and Manor supplied basic goods to its sister estates behavioral patterns, one difficulty is finding in the Caribbean. Documents indicate that physical evidence for the plants used at the many of the provisioning activities centered manor. A more important challenge, how- on the production and export of food, pri- ever, is to provide a more detailed and refined marily meat. The manufacture of these goods, understanding of the nature of the relation- however, was only one of the activities under- ships among the various peoples associated taken at Sylvester Manor. Sustaining the export with the manor and with the environment. endeavors and the manor household required Through the paleoethnobotanical research housing for the family, buildings for livestock we attempt to answer some basic questions and other activities, food for the inhabitants regarding the nature of these interactions: what and perhaps livestock, fuel for heating the plant foods did the Sylvesters eat; what crops home and cooking food, and the production were grown or exported; what was exchanged of commodities for exchange. These mundane with the Native Americans? To what extent activities drew the Sylvesters, their African did the Sylvesters maintain traditional Dutch slaves, and the local Native Americans into a and English foodways and to what extent were web of interactions, both among themselves these traditions modified? How was labor for and with the physical environment. crop production scheduled and how was this During colonial times, plants played a labor negotiated? What woods were used in large role in peoples’ lives. It is known from the plantation buildings and for firewood? ethnographic and documentary data that in How did these activities impact the landscape? most regions plants make up a majority of The paleoethnobotanical research is ongoing the foods eaten; and it is likely that plants and cannot provide answers to all these ques- were the dietary staples at the manor. In the tions, but the analysis is beginning to explore 17th century, plant products were not only the plantation’s dynamics. used for food, but also as exports, medicines, clothing, firewood, fencing, building materials, and tools large and small—parts for plows, Current Landscape and Vegetation mixing spoons, and handles of hoes to name a The current landscape and vegetation at but a few. the manor are highly managed and largely The goal of the paleoethnobotanical anthropogenic. The results of these processes research in the Sylvester Manor Project is to are reflected not only in the formal garden and 114 Trigg and Leasure/Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

Figure 1. Sylvester Manor North Peninsula in the late-19th century. manicured lawns adjacent to the house, but also in the vegetation throughout the manor’s current landholdings including areas in and around the marshes. Gardiner’s Creek is a small inlet, which by family legend was nearly Figure 2. North Peninsula. closed off in the 17th century. This small wet- land is fed by a spring at the southeast end of is possible that the Native Americans on the the marsh. Freshwater vegetation such as cattail island, as in other areas of the Northeast, used grows immediately adjacent to the spring, but fire as a vegetation control tool. Such practices the marsh itself is brackish and sustains stands would have provided the Sylvesters with a of cordgrass and other salt-tolerant plants. The previously managed landscape in which large area is terrestrializing, and roughly half the oaks dominated and smaller trees and shrubs marsh is now firm enough to walk on. This were removed (Cronon 1983). The 17th-century process has been rapid and occurred during the vegetation provided not only a landscape upon last 50 years, within memory of the last inhab- which the Sylvesters and their household built itant of the manor house (Alice Fiske, personal the plantation, but also raw materials with communication 2003). Around the marsh today, which to create a living. Assessing the changes there are large stands of pine, maple, oak, black due to plantation activities are among the goals locust, hawthorn, and walnut; however photo- of the landscape research. graphs taken in the late-19th or early-20th century show this area completely cleared of large Sampling Strategy trees (f i g . 1). Like the terrestrialization of the At Sylvester Manor, we employ a sampling marsh, the current vegetation is quite recent, strategy designed to collect several types of but modification of the landscape has occurred paleoethnobotanical data: macrobotanicals, since the 17th century and perhaps earlier. primarily seeds and wood, to explore specific Broad scale vegetation reconstruction for types of plants used; and pollen to examine eastern Long Island suggests that at the time vegetation and ultimately landscape changes. the Sylvesters established the plantation, the Through the years, the sampling strategy has island was covered by oak woodland (U.S. changed from the selective collection of bulk Fish and Wildlife Service 1991). The island sediment samples from features to systematic would have supported a variety of plant habi- collection from all contexts. During the first five tats including grasslands, salt marshes, and years of excavation, we have taken nearly 1000 localized maple and pine swamps. The under- flotation samples and analyzed just over 20% story consisted of shrubs such as huckleberry, of them. All analyzed samples were examined blueberry, and blackberry and grasses, ferns, for charred seeds and wood, and an additional and herbaceous plants. Pre-colonial landscape 100 samples from the screens were examined management has yet to be examined, but it for charred wood. The analysis of the screened Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 115

Figure 3. South lawn with midden, underlying features, and Feature 226. wood focused on two areas of the site where permanently wet places are more promising the wood density was the highest, Features 226 because these environments are more condu- and 221, but flotation samples from all areas cive to pollen preservation than the open exca- of the site were analyzed and provide a broad vation units. While the pollen in these cores has overview of the plant remains. not been fully analyzed, preliminary examina- Because examination and identification of tion indicates that preservation is excellent and pollen is also integral to the botanical program, that the cores have the potential for yielding we have tested several terrestrial areas immedi- information about landscape changes associ- ately adjacent to the excavation units and in the ated with the plantation activities. marshy areas near the manor. The marsh is too small for regional vegetation reconstruction, Macrobotanical Remains but it should yield information about the land use and landscape modification immediately The analysis of the macrobotanical mate- adjacent to the plantation core. Other inlets rials is more complete and is the basis for the near the manor house have been sampled, and remainder of the discussion. Since flotation these cores await analysis. The pollen from samples were systematically taken, we have a some terrestrial contexts has been extracted and good sampling of various areas of the site: the analyzed, but these samples yielded a poorly North Peninsula, with its late woodland Native preserved pollen assemblage. The counts were American habitation area and shell middens so low and many grains so damaged that those (f i g . 2); the midden associated with the planta- recovered are not likely to yield an accurate tion core; features under this midden (f i g . 3); reconstruction of the vegetation (Bryant and small features on the north lawn; Feature 226 Hall 1993; Hall 1981; Pearsall 1989). The pollen and smaller features adjacent to it (f i g . 3); and cores taken from Gardiner’s Creek and other Feature 221, a large stratified pit (f i g . 3). 116 Trigg and Leasure/Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

The preservation and recovery of macro- and greens may also have been used for food. botanical materials at Sylvester Manor, as in Fruit seeds recovered—blueberry, huckleberry, most temperate areas, is highly dependent and grape—attest to other gathered resources on a protective environment (Minnis 1981; utilized by Native peoples prior to the arrival Pearsall 1989). Because all of the plant remains of the Sylvesters. Charred wood from these fea- have been recovered from open-air locations, tures included substantial quantities of hickory, any 17th-century plant remains that were not maple, and softwood in addition to smaller thoroughly burnt have long ago decayed. amounts of oak, which is nearly ubiquitous in Consequently our discussion of the plants the archaeological samples. The use of plants found at Sylvester Manor is limited to those from these Native contexts provides a per- that are charred. This presents a circumscribed spective for examining the botanical remains view of the plants used, but the findings pro- from the later European-dominated areas at the vide some indication of the nature of the plan- plantation core. The differences between these tation activities. The following discussion areas are striking, both in the types of plants groups the samples into types of features and recovered and the density of food remains. excavation areas that may represent functional, Despite our examination of almost three times spatial, or ethnic distinctions. the sediment volume from the plantation core (which includes the midden), the samples from North Peninsula Features and Shell Middens the Native shell middens contained more plant remains both qualitatively and quantitatively. Several features, perhaps plow scars or sills, The vast majority of the nutshells and more were sampled on the North Peninsula. The than half of the maize from our excavations plant remains in these features were limited, come from the North Peninsula, and while the but contained hickory nutshells and several number of fruit and weedy seeds are low, the types of fruit seeds (t a b s . 1 and 2). These fea- species richness from these contexts is higher tures lack the cultigens recovered from other than from the plantation core. areas of the site, but this may be the result of the small number of samples examined and the limited quantities of botanical materials in Midden these samples rather than representing a signif- The midden in the plantation core was icant trend. The small sizes of charred wood in extensively sampled and yielded a substan- these features made identification difficult, but tial amount of charred wood and a small ring porous woods dominated the assemblage, variety of food remains. In all samples, the a morphological group that includes such taxa density of seeds and related plant parts was as oak, chestnut, and hickory. Because of the low, providing only limited evidence of the small size of the pieces, a secure identification consumption of foods. The plants recovered is not possible, but it is likely that the dominant included 1 kernel of wheat, 2 of maize, 10 nut- wood is oak. In this respect, these features are shell and nutmeat fragments, and the seeds almost indistinguishable from the small fea- of several weedy and non-cultivated plants. tures associated with the plantation core. The nutshell fragments included both thick- The plant parts recovered from the recently shelled types such as hickory or walnut and discovered North Peninsula shell middens (f i g . thin-walled types from acorns, chestnuts, or 2) contrast with other portions of the site. From hazelnuts. The wood from the midden samples the shell middens, we recovered large quanti- represent a variety of tree types, but the spec- ties of charred wood and hickory nutshell frag- trum is dominated by oak and oak/chestnut1. ments. Maize kernels and cupules (portions Smaller amounts of other taxa—hickory, beech, of cobs) were also recovered providing the maple, and walnut were also found (t a b . 3). first direct evidence for pre-European agricul- The majority of the charred wood pieces were ture on the island. Weedy plants associated very small, indicating their use as domestic with agricultural fields such as goosefoot and firewood rather than burnt timbers. These purslane are suggestive of not only the con- plant parts are consistent with the disposal of sumption of maize on the island, but also its 1 Because these types of wood are morphologically similar, production. While goosefoot and purslane are distinguishing between the two can be difficult with small associated with agricultural fields, their seeds pieces of wood. Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 117 0 1 1 4 6 39 22 16 64 Porous Porous Difffuse 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 Cornus Portulaca 0 0 0 0 7 0 11 16 20 Walnut 8 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 13 Ash 14 12 12 46 Rosaceae Chenopodium 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Elm 16 Sedge Huckleberry 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 13 14 Beech Juniper Raspberry 1 0 0 25 28 18 17 14 2 0 0 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 252 Hickory Malva Blueberry 8 4 0 0 1 7 0 20 21 7 6 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 11 12 Oak/Chestnut 550 588 Leguminosae Nut/Nutshell 0 0 0 8 0 10 16 18 58 Chestnut 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 4 6 13 Peach Grass Seed/Rachis 9 1 26 29 97 36 109 129 930 Oak . 0 0 0 5 3 1 9 1 0 0 1 2 1 5 Wheat Polygonum 1 0 67 52 14 49 28 24 Ring Porous Porous 301 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 2 0 32 15 56 13 15 Maize Bayberry 5 1 2 0 20 14 10 14 68 Conifer Table 1. Seeds and nutshells from possible food plants (counts). 1. Seeds and nutshells from Table Area North Peninsula Midden Features North Lawn Features 221 Feature Fea. 226 & adjacent features Midden Total other plants (counts) 2. Seeds from Table Area North Peninsula Midden Features North Lawn Features 221 Feature Fea. 226 & adjacent features Midden Total wood (counts). 3. Charred Table Area North Peninsula Midden Midden Features North Lawn Features 226 Feature Associated Features South Lawn 221 Feature Area Burned 118 Trigg and Leasure/Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

household debris from fireplaces rather than domesticates, gathered resources such as nuts from crop production or early stage processing and berries, and weedy plants. The samples activities such as parching grains. Many sam- from this feature, too, contained charred ples contained small unidentifiable plant parts starchy fragments. The charred wood assem- that may be the remnants of ground foods— blage was largely composed of oak, but with maize, wheat, nutmeats and the like. The food significant quantities of hickory and smaller remains, despite being few in number, do indi- amounts of other taxa. Feature 274, associated cate the household consumed both European- with 226, contained only oak and probably rep- introduced foods, wheat, and indigenous resents a post that had burned in place. foods: maize and nuts. North Lawn Features Features Beneath the Midden These small features contained the same The features lying under the midden consist spectrum of plants as the features beneath the of trenches, postholes, and postmolds, and they midden. The seeds recovered are limited to a perhaps represent an earlier occupation of the few maize kernels and nut fragments, and the site (see f i g . 3). The plant remains from these wood spectrum is largely composed of oak and features consisted of a few maize kernels, some oak/chestnut. charred nutshells, several grass rachis fragments, and charred wood. All of the charred Charcoal Concentration—Southwest Lawn maize kernels came from a single feature. Just A discussion of a charcoal concentration like the midden above them, the features con- in the Southwest Lawn, referred to also as tained a similar spectrum and low density of “Burned Area” (f i g . 4), is included primarily food remains. While the number of species is to highlight the differences in charred wood lower, the charred wood assemblage is also between it and the other areas of the site. The comparable to the midden above, with oak and wood assemblage was remarkably uniform oak/chestnut the dominant woods. throughout the burned area and consisted primarily of maple with smaller, but still signifi- Feature 221 cant quantities of beech wood. This is in stark This large pit feature in the Southeast Lawn contrast to all other areas of the site, which yielded small quantities of several Old World are dominated by oak. It is possible that this crops, a few wheat kernels and a peach pit, feature represents a much more recent burning and a New World domesticate in the form of a episode with some of the wood coming from single maize kernel. The assemblage included the beech tree directly above the feature. Such a few seeds from gathered and weedy plants a dramatic difference in wood types between (t a b s . 1 and 2). The majority of the wood in this what is probably a recent feature and the ear- feature was oak, but there was also a significant lier prehistoric and colonial occupations of amount of hickory (t a b . 3). Other wood taxa the site indicates the potential value that ana- are represented in smaller quantities. Like the lyzing wood use may have for understanding midden, many of the flotation samples from peoples’ activities. Feature 221 contained small pieces of unidentifiable plant parts. These are perhaps bits of Discussion flour or meal or tiny fragments of starchy foods that were charred when they fell or were swept Preliminary evidence for the late wood- into the fire. land Native American component located on the North Peninsula indicates that the Native peoples’ land use and subsistence practices Feature 226 and Adjacent Features here mirrored those elsewhere along the Long Feature 226 (see f i g . 3), a large feature Island Sound and in southern New England located on the south lawn about 10 meters (Bendremer 1999; Bernstein 1999). Maize from west of Feature 221, contained large quantities these shell middens provides the first and ear- of charred wood and small amounts of food liest evidence of agriculture on the island; how- debris. Taxa included Old and New World ever, as the plant remains we recovered indi- Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 119

Figure 4. Southwest lawn with burned area. cate, agricultural products were complemented plantation buildings, and a Native population by the use of gathered nuts, fruits, and pos- accustomed to an agricultural lifestyle. It was sibly starchy seeds and greens of weedy plants. in this type of cultural and physical landscape Although the shell middens have not yet been that the Sylvesters found themselves. dated, it is possible that Nathaniel Sylvester The plant remains from most areas of the arrived at Shelter Island to find Native peo- site occupied after the arrival of the Sylvesters ples engaged in a mix of subsistence practices appear to be primarily domestic debris. With that included maize agriculture. Some land the exception of some of the postholes, there on the island had previously been cleared for is little evidence that the plant remains reflect firewood and to bring it under agricultural in situ use. Moreover they represent the debris production. When this clearance occurred is from the household’s consumption of plants, not yet known, but the Sylvesters may have rather than construction or destruction epi- arrived to see patches of treeless land available sodes, crop processing or large-scale produc- for planting, grazing, and the construction of tion of resources for export. As such, they pro- 120 Trigg and Leasure/Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

vide information about a limited, but critical hazel, and/or chestnut, in the deposits are set of domestic activities, primarily the foods similar to those found in pre-colonial Native consumed and the types of fuel woods used. As American sites such as those found on the yet, they cannot help us understand what role North Peninsula as well as others on Shelter plants may have played in the export economy Island and throughout the northeast (Bernstein of the manor. 1999; Lightfoot, Kalin and Moore 1987; Scarry 2003). Hickory nuts, in particular, were impor- Food tant to Native peoples in the northeast. To produce a high calorie, nutritious oil, Native None of the plant remains from the planta- Americans would crack open hickory nutshells tion core speak directly about food production, and then boil the nuts and shells together to but because of the context of their recovery, release the oils. The charred hickory nutshell they do provide some evidence for food con- fragments found in various areas of the site are sumption. Because of the low density of seeds suggestive of Native Americans’ processing and nutshells, it is difficult to quantitatively methods in pre-colonial times, and may indi- analyze the food remains; however, the data cate that Native Americans produced foods for can be used to make qualitative assessments. the Sylvesters, or that the Sylvesters adopted The food remains from the midden and the these practices. It is also a possibility that these larger features indicate the household con- plant remains indicate Native people provi- sumed both Old World and New World domes- sioning themselves and illustrate the multi-cul- ticates. Nutshells are largely absent from the tural nature of the Sylvester household. At this plant assemblage from the plantation core, point we cannot tease these possibilities apart. although they can be found in small features The Sylvesters modified traditional Dutch that may be associated with Native American and English food practices, because like many use of the area prior to the Sylvesters’ arrival colonists, they added New World foods to their and are clearly important in the pre-European diet. The presence of maize and wheat in the occupation on the North Peninsula. The same deposits is indicative of such processes. Sylvesters introduced wheat and peaches from From the current evidence we cannot deter- Europe, but they also consumed maize, a crop mine the relative importance of maize and associated with indigenous peoples. The house- wheat, nor can we determine if there were hold also consumed gathered resources: locally available fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, differential food practices within the house- and huckleberries, and nuts. We lack archaeo- hold; that is, were the European foods available logical evidence for many plants that must only to the Sylvesters themselves? Were the have been consumed or contributed to the enslaved Africans provided with lower status plantation economy, but an account book from foods, possibly the maize? In the absence of the late 17th century indicates the household more definitive data, it is likely that the entire also produced apples and pears (G. Sylvester household consumed both the European and 1680–1701). indigenous foods. The botanical and documentary evidence Although the archaeological remains pri- suggests that maize was an important com- marily provide evidence of consumption at ponent of the household’s diet, but it is pos- the manor, the documents help to verify that sible that the household consumed other foods the Sylvesters were producing some of these associated with Native American cuisine. Small same foods. The 17th-century account book quantities of goosefoot (Chenopodium sp.) seeds describes tools sent to the smithy for repair and were found in association with other food sharpening. Some were used to produce plant plants. Native peoples commonly used these foods: plows, used in producing wheat, and seeds for food, but they are also encouraged cutting tools for the production of hay. These in disturbed habitats. Whether goosefoot was tools indicate that European agricultural prac- a food or merely a weed accidentally incorpo- tices were brought to the island. The book also rated into the archaeological deposits cannot recounts the sale of pears grown at the manor, be determined, but there is evidence for the use and other documents describe a cider press on of other Native American foods. The presence the premises suggesting a substantial invest- of the nutshells and nutmeats, hickory, walnut, ment in the production of apples and cider. Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 121

Figure 5. Charred wood representation. The production of cider may also account for intrinsic qualities, such as heat value or smo- some of the raspberry seeds we found, as this kiness, and cultural values such as taboos or fruit is also used for cider-making (Stephen esthetics may play a role (Smart and Hoffman Mrozowski personal communication 2005). 1988). As a result, the charred wood at a site is Many European colonists quickly adopted usually not an accurate mirror of the vegeta- and grew their own maize, but documents tion. Colonists in New England preferentially indicate the Sylvesters purchased it from local chose oak and hickory wood for fuel (Cronon Manhansets (N. Sylvester 1680), possibly to 1983), and this choice is consistent with the consume in the household or to feed their live- wood taxa found in most contexts in Sylvester stock. Whether the manor grew some of its Manor (f i g . 5). Hickory produces, by far, the own maize is not known, but it is clear the greatest heat value of any common wood in the Sylvesters’ food production did not meet their region, while oak is a strong second (Reynolds needs. 1942), and these factors may underlie both the Native peoples’ and Sylvesters’ choices of fuelwood. The large proportion of oak in Fuel the deposits no doubt reflects both its value Although there is some evidence for food- as fuel and its abundance on the island. The ways, the vast majority of the botanical mate- colonists preferred oak for many uses: lumber, rials recovered thus far speak to the plantation’s fence posts, furniture, tools, as well as fuel. use of wood. The quantity of charred wood is Barrel staves were commonly made from oak; not surprising given the manor’s needs. Wood red oak was favored for sugar and molasses provided the fuel for heating the manor house, while white oak was preferred for wine casks. cooking the inhabitants’ food, and baking their It is unlikely that we have evidence for the bread. Peoples’ choice of fuel wood is an inter- production of barrel staves at Sylvester Manor, section between cultural and physical factors, and indeed the documents suggest that they and although the abundance of a particular were not produced on the island, but were pur- type of wood plays a factor in the frequency of chased from Connecticut. We know such items its use, people do not randomly choose woods were produced for export to Barbados, but the from those available (Smart and Hoffman 1988). contexts from which our samples come appear Instead wood species are chosen or avoided for to be limited to household debris. 122 Trigg and Leasure/Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

Figure 6. Charred wood from large features. Because wood was a raw material for many showed a dramatically different assemblage of items used in colonial times, the demand for wood species (f i g . 6), but the deposits might wood was great and large areas were defor- relate to much later events. The change in ested (Cronon 1983). This process started charred wood may illustrate the results of land before Europeans arrived, and early travelers clearance activities, which occurred later. Since remarked that Native peoples had cleared we know there were far fewer trees in the 19th areas of southern New England. However, century, the evidence from the burned area colonization accelerated this trend. During the could mirror that fact. The Sylvesters’ activi- 1600s an average household in New England ties apparently did not deplete the island’s tree burned an estimated 30 to 40 cords of wood resources, but this preliminary interpretation per year, requiring the logging of more than needs to be validated by other data, possibly an acre of forest each year (Cronon 1983). As the pollen cores taken from the marsh. Shelter Island comprises 8000 acres, harvesting fuel wood for the Sylvesters’ household alone would not have taxed the island’s resources, Landscape and Cultural Interactions if the forests were largely intact. However, The botanical materials across the site are other activities would have increased defor- strikingly similar, even in contexts where, estation. Clearing by the Manhansets prior to from the material culture, we might expect to the Sylvesters’ arrival would have, of course, see differences. Features 226 and 221 and the diminished the available wood, and the Native midden are one such example. The material Americans settling around the manor would culture in these areas is different, particularly also have drawn on these resources for fuel and in the proportion of Native ceramics and stone raw materials. The Sylvesters also removed tools, and we might expect to see differences trees to provide land for plantation buildings, in the plants used. However, the charred food agricultural fields, orchards, and pasturelands, remains demonstrate the same low-density mix but the question remains whether all these of cultigens and gathered resources while the activities depleted the forests on the island. charred wood spectrum shows a similar mix of The exhaustion of tree resources is often oak, chestnut, and hickory (f i g . 6). Minor differ- indicated archaeologically as a shift to second ences can be seen between these large features or third choice fuel woods (Minnis 1978). The and the smaller features typically identified as charred wood spectrum remains largely the postholes and postmolds under the midden, same throughout the site except in the burned on the north lawn, and associated with Feature area, west of the plantation core. This area 226. Throughout the site, these features appear Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 123

Figure 7. Charred wood from small features. to contain fewer species and are dominated for goods and services (see Priddy, this more strongly by oak and chestnut wood (f i g . volume). Documents indicate that this included 7). Neither aspect is surprising. These are small the cutting and delivery of wood for firewood. features with few samples and less diversity The account book indicates that Giles Sylvester is to be expected through stochastic processes paid an individual named Napansson for 30 alone. More importantly, the features’ functions loads of wood. In one such exchange, a cord of appear to be similar, architectural in nature, wood was worth 2 gallons of cider (G. Sylvester and required only a few pieces of wood. The 1680–1701). The Native Americans also pro- emphasis on wood taxa like oak and chestnut vided labor for the fieldwork and the produc- is also consistent with texts describing colo- tion of crops, and in return, the Sylvesters paid nists’ use of these woods for fencing and con- them in products from the plantation such as struction (Cronon 1983). cider, apples, and pears. The striking similarity of plant remains— Nathaniel Sylvester’s will and other docu- both food remains and firewood—across the ments provide written testimony to the con- plantation core suggests that there is not a structed landscape of Sylvester Manor. Upon strong distinction in the plant-use strategies his death in 1680, Nathaniel left to his wife of the people undertaking these activities. The Grissell his share of the “houses, gardens, [and] differences in plant remains among features orchards” on Shelter Island (N. Sylvester 1680). appear to be due primarily to the feature func- In addition to the livestock, pastures, a mill tion rather than differences in the activities of and meadows, Nathaniel mentions the cider the various groups, Sylvesters, Africans, or mill and orchards to which he lays full claim Native Americans, comprising the plantation’s because, he argued, they were “built with my work force. owne Estate” (N. Sylvester 1680). Through The production and consumption of plants these efforts, he attempted some replication of at the plantation bound the Sylvesters and a European farming landscape. Native Americans together. The archaeological While he grew Eurasian crops such as materials suggest that the Sylvesters adopted wheat and apples, it is also likely that he modi- some of the Native Americans’ food prac- fied the European practices, and like many tices, and documents recount the exchange of early colonial farmers, planted maize. One food products, maize and cider, between the strategy to bring land under cultivation was to Sylvesters and local Native Americans. The first grow maize. It required less preparation of interactions, however, go beyond the exchange the ground, and it was thought that planting of food and included paying Native Americans maize broke up the soil and subsequently made 124 Trigg and Leasure/Paleoethnobotany at Sylvester Manor

it easier to cultivate cereals such as wheat. If attempted to recreate familiar European food Nathaniel used this approach, Shelter Island’s practices, but they were also willing to adopt Native population may have been invaluable. New World foods associated with Native The local Manhansets’ experience growing American cuisine. maize and their knowledge of the weather and We also have tantalizing suggestions for soils of Shelter Island may have been a critical modification of the land around the manor. The resource to the Sylvesters and assisted in the Sylvesters along with Native Americans and successful production of crops that sustained Africans cleared trees for timber and firewood, the household. cleared land for planting crops, orchards and kitchen gardens, and introduced Old World Conclusions livestock. The Sylvesters also deliberately introduced Old World crops such as wheat, apples, Plants have always played an important pears, and perhaps peaches. These and other role at Sylvester Manor—from the large formal activities had an impact on the environment. gardens currently planted here, to the two While the pollen analyses are in their initial flowers named for Mrs. Fiske, to the beech tree stages, the macrobotanical materials indicate planted in the 1800s by America’s foremost a landscape that was transformed by planta- botanist Asa Grey. Plants also played impor- tion activities but not depleted of economically tant roles during the 17th century. They were important plant taxa. a major source of the goods used in everyday Plants provided one avenue for integrating life—food, drink, fuelwood, timber, and medi- the various peoples—Native Americans, cines. Despite systematic collection during the Sylvesters, and Africans—who lived and five years of excavation at the manor, the pres- worked at the plantation. The cross-cultural ence of plant food remains was sparse and their trade of food was but a limited exchange. It distribution patchy. It was only through exten- is through the production and consumption sive sampling that we were able to recover of plants that local Native people were incor- physical evidence for many plants that we porated into the plantation’s core activities. know were used at the manor. Although some Cultivating Old World crops, such as wheat, of these are listed in written records, the use of not only supplied food to the Sylvesters others such as peaches and nuts is not docu- but may have employed Native peoples to mented. While the site yielded information on plow and reap. Their assistance in producing a small variety of total number of plants that cider and providing firewood for the planta- the inhabitants probably consumed, we are tion also drew them into an economic rela- able to develop a picture of the dynamic rela- tionship. In return these laborers were paid tions between the people of the plantation and in the plantation’s produce: pears, apples and their plants. cider. These interactions were not necessarily The botanical remains document the con- centered on plantation activities because the sumption of Old World and New World foods Sylvesters seem to have been at least somewhat and the manor’s need for firewood while dependent on local Native peoples for food. 17th-century texts provide information about Whether the goods were associated with indig- production on the plantation. These records enous or the colonists’ cultures apparently indicate that field crops and orchards were did not matter as Native peoples were paid established on the island and that there was a in European plant foods and the Sylvesters substantial cider mill on the premises. It is also bought Native American crops. The use of likely that the Sylvesters, like other settlers in plants bound these people together. the Northeast, had kitchen gardens for both Despite the difficulties associated with the food and medicines (Leighton 1970) although recovery of botanical remains, the importance we lack evidence for these. Although grains of plants to the plantation is clear. By recre- were grown at the plantation, this produc- ating the use of plants and the landscape sur- tion did not always fill the plantation’s needs, rounding the manor, we can begin to under- and the Sylvesters bought wheat from others stand the activities of the Sylvesters, the Native and traded apples for maize from the local Americans and the Africans who worked there. Native Americans. It is clear that the Sylvesters As garden historian Ann Leighton (1970: 3) Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 36, 2007 125

stated, “Plants bear direct testimony to the 1978 Paleoethnobotanical Indicators of Prehistoric tastes and needs, the whims and joys, even to Environmental Disturbance: A Case Study. In the most secret hopes and fears, of the people The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany, ed. by themselves. In recreating gardens of other R.I. Ford, M.F. Brown, M. Hodge, and W. L. times we come as close as is possible to those Merill, 347–366. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan Anthropological who worked and walked in them.” Paper No. 67, Ann Arbor.

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Heather Trigg is a Research Scientist at the Andrew Fiske Center for Archaeological Research and Adjunct Professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research interests include paleoethnobotany and colonialism in New England and the Southwest United States. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan in 1999.

Heather Trigg Fiske Center for Archaeological Research University of Massachusetts Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, MA 02125 [email protected]