Main Discussion Area > Cave Men only "Oooga Booga"
Finds in Delaware
snedeker:
Apparently there are some broadspear points coming up from the area associated with the grinding stones. They date to 1500 BC, before maize entered the scene here. Grinding stones show up all over north america pretty way back in the Archaic period, for seed and nut grinding.
I'll get pics of more points and stuff soon. Stuff is still dirty. We've got shaft abraders too which is cool. Have grooves for running up and down shaft. So we can tell what diameter they were
DR
richpierce:
Very cool, pre-maize. There were other native grain plants that were "gardened" or at least managed I think in addition to collected seeds and nuts. Hope to see more pictures in the coming weeks.
jamie:
very cool pics dave.
Pahinh.Winh:
Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. More likely they were grinding the seeds of plants such as lamb's quarters, cattail, and similar at that time. I'm pretty sure lamb's quarters is indigenous to Turtle Island.. The seeds are very high in protein & make a tasty meal once they are ground & soaked.. Also good to thicken stew.. Regardless, there are many plants other than maize that made up our dietary mainstays back then. For that matter, there was the forerunner of maize, a grass, but can't recall which one. Still, the seeds would be edible & grindable.. There's a grass that grows in the marshes out here that looks kind of like a rice, but isn't 'wild rice' as we know it now.. I've gathered it's seeds, parched & ground them & they were pretty decent eating.. Keep up the good work. Nice photos!
snedeker:
There's begining to be some evidence that they were using the seeds of sumpweed alot in the region. We're looking forward to trying out the new technique of starch grain analysis to see whats on the tools and such. Pollen analysis and more usual macro-botanical analyeses don't work in those parts because of the water table having goine up and down through the deposits for centuries.
Thanks for posting Pahinh. I'd love it if you would personal message me and we could chat about a couple or three things.
We got done in the field in July - we have 40,000 artifacts piled up to work on. We have some really unusual tools that I need to get pics of - really small chipped stone tools of which I've never seen the like. LOTS of shaft abraders. They were making some interesting things there.
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