Open AccessShrub, Scrub, and Grass: The Importance of Shrubland and Grassland Plant Communities to the Diet of the Late Prehistoric (A.D. 900-1535) Hunter-Gatherers of the Eastern Trans-Pecos Region of Texas
Author(s) -
Casey Wayne Riggs
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
index of texas archaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2475-9333
DOI - 10.21112/ita.2014.1.74
Subject(s) - prehistory , shrubland , grassland , archaeology , geography , shrub , ecology , plant community , ecosystem , ecological succession , biology
The Eastern Trans-Pecos archeological region of Texas is an area rich in botanical diversity, a resource heavily utilized by both prehistoric and historic hunter-gatherers. A comparison of four paleoethnobotanical investigations of archeological sites dating to the Late Prehistoric Era (A.D. 900-1535) with ethnobotanical information of the Mescalero Apache reveal that the botanical component of prehistoric and historic diets have been similar for the past 1,000 years. Differences in the degree of similarity can be contributed to differential preservation and analytical techniques. Further, ecological sites from the Ecological Site Information System are demonstrated as a novel and useful tool for landscape-scale archeological analysis.