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Archaeobotanical Analysis
Although Great Oasis is generally recognized as one of the earliest groups
to practice intensive agriculture on the eastern Plains, much uncertainty
and debate still persists as to the specifics of Great Oasis agricultural
practices (Green 1995a). One particularly obstinate point of contention
is the extent to which Great Oasis peoples relied on corn and whether
this reliance was maintained through farming or trade (Benchley et al.
1997; Henning 1980, 1996, 1998; Tiffany et al. 1998). In part, this problem
derives from a paucity of systematically recovered botanical remains from
Great Oasis sites. This problem is compounded by the fact that the archaeobotanical
assemblages from the majority of Great Oasis sites that have been sampled
for flotation were analyzed in the 1970s and early 1980s (e.g., Mead 1981;
Treat et al. 1970; Zalucha 1982a), prior to the widespread recognition
and documentation of an indigenous pre-corn agricultural complex in eastern
North America. Still these sites, plus a few more recently excavated ones
(13DA264, 113DA110; Asch 1996; Green 1995b), offered tantalizing clues
that Great Oasis peoples grew not only their own corn but also a number
of native cultigens, particularly Chenopodium.
Botanical analysis conducted in conjunction with Phase II evaluation of
the Cowan site indicated that the site contained abundant, well-preserved
archaeobotanical remains and thus offered great potential for elucidating
key questions regarding Great Oasis agriculture (Green 1995a). Specifically,
the Phase II analysis offered support for three propositions: (1) corn
was a major subsistence item at Cowan; (2) the Chenopodium found at Cowan
represents a domesticated variety; and (3) the Cowan site was a Great
Oasis agricultural hamlet (Green 1995a:38). In order to confirm these
findings, to provide additional evidence of the intensive yet diverse
pattern of agriculture practiced by Great Oasis peoples, and to examine
the persistent traded- vs. farmed-corn question, all feature contexts
excavated during Phase III investigation were extensively and systematically
sampled for botanical remains.
Great Oasis sites in general and the Cowan site in particular reveal a
pattern of intensive agriculture incorporating a diverse range of cultigens
including most importantly corn and goosefoot, along with pepo squash/gourd,
common sunflower, sumpweed, maygrass, erect knotweed, and tobacco. When
little barley is added to this list (Green 1995b), this agricultural complex
matches those noted for roughly contemporaneous groups throughout much
of the Midwest ca. 1000 years ago. As with most of these midwestern cultures,
the Great Oasis pattern appears to have evolved out of earlier Woodland
agricultural systems. Although not much is known about the archaeobotany
of the East-Central Plains, Benn (1990b) has documented the use of some
components of the indigenous small-seed agricultural complex in western
Iowa during the Middle and Late Woodland, particularly goosefoot, pepo
squash/gourd, sunflower, and tobacco. Corn was only a minor element in
Late Woodland subsistence. Elsewhere on the Central Plains, Adair (1996)
has extensively documented the use of several genera of the indigenous
small-seed complex for the Plains Woodland period, along with minor amounts
of corn between A.D. 700 and 1000. Thus, as in other areas to the east,
including the Mississippian "heartland" of the American Bottom, it appears
that Great Oasis adoption of intensive corn agriculture was an additive
change, leaving intact or intensifying much of the pre-existing, well-developed
indigenous agricultural system. This pattern of intensive but diverse
agriculture began prior to any clearly recognizable Middle Mississippian
influence and persisted beyond the Great Oasis time span. Mill Creek and
other Initial Middle Missouri cultures as well as Glenwood and other Central
Plains Tradition peoples similarly practiced intensive corn agriculture
mixed with cultivation of a variety of indigenous crops (Asch 1992; Benchley
et al. 1997; Jones 1993). Thus, it would seem that Great Oasis represents
a key transitional culture with respect to the developmental trajectory
of agricultural systems in the Midwest, showing a great deal of continuity
with antecedent and subsequent cultures of the area during a critical
period of pan-midwestern agricultural intensification.
| Table 14.1. Summary Statistics for the Cowan Site
Botanical Assemblage. |
| Statistic |
Overall (a) |
Mean (b) |
| Samples per feature |
4.09 |
4.09 |
| Floated volume per sample (liters) |
6.15 |
6.18 |
| >2mm charcoal weight per sample (g) |
6.90 |
2.93 |
| >2mm charcoal count per sample |
349.35 |
166.59 |
| Charcoal concentration (g/10L) |
11.22 |
4.61 |
| Seed count per sample |
33.34 |
45.78 |
| Seed:charcoal ratio (#/g) |
4.83 |
206.64 |
| Seed concentration (#/10L) |
54.22 |
63.78 |
(a) Calculated using overall assemblage totals.
(b) Calculated by averaging together feature totals. |
Great
Oasis and Other References
Cowan
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