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Middle Woodland Subsistence in the Licking River Valley

Jordan Kreager

The Licking River Valley, located in Central Ohio, is a tributary of the Muskingum River which runs adjacent to some of the most significant North American archaeological mounds in the world, known as the Newark Earthworks. Flint Ridge, made up of world-famous rainbow colored chert, a variety of Vanport Flint, is also found in this region as well. This meganodule of rainbow-colored flint makes up an area of nearly 27 square miles. Many speculate that it is no coincidence that these two archaeological features are so close to one another. It is no wonder that civilization thrived in this region for thousands of years. Incidentally, the region has become a consistent source of paleoethnobotanical data of which the archive continues to grow. Specifically, the archive reveals important aspects about the subsistence strategies of the Middle Woodland period, 200 BC to 300 AD, regarding the flora collected or cultivated in this region. An analysis of four different archaeological excavation sites in this area led by Ohio State University archaeologist, Deanne Wymer, seeks to explore the degree to which subsistence had been attained by the inhabitants. Drawing from the data recovered from four habitation sites in Licking County, Ohio, the Murphy, Murphy III, Campus, and NUWAY may finally provide insight as to whether the Hopewell people lived more sedentary lives, or maintained nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyles as has been previously ascribed by researchers.

First, a comparison of the data gathered from these excavations, with other paleoethnobotanical databases of other Midwestern regions exhibit some broad similarities. Some of these include the use of the same indigenous garden system, referred to as the Eastern Agricultural Complex, a heavy reliance on nut masts, shrubby fruits, and the impact of economic activities on the local environment. Despite the fact that crop species clearly differ by region, the similarities found amongst the Licking River Valley and other Midwestern regions are based on the types of plants domesticated, as the Eastern Agricultural Complex is found in varying environments.

The Licking River Valley Middle Woodland Paleoethnobotanical Record contains the basic categories of archaeobotanical materials including wood charcoal, nutmeat, squash rinds, and seeds. These have been identified in all four site assemblages. While fundamental similarities in the density and diversity of botanical data are evident, there are also some dramatic differences between the sites. It is important to consider that this is partially due to uneven sampling and depositional differences. For example, the NUWAY site sample comes from a single large pit that contained unusually large quantities of sherds and carbonized matter, whereas the Murphy site consisted of material derived from approximately half of all the site’s feature classes. These include the four primary classes, wood charcoal, nutshell, squash rinds, and seeds which were all found in varying densities in each of the site assemblages.

Furthermore, wood charcoal and carbonized nutshell are common components of these four sites, with wood charcoal always appearing at higher densities than the remains of the other classes. Wymer does mention that Early Woodland densities of wood charcoal and nutshell are similar to Middle Woodland samples, while Late Woodland wood charcoal and nutshell samples are significantly higher than Middle Woodland. Perhaps this is also a reflection of the deterioration of data as Ohio’s climate is often humid, and wet throughout the year. Nonetheless, seed densities are quite high among the Licking River Valley Middle Woodland localities as well, with the exception of the Murphy III site. These densities range around 20 seeds per liter. This is much higher than Early Woodland seed densities, and match or typically exceed Late Woodland sites. This could indicate an increased focus on more advanced subsistence methods as seeds may have been relied on less in the late Woodland period. Squash rind is more common at the Middle Woodland sites than the Early Woodland, and incidentally more common at the Late Middle Woodland sites as well. The squash recovered from all Woodland periods represent a species of yellow-flowered gourd squash.

In addition, four main types of nutshell have been recovered from the Licking River Valley Middle Woodland sites and they include hickory, hazelnut, acorn, and black walnut. At all four sites, hickory nuts are the most common class with either hazelnut or acorn in second. This pattern is consistent amongst Late Woodland sites as well. Hazelnut is only found at higher quantities in the mid-Ohio River Valley in Middle and Late woodland sites, whereas the hickory has been recovered throughout the eastern North America for all Woodland periods. Wood Charcoal Identification suggests that hickory and oak, mainly the white group, were the most common types used for firewood. In much similar quantities, mesic taxa such as elm, ash, walnut, maple, and sycamore were used. However, the wood diversity expands substantially at Late Woodland sites, as samples of red mulberry, black cherry, black locust, and pine have been recovered.

In regard to carbonized seeds, the Eastern Agricultural Complex is present among all four sites, which also make up the dominant portion of all seed assemblages. The starchy and high carbohydrate members of the complex recovered include maygrass, erect knotweed, and chenopodium, or goosefoot. Oil-rich seeds of the complex include domesticated sumpweed which was recovered from the Campus site, and both sumpweed and sunflower from the Murphy site. Out of the 154 specimens derived from the Murphy site, sumpweed makes up 6.6 percent of the seed assemblage, while only 11 sunflower achenes were recovered at the Murphy site. Berry seeds and achenes were frequent among the samples, including mostly raspberry, elderberry, and sumac. Spurge and black-seeded plantain are ubiquitous, but still numerically insignificant.

Out of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, erect knotweed and maygrass are the most prevalent at the sites, and goosefoot consistently appears at around 25% of the starchy counts. At the Murphy, Campus, and NUWAY sites, goosefoot samples have been morphologically confirmed through scanning-electron microscopy analysis to represent the domesticated form. The Eastern Agricultural Complex is present at Early Woodland sites, though not as much as within Middle Woodland sites. The Late Woodland sites demonstrate this complex even more, and with more diversity, as little barley is more common at Late Woodland sites as well.

Moreover, there is no doubt expressed by Wymer that the Licking River Valley Hopewell people were not maize agriculturalists, but farmers nonetheless. This is undoubtedly supported by the data she has presented, the presence of squash rind, domesticated members of the Eastern Agricultural Complex, and the evidence of land clearing activities. She suggests that these agricultural products were a major component of the Hopewellian diet.

The Hopewell population of the Licking River Valley consisted of sophisticated horticulturalists, which reflects only one component of a system that purposefully manipulated local habitats. The sophistication, Wymer explains, refers to the nature of the gardens themselves, as the plants involved have different life history characteristics, lengths of growing seasons, and moisture requirements. Garden spaces must have been maintained very carefully, and likely affected cultural aspects of harvesting, processing for consumption, and economically through surplus storage.

Presumably, all four sites were located within dense white oak-hickory forest, requiring the clearing of land in areas around the sites for gardens and living space. The evidence also suggests strategies for cultivation employed a swidden, or slash and burn, system. This observation is derived from cultigens identified in the ubiquitous presence of elderberries, raspberries, sumac, and hazelnut across all four site assemblages. Since these genera are only common in open areas and require high sunlight, it is plausible to assume that the co-occurrence of garden products and these genera in the same depositional contexts implies that the land was indeed manipulated by humans near their habitation sites. Wymer explains that the system of habitat modification originated within Middle Woodland times, and was expanded upon during the Late Woodland period. Evidence also suggests that Late Woodland populations had severely affected their local environments. This is inferred from second-growth wood and seed taxa.

Additionally, the differences observed between Middle and Late Woodland habitation sites may be best represented by the increased impact of land clearance and utilization of the structure of the local environment. Surveys and excavations indicate that Middle Woodland populations inhabited small hamlets evenly dispersed across the valley floor. These settlements appear to be systematically distributed on specific glacial or other outwash features that are recognized as having the best agricultural soils in Licking County. As for Late Woodland populations, they apparently congregated in extensive nucleated villages. The larger population of the Late Woodland period required more land for larger gardens and an increased draw on collected local resources.

Middle Woodland manipulations of the environment are recognized for what these people did on a small scale at their habitation sites, and what they also carried out on a grand scale at their ceremonial centers. The Newark Earthworks are located on the same glacial outwash terrace as many Hopewellian sites. And again, Wymer speculates, this specific land would consist of a much more rich and dense white oak forest. She feels that a significant amount of trees were removed in order to be able to plan and build the immense embankments and mounds.

Although much debate on the topic of Hopewellian sedentariness, Wymer asserts that a considerable amount of time and energy must have been spent on the land. The presence of hazelnut, elderberries, and other taxa recovered represented abandoned garden plots. This also leads her to believe that some span of time was involved during which the land was inhabited. In addition, she notes that hazelnut must be closely monitored by humans if the resource is to be used, since it is known for being invasive to other plants.

Overall, these observations help to form Wymer’s conclusion that these habitation sites must have been occupied during spring, summer, and fall seasons which implies at least some degree of sedentism. The small dimensions of these sites correlates to low populations which may indicate that these sites were small as well. Wymer also feels it is not out of the question to consider that these people inhabited this land in the winter as well, but the lack of any post holes, or other remains of house structures in the Murphy is puzzling. Nonetheless, it is apparent that the data suggests an all year round occupation of the land, and in the form of small villages which she refers to as hamlets. The Hopewell horticultural system was unique, a deciduous forest-based, swidden system making use of a wide variety of diverse taxa. Wymer feels that the next phase of research should address the horticultural system in the environmental context of eastern North America through attempting to replicate this system in this type of modern environment, which might provide a lot of valuable information in more facets of science than just archaeology.

In conclusion, the paleoethnobotanical data recovered definitely seems to indicate that the Hopewell people were skilled enough to live sedentary lives by farming and horticulture. It is likely no coincidence that the archaeological data consistently appears in areas where the land is more fertile for farming by today’s standards. In addition to all of the floral data being recovered and entered into a growing archive for this particular region, the faunal diversity of this area was immense as well. Farming would have only complemented the vast abundance of hunting options which range from a wide variety of mammals, fish, fowl, amphibians, reptiles, and even insects of this region. The diets of the Hopewell in this region was consistently one of many different nutritious options, and likely even included the luxury of what to eat at times, and not just what was available. Through the economic advances that accompanied the cultural evolution over this range of time, and the ‘civic center’ of the large archaeoastronomical mound complex of the Newark Earthworks, there appears to be no question that subsistence must have been reached through a sedentary lifestyle for many of the people in and around this region. However, employing a more diffusionist perspective regarding this debate, one might easily conclude that the possibility for both, sedentary and non-sedentary, lifestyles likely persisted throughout the Middle Woodland Hopewell tradition. Unfortunately, much of the archaeological data needed for a unified scientific conclusion is likely to never be reached. In either case, more archaeological excavations of the region are necessary to fully settle this debate.

References:

Paleoethnobotany in the Licking River Valley, Ohio: implications for understanding by Deanne Wymer