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Bone awl. Starchy seeds addition, the full extent of wild seeds, nuts, and roots
and greens of selected and utilized by Mill Creek and Glenwood
also suggest the direction and distance Glenwood chenopod or peoples is unknown. Such research has the potential
people might have traveled to hunt large game? goosefoot, a to offer a better and more comprehensive under-
crop grown standing of prehistoric Plains plant use as well as
Could Glenwood and Mill Creek people have been by ancient contribute to contemporary issues of agricultural
preparing and trading dressed and perhaps painted Iowans. sustainability.
or quilled hides with Mississippian and other groups?
Red ocher, or iron oxide pigment, and ash residue erectum). This evidence, together with the garden- The results of these brand new studies are pre-
remained on some of the scrapers suggestive of ing tools and storage pits found in the house sites liminary in nature. They underscore, however, the
coloring used in decorating hides. Sharpened bone themselves, demonstrates the importance of farming potential that existing collections have to contribute
awls—probably hide working tools— also occur in to these early Plains people. to a more refined and detailed understanding of the
profusion at these sites. economy, social interaction, community structure,
external contacts, and material culture of these early
Choice of Diet sedentary Plains communities.
Ongoing paleobotanical study of charred seeds and Litka site, a Mill Creek garden and the only known
other plant remains from earth lodge sites indi- prehistoric field on the Plains.
cates that both wild and cultivated plants provided
more than half the required daily caloric intake for Despite what we already know about such crops,
Glenwood and Mill Creek peoples. Identified crops the potential exists for additional research on plant
include the indigenous weedy annuals of marshelder remains and on the economic significance of agri-
(Iva annua), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), goose- culture itself. Such study would help better refine the
foot (Chenopodium berlandieri), little barley (Hor- nature of the cultivated varieties and their relative
deum pusillum), and wild cucurbit (Cucurbita pepo importance over time and among settlements. In
var ovifera); introduced crops of maize (Zea mays),
squash (Cucurbita pepo), and beans (Phaseolus vul- Carbonized
garis); and the probable crops of maygrass (Phalaris food residue
caroliniana) and erect knotweed (Polygonum on a pot
sherd, a clue
to ancient
diet.
University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist 25
