Botanical Samples

Throughout the excavations, archaeologists collected 105 flotation samples (mostly 10 liters in size) from all features as well as from A horizon contexts at each site. Samples were processed in PAF’s laboratory facilities using a FloTech flotation machine. The heavy fraction generated by flotation was sorted into broad material classes (e.g., carbon, fauna, lithics, ceramics, FCR). Carbonized remains were then submitted for analysis.

Comparison of the Late Archaic/Early Woodland and Late Woodland botanical data suggest both stability and change in the prehistoric use of the upland Herrick Hollow area. A comparison of the carbonized wood charcoal suggests there may have been rather dramatic shifts in the composition of the forest community. During the Late Archaic/Early Woodland the forest community appears to have been nearly exclusively upland beech-maple-birch-pine. There is evidence for the presence of openings in the forest which may have attracted deer. By the Late Woodland period, oak-hickory-chestnut forests had crept up Herrick Hollow, although the surrounding higher elevations still supported the dominant beech-maple-birch-pine forest.
Regardless of time period, nut and seed use appears to have been relatively low at all of the Herrick Hollow sites). It appears that groups opportunistically collected nut mast when available, but nuts never appear to have been a targeted resource at these upland sites. While there is a lack of data indicating what sorts of food resources, if any, were brought to the site during the Late Archaic/Early Woodland, groups visiting the site during the Late Woodland carried small amounts of dried fruit and shelled corn to the site. The recovery of nutshell fragments from both the Late Archaic/Early Woodland and Late Woodland periods suggests the sites were visited in the fall, although use of the sites during other seasons cannot be ruled out.

No faunal remains were recovered at Herrick Hollow; however, this most likely reflects preservation biases, rather than actual subsistence behavior. It may be the case that Herrick Hollow was used as a favored hunting ground during both the Late Archaic/Early Woodland and Late Woodland. Openings in the forest canopy in this headwater region may have served as natural deeryards in the fall and winter. If deer did concentrate in these areas, then the Herrick Hollow sites may represent short-term camps associated with deer hunting. If the Herrick Hollow complex was sufficiently far from a Late Archaic/Early Woodland base camp or from a Late Woodland hamlet/village, hunters targeting upland resources (possibly deer, but mainly small game such as turkey and fur-bearing animals) would have brought some provisions (i.e., dried fruit, maize) to be used at an ephemeral camp site.



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