Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pecan food potential in prehistoric North America

Potencial Alimenticia Del Nogal Pecanero En La Prehistoria De America Del Norte.

  • Published:
Economic Botany Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Pecans are native to a number of states in southern and midwestern United States and to scattered locations in Mexico, but are most common in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. They have been growing over their present range in the U. S. for at least 8000 years and, based on archaeological and ethnohistoric data, were an important source of food for people who inhabited certain areas within this range in prehistoric and early historic times. In addition to being fixed in space and highly productive, pecan groves produce a food that requires little processing to be suitable for human consumption. However, the groves have strong biennial production cycles so that yield in a given region can vary dramatically from year to year. The groves comprising the greatest concentrations of pecans in the U. S. may have influenced the formation of prehistoric territories and thus affected interregional exchange through reciprocal resource-sharing alliances.

Résumé

Elnogal pecanero o nuez pecanera es producto de un arbol originario de algunos estados del sur y del medioeste de los Estados Unidos. También se encuentra en algunas localidades mexicanas. La mayor concentración de arboledas de tipo nativo se encuentra en los estados de Texas, Oklahoma, y Louisiana. El nogal pecanero ha existido adonde hoy se encuentra por lo menos por unos 8000 anos. Basandose en datos arqueológicos y etnohistóricos, constituia un alimento humano de importancia en tiempos prehistóricos y a comienzos del período histórico. El nogal pecanero provee un recurso productivo y de ubicación constante y conocida. Además, las nueces se pueden comer sin mucho procesamiento. Los arboles tienen un ciclo de dos años, asi que la produccion de cualquier region especifica no es constante. Se propone que las regiones de mayor concentracion de nogal pecanero hayan tenido una influencia importante en la formation de los territorios prehistoricos. También se propone que estas regiones hayan sido importantes en el intercambio regional, a través de sistemas de reciprocidad in compartir los recursos naturales.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature Cited

  • Asch, N. B., R. I. Ford, and D. L. Asch. 1972. Paleoethnobotany of the Koster Site: The Archaic Horizons. Reports of Investigations No. 24, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banfleld, A. W. F. 1974. The mammals of Canada. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bettis, E. A., III, R. G. Baker, B. K. Nations, and D. W. Benn. 1990. Early Holocene Pecan,Carya illinoensis, in the Mississippi River Valley near Muscatine, Iowa. Quaternary Research 33:102–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourne, E. G., ed. 1904. Narratives of the career of Hernando de Soto, Volume I. Translated by Buckingham Smith. A. S. Barnes and Company. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brain, J. P. 1985. Introduction: Update of De Soto Studies Since the United States De Soto Expedition Commission Report. Pages xi-xxxiiin J. R. Swanton, ed., Final Report of the United States De Soto Expedition Commission (reprinted in Classics of Smithsonian Anthropology. Smithsonian Institution Press. Washington, D. C. Originally published 1939).

    Google Scholar 

  • Brison, F. R. 1974. Pecan Culture. Capital Printing. Austin, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, K. 1995. Nut hulls aren’t nutshells! (or, pericarping about terminology). Newsletter—Council of Texas Archeologists 19(l):5–8. Texas Archeological Research Lab. The University of Texas at Austin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caire, T. W., J. D. Tyler, B. P. Glass, and M. A. Mares. 1989. Mammals of Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, T. N. 1975. The Payaya indians of southern Texas. Special Publication 1, Southern Texas Archaeological Association. San Antonio, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • —,and T. J. Campbell. 1981. Historic indian groups of the Choke Canyon Reservoir and surrounding area, southern Texas. Choke Canyon Series: Vol. 1, Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio. San Antonio, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chadderdon, M. F 1983. Baker Cave, Val Verde County, Texas: the 1976 excavations. Special Report 13, Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio. San Antonio, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Covey, Cyclone, (translator). 1961. Adventures in the unknown interior of America. University of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque, New Mexico.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duke, J. A. 1989. CRC Handbook of nuts. CRC Press. Boca Raton, Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • Emerson, A. M. 1990. Archaeological implications of variability in the economic anatomy ofBison bison. Ph.D. dissertation. Washington State University, Pullman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geiser, S. W. 1945. Horticulture and horticulturalists in early Texas. University Press in Dallas. Dallas, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hackett, C. W., ed. 1931. Pichardo’s Treatise on the Limits of Louisiana and Texas, Vol. I. University of Texas Press. Austin, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hall, G. D. 1995. Prehistoric cemeteries on the Texas central coastal plain: interpretations and hypotheses. Pages 633–647in A. J. Taylor and C. L. Highley, Archeological investigations at the Loma Sandia site (41 LK 28): a prehistoric cemetery and campsite in Live Oak County, Texas. Studies in Archeology 20. Texas Archeological Research Laboratory. The University of Texas at Austin.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1998. Prehistoric human food resource patches on the Texas coastal plain. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 69:1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hatcher, M. A. (translator). 1928. Descriptions of the Tejas or Asinai Indians, 1691-1722. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly Volume XXXI. July, 1927 to April, 1928. The Texas State Historical Association. Austin.

  • Hester, T. R. 1978. Early human occupations in south central and southwestern Texas: preliminary papers on the Baker Cave and St. Mary’s Hall sites. Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio. San Antonio, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodge, F. W. ed. 1912. Handbook of American indians north of Mexico, Part 2. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. Washington D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, H. E. 1989. Poverty point adaptive systems in the Lower Mississippi Valley: subsistence remains from the J. W. Copes site. North American Archaeologist 10(3): 173–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, J. C. 1955. Juan Sabeata and diffusion in aboriginal Texas. American Anthropologist 57(5): 981–995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, E. L., Jr. 1971. Atlas of United States trees, Volume 1, conifers and important hardwoods. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Miscellaneous Publications 1146.

  • Menefee, S. C., and O. C. Cassmore. 1940. The pecan shellers of San Antonio—The problem of underpaid and unemployed Mexican labor. Federal Works Agency, Works Projects Administration, Division of Research. United States Government Printing Office. Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar. 1971. Naufragios y Comentarios. Qinta edicion. Espasa-Calpe, S.A. Madrid.

    Google Scholar 

  • Read, W. A. 1963. Louisiana-French. Louisiana State University Press.

  • Santerre, C. R. 1994. Pecan processing, Pages 49-67,in C. R. Santerre, ed., Pecan technology. Chapman and Hall.

  • Smith, J. R. 1953. Tree crops. The Devin-Adair Company, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Speth, J. D., and K. A. Speilmann. 1983. Energy source, protein metabolism, and hunter-gatherer subsistence strategies. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 2(1): 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stuckey, H. P., and E. J. Kyle. 1925. Pecan-growing. The Macmillan Company. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Styles, B. W., S. R. Ahler, and M. L. Fowler. 1983. Modoc Rock shelter revisited. Pages 261–297in J. L. Phillips and J. S. Brown, eds., Archaic hunters and gatherers in the American Midwest. Academic Press. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Talalay, L., D. R. Keller, and P. J. Munson. 1984. Hickory nuts, walnuts, butternuts, and hazelnuts observations and experiments relevant to their aboriginal exploitation in eastern North America. Pages 338–359in P. J. Munson, ed., Experiments and observations on aboriginal wild plant food utilization in eastern North America, Prehistory Research Series, Volume VI, Number 2. Indiana Historical Society. Indianapolis, Indiana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Texas Department of Agriculture 1981. 1980 Texas fruit and pecan statistics. Texas Department of Agriculture and U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 191. Austin, Texas.

  • -. 1983. 1982 Texas fruit and pecan statistics. Texas Department of Agriculture and U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 209. Austin, Texas.

  • -. 1984. 1983 Texas fruit and pecan statistics. Texas Department of Agriculture and U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 217. Austin, Texas.

  • -. 1986. 1985 Texas fruit and pecan statistics. Texas Department of Agriculture and U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 234. Austin, Texas.

  • Thompson, T. E., and L. J. Grauke. 1991. Pecans and hickories(Carya). Acta Horticulturae Number 290-XVIII:839–904.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tous, G. 1930. Ramon Expedition: Espinosa’s diary of 1716. Preliminary Studies of the Texas Catholic Historical Society 12(4).

  • True, R. H 1919. Notes on the early history of the pecan in America. Pages 435–438in Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution Showing the Operations, Expenditures, and Condition of the Institution for the Year Ending June 30, 1917. U. S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • U. S. Department of Agriculture. 1936–1992. Agri cultural statistics. U. S. Government Printing Of fice. Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • —. 1943. A graphic summary of farm crops. Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Miscellaneous Publication No. 512. Washington, D. C.

    Google Scholar 

  • U. S. Department of Commerce. 1981a. 1978 Census of Agriculture, Book 1, Volume 1 State and County Data, Part 43 Texas AC78-A-43. Bureau of the Census.

  • -. 1981b. 1978 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1 State and County Data, Part 36 Oklahoma AC78-A-36. Bureau of the Census.

  • -. 1981c. 1978 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1 State and County Data, Part 18 Louisiana AC78-A-18. Bureau of the Census.

  • Wolstenholme, B. N 1979. Pecan ecology. Pages 4–15in G. R. McEachern, ed., Texas pecan handbook. Compiled as the Proceedings of the 1982 Texas Pecan Short Course, Texas A&M University. Sponsored by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. College Station, Texas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, B. W. 1993. Production characteristics of the United States pecan industry. Journal of the Amer ican Society of Horticultural Science 118(4):538–545.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Texas Tech University, Box 41012, 79409-1012, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Grant D. Hal

Authors
  1. Grant D. Hal
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hal, G.D. Pecan food potential in prehistoric North America. Econ Bot 54, 103–112 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02866604

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02866604

Key Words

Search

Navigation