Acorn Processing at the Ashe Ferry Site in the Carolina Piedmont

Whether Indians in the ancient American South were foragers or farmers, they routinely collected, processed and consumed acorns. Acorn remains are ubiquitous and sometimes abundant in southeastern plant assemblages attesting to their dietary importance. Nonetheless, we have sparse archaeological and ethnohistoric evidence for processing acorns. Ashe Ferry (38YK533) a Late Woodland period nut processing camp in the Carolina Piedmont provides an opportunity to examine the equipment, facilities and practices involved in preparing acorns for consumption and storage. The camp is situated close to prime oak habitat on a riverbank levee that provides access to ample water as well as highly permeable sandy soils appropriate for nut leaching and storage. Rock-lined hearths containing abundant acorn debris and deep storage/leaching pits provide evidence for parching and leaching the nutmeats. We combine these multiple sources of archaeological evidence with brief ethnohistoric references to acorn processing to model the activities at Ashe Ferry.