Ethnobiology Around the World

Northeast Oklahoma, USA

*Click on the images to enlarge.

	Shawna Cain, a Cherokee National Living Treasure, carries hickory nuts from the woods to her house near Stilwell, Oklahoma in a traditional burden basket she wove from local river cane.
	Pounding Kenuchee: Once the hickory nuts are ground, the ball is kept cooled or frozen, and later boiled with water and sugar before serving as a hot soup or a sweet cold drink. Kenuchee remains an important Cherokee food tradition in Northeast Oklahoma.
	Digging for bloodroot: Roger Cain of the United Keetoowah Band and Cherokee Nation shows Justin Nolan a patch of bloodroot on his ancestral lands in rural Adair County, Oklahoma. Nolan is an ethnobiologist at the University of Arkansas, where Roger is pursuing graduate studies in anthropology.
	Bloodroot: Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is readily distinguished by the heart shape of its leaves, and the bloodlike color of its roots. These roots provide the basis of a rich red-orange dye used by the Western Cherokee to make river cane baskets and booger masks. Bloodroot also is added to healing tonics used for preventative medicine.
	Making Kenuchee: Shawna and Roger Cain show Justin Nolan the steps in making kenuchee, hickory nut soup, near their home in Stilwell. Kenuchee is made by crushing hickory nuts with a mortar and pestle, and forming balls from the bits of nuts and hulls.
	Roger Cain Cutting Cane: Roger Cain, a Cherokee National Living Treasure, is shown harvesting river cane during February in Adair County, Oklahoma. In keeping with Cherokee custom, the cane will be split, dried, and dyed with black walnut, elderberry, or bloodroot. Once the cane is ready, it will be woven into any of several varieties of traditional Cherokee baskets.

All images copyright © Justin Nolan 2007.