26 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VEGETAL REMAINS 



As is generally true of the Missouri Valley in open carnp and village 

 sites subjected to fairly heavy precipitation, traces of vegetal mate- 

 rials were extremely scanty. Carbonized specimens only had sur- 

 vived the passage of time. Of primary interest was the finding of 

 a few charred kernels of maize and some beans, all of which crumbled 

 and were lost before they had dried sufficiently to be treated with 

 preservative. From pit 9, in a layer of charred grass 27 inches be- 

 neath the surface, were taken six short wide kernels of maize. Among 

 other carbonized materials at a depth of 30 inches were identified sev- 

 eral small beans resembling modern pintos in size and shape. There 

 can be no doubt that they were from the aboriginal occupation of the 

 site, since they were inclusive in undisturbed and unbroken archeo- 

 logical formations lying far below the levels reached by modern ma- 

 chine cultivation. They may be regarded as evidence that the sub- 

 sistence economy at the Renner site was based in part on the practice 

 of horticulture. For such pursuits the mellow bottoms along Line 

 Creek, and possibly also the wide flood plain of the nearby Missouri, 

 could have been utilized. It may be noted, however, that the familiar 

 bison scapula hoe of the eastern plains w^as not found in our excava- 

 tions, although the type is relatively abundant in other later (e. g., 

 Oneota) sites along this general portion of the Missouri Valley. 

 Shell hoes were likewise absent. Inferentially, then, agricultural 

 methods involved the use either of wooden digging sticks or hoes of 

 which no trace survives, or else of chipped stone blades such as are 

 represented by certain specimens found at the site. The latter have 

 been described in another section. 



Of the wild nuts, berries, seeds, tubers, and fleshy fruits, which, 

 locally abundant, presumably supplemented maize and beans, there 

 were disappointingly few traces. Pits 9, 22, and 23 yielded several 

 seeds of the papaw (Asimina t?'iloha), which is here close to the 

 western limit of its range. Part of an acorn {Querous sp.) came 

 from square 85E4, at a depth of 0-9 inches ; it may or may not repre- 

 sent a food item. Several hickory nuts from the pits apparently rep- 

 resent various subspecies: One "closely resembles Gary a inynstlcae- 

 joTTnis^'' another is probably "6^. huckleyi Durand var. arhansana 

 Sarg.," and a third is "one of the thick-shelled hickories." ^ 



FAUNAL REMAnsrS 



Far more plentiful than the vegetal remains were the bones of 

 animals and birds, representing a number of species probably utilized 

 in various ways by the natives. Most came from pits, some of which 



Identifications by C. V. Morton, division of plants, U. S. National Museum. 



