Hoy me and Bass] SKELETAL REMAINS 353 



and resulting in extensive destruction and loss of teeth. The pattern is 

 fairly consistent. First to decay and fall out are the lower first 

 molars; then the upper first molars; then the lower second molars, 

 and eventually the remaining teeth are affected. Only 2 of the 38 

 dentitions examined did not have at least one carious tooth; as a 

 rule most of the posterior teeth were affected.® 



The light wear and widespread caries are characteristic of a soft 

 diet high in carbohydrates. The archeological material found at 

 the Clarksville site included corn and beans as well as wild nuts 

 and seeds, with mortars and manos for grinding grains. Never- 

 theless, the abrasion of the teeth, even in older persons, is less than 

 might be expected if gritty cornmeal formed the basis for a major 

 part of the vegetable diet. It probably did not, since historical 

 evidence suggests a rather varied cuisine. 



Since the Clarksville site is late in time, some idea of the diet and 

 food preparation there may be derived from the writings of the earli- 

 est visitors to Virginia and the Carolinas. Among these are Arthur 

 Barlowe, who discovered Virginia ^ in 1584 ; Thomas Hariot, who 

 was sent by Raleigh to Virginia in 1585 ; and John White, who came 

 to Virginia the same year with Raleigh's first colony, stayed with the 

 settlers at Roanoke Island for a year, returning to England with 

 Sir Francis Drake, and revisiting Virginia and Roanoke in 

 1587 (Lorant, 1946, pp. 121 ff.). These and other early visitors had 

 considerable opportunity to see what the Indians ate, and how it was 

 prepared, and included descriptions and sketches of these activities 

 in their reports. 



During his visit to the Carolina coast in 1584, Barlowe on one occa- 

 sion was invited to dine with the wife of Granganimeo, the king's 

 brother. The menu on that occasion consisted of — 



some wheate like furmentie, sodden Venison, and roasted, fish sodden, boyled, 

 and roasted, Melons rawe, and sodden, rootes and divers kindes and divers f ruites. 

 [Barlowe, 1958, pp. 291-292.] 



Earlier Granganimeo had presented them with deer, rabbits, fish, 

 melons, walnuts, cucumbers, squash, peas, and corn (ibid., p. 290). 



Wliite, who visited the Virginia-Carolina coast the next year, men- 

 tions much the same vegetables ; his sketches show a wooden frame for 

 broiling fish, and a pot for "seething their meate." 



By far the most extensive accounts of the food of the Virginia-Caro- 

 lina Indians are given by Hariot (Lorant, 1946, pp. 252-256), in an 



* similar patterns of wear versus decay have been reported from other areas. In de- 

 scribing a Hopewellian series from near Kansas City, Mo., Stewart (1943 b) notes heavy 

 wear, but little carles, while In a Middle Mississippi series from the same area, wear is 

 fillKht to medium, and carles Is common. Stewart attributes this diflference to a change in 

 diet, calling attention to a similar change in the teeth of the Hopewellian and Middle 

 Mississippi peoples in Ohio. 



» That is, the Virginia-Carolina coast. 



