Plant Foods and Ground Stone

One of the best clues to how Native peoples lived in this remote, upland location is provided by the large number of plant-processing tools found within and adjacent to the houses. These include both handstones and millingstones used to grind and pulp various raw plant foods for cooking and eating. The most favored plants appear to have been several root crops, such as epos and biscuitroot, which thrive in the volcanic soils of the Modoc Plateau. In the open meadows surrounding Crooks Canyon, epos is one of the dominant plants, turning the countryside a snowy white when the flowers bloom in early summer. Archaeologists have recovered the charred remains of epos roots from the interiors of the Crooks Canyon houses.

There are many historic accounts of the importance of epos and buscuitroot. One observer noted that the epos could be "dug by the sack full. . .for winter use," and another commented that "a successful day of digging netted one basketful of roots."

With the harvest lasting a month or more, the ability to collect and store large quantities of roots for winter use or other lean times may have been the single most important factor that sustained village life in these remote uplands.

Found among the house structures at Crooks Canyon were a large number of handstones and millingstones (above) used for processing a variety of plant foods, such as epos roots (left).

Meadow near Crooks Canyon. The small white flowers scattered across the meadow are epos.


Previous
Page
11

Table of
Contents

Next
Page