Gardening, Gathering, and Agriculture Teaching Materials

Archeology is the study of the human past through the objects that people made and left behind. This lesson provides the foundation for the exploration of Native American foodways. Students learn how to define archeology and dispel popular misconceptions about it. They also gain an understanding of the importance of context and chronology in archeology.

Lesson Two defines foodways and examines the cultural, nutritional, and economic practices related to what early foragers, or hunter gatherers, produced and ate in the southeastern United States between 9,000-650 BC during the Archaic Period. It focuses on Rockhouse Cave in Petit Jean State Park. Students learn about the antiquity of the foods they eat.

The shift from foraging to gardening to agriculture changed Native American foodways and this in turn changed other aspects of culture for people living during the Mississippi Period (AD 900-1600). In this lesson, students learn about American Indian views on how their ancestors first acquired corn, beans, and squash, explore how and why certain locations were better suited for large scale agriculture, and examine maps of Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian sites to identify similarities and differences between people living during successive time periods with different foodways, living arrangements, and community organization.

 During the early period of colonization, Europeans adopted native foodways more than the other way around. When Indians accepted new foods, such as watermelons or chickens, it was because planting or tending requirements were similar to native species (like squash or turkeys). Archeologists learn about colonial era foodways from two sources: plant and animal remains preserved at archeological sites dating to that period and written records (such as ship manifests or merchant inventories) produced by Europeans. Studies that use both sources of information require a combination of archeological and historical methods.