Journal of Archaeological Science (1997) 24, 11291139

Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record: A Means Toward Dening HunterGatherer Mobility Strategies
Rene e M. Bonzani
University Museum, University of Pennslyvania, 33rd and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6398, U.S.A. (Received 6 August 1996, revised manuscript accepted 31 January 1996)
The diversity and ubiquity measures of archaeological macrobotanical remains can be utilized to help dene mobility strategies of huntergatherers. Dierences in the diversity and ubiquity of plant remains are predicted to occur between dierent types of sites utilized by huntergatherers. Such sites include base camps of residentially and logistically mobile groups, as well as special-purpose sites usually associated with logistically mobile groups. The focus upon the importance of strategies of mobility and plant use instead of the typological determination of plant taxa allows for the use of specimen types in such analyses when scientic identications are dicult to make. Data from the archaeological site of San Jacinto 1, located in northern Colombia, are utilized to examine this relationship.
 1997 Academic Press Limited

Keywords: PALEOETHNOBOTANY, SUBSISTENCE, MOBILITY STRATEGIES, LOWLAND SAVANNAS, COLOMBIA.

Introduction

an the diversity of plant taxa recovered from the archaeological record be used to help dene the mobility strategy of the huntergatherer group under question? The answer is yes given two preconditions. The rst precondition is that expectations regarding the use of plants be derived from risk management and optimal foraging theories. These expectations concern the diversity of plant remains given general environmental conditions and include a broadening or a reduction in the resource base utilized (broad spectrum use or intensication, respectively). The second precondition is that one of the most important aspects of huntergatherer mobility be viewed as strategies toward obtaining food and that such strategies will be intrinsically tied to the food resource base available in an area. When risk management strategies are analysed, it is seen that, in general, persons and groups are attempting to eliminate periods of stress by adopting various measures which average the resources and the risk over a longer period of time (Cashdan, 1992). The strategies chosen to eliminate risk will depend on the type of environmental risks faced by a group. For instance risk management studies have noted in general three ways to reduce risk (Cashdan, 1990: 23; Hames, 1990: 90). These include food storage, changes in the diet breadth, and food sharing or pooling. In Kaplan, Hill & Hurtados (1990: 119) study of the Ache of eastern Paraguay they note that when individual returns vary over time and the variation is not synchronized across individuals, i.e. is unpredictable in nature, sharing of

food oers the greatest reduction in risk. However, when individual returns vary over time but the variation is synchronized across members of a social group, as in the case of seasonal gluts and shortages, i.e. is predictable in nature, then food sharing does little to reduce the variance of risk and the other risk-minimizing strategies such as food storage, changes in diet breadth and, it can be added, the intensication of food-getting strategies are expected to occur. In Optimal Foraging Theory risk is not addressed per se but groups are viewed as wanting to optimize their returns (of food for instance) in comparison to the energy expended to obtain the resource (Winterhalder, 1986, 1990). In this case when the rst choice resources become scarce then larger numbers of resources of second choice, third choice and so on must be utilized to make up the dierence in intake (Krebs & Davies, 1981; Pianka, 1988). This theory thus approaches stress as a long-term aspect of the environment which gradually grows worse over time. The strategy to overcome this gradually worsening condition is to utilize more species which are smaller or less preferred. A broadening of the resource base is postulated. If, however, one focuses more on adaptations made by groups to deal with more readily perceived (or predictable) short-term stress or risk, the strategies of food use and expectations are quite dierent. Such short-term stressful conditions brought about by seasonality produce environmental aspects considered in risk management theories. In periods of seasonal stress groups would need to utilize strategies of food
 1997 Academic Press Limited

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1130 R. M. Bonzani

getting which would allow them access to food over these lean periods. There are a number of strategies which have been discussed to do just that (Hames, 1990) but one of the most important for studies on the origins of agriculture is the intensication of the use of plant (or animal) resources. Intensication in these studies can be dened as the increased use of certain plant species to obtain more food in a given amount of time and in a given amount of space. There are three important aspects interlinked in this denition. Increased use must be obtained rst by gathering more of a resource and second by processing that resource, and involves an increase in energy input or labour (Gallagher & Arzigian, 1994). As such, the resource must produce enough ospring (i.e. seeds) to allow for its increased use and/or the extent of collection must be expanded, if possible, to cover a greater area and/or a greater period of time. In other words it must be r-selected in reproduction. Second, since a seasonal stress period is being dealt with the resource must be able to last out the stress period. In this case the resource needs to be storable and/or to be processed into a non-perishable form of food. Third, within the constraints of seasonality the limited time of availability of the resource is also important. In seasonal environments fruits are available only at certain times of the year. This availability can be very short lived and last only a few weeks, thus necessitating the collection and processing of the resource within this short period of availability. Given these stipulations, the strategy of the intensication of plant use for food would utilize only those species that (1) could be stored and/or produce nonperishable processed foods, (2) are r-selected in reproduction, and (3) are available before the seasonal stress period. Thus, hypothetically, prior to the advent of agriculture in seasonally stressful environments, a risk-management strategy focused on the intensication of plant food use is expected. Such a strategy would lead, by necessity, to a decrease in the number of species utilized and, archaeologically, a decrease in diversity of ecofacts recovered is expected if the appropriate site type is found (see Minnis, 1985, who discusses other options for populations who are already agriculturalists and who encounter long-term climatic stress in arid to semi-arid environments). If huntergatherer mobility strategies are viewed as means of obtaining food (this does not preclude strategies for obtaining mates, for instance), then such strategies should be intricately tied to the availability of resources both in time and space. Binford (1980, 1983) has extensively studied these aspects and was able to dene a continuum of mobility strategies dependent on food availability. At one extreme he dened residential mobility where the whole group moved to the resource being utilized for food. In this case the food resource was enough to satisfy the group for a few days to a few weeks and then the group would move on to the next available resource.

Two aspects of food availability are necessary to practice this type of mobility. First, the food resource being utilized, where the group is located at any particular instant, must be enough to justify the groups moving to this location and staying there for a certain, though relatively short, period of time. In other words a single member of a plant species would have to produce a large volume of food or a number of the members of a species would have to be fruiting simultaneously in a relatively small area. Second, other species would have to be in fruit at times dierent from those of the rst species to allow for the group to move and have something to eat after the rst species is done fruiting and the resource has been exhausted. This second point precludes this type of mobility during seasonally stressful periods in strongly seasonal environments since all vegetative resources would be aected by the seasonality. The other extreme in Binfords (1980) designation of mobility strategies is that of logistic mobility. In this case a base camp is established from which various groups of dierent sizes and make-up are sent out to obtain a resource and bring it back to the base camp. The base camp is generally located between resource zones so groups can be sent out at various times to collect resources when they are available. This type of base camp would be more permanent than that of a residentially mobile base camp. In this case food resources are processed at the site of availability and brought back to the base camp. A site where such processing has occurred is called a special-purpose site. From this one could then see that this type of mobility strategy is more likely to be opted for in seasonal environments during stress periods where food availability would occur at dierent times in dierent resource zones and where some need to buer against such stress periods would justify the extra eort needed to collect and/or process a resource at a specialpurpose site and bring it back to the base camp. From this it is also noted that a special purpose site would be utilized to obtain and process a specic food resource. Once Binford had established these types of mobility strategies, he went on to discuss the degree of assemblage redundancy expected at sites related to either of these strategies (Binford, 1983: 357378; see also Kelly, 1995). He utilized the term redundancy of assemblages or artefacts to explain the similarity or dierences in artefacts that would be found at a site given the types of activities occurring there. Oyuela Caycedo (1993: 137152; n.d.) further expanded this to the redundancy of features by applying the concept to the spatial conguration of such features. He noted that redundancy of features is indicated if their placement in relation to one another is random, feature density is high, and feature type is similar. In this case a special-purpose site is indicated since the same feature types would be repeated in areas utilized over and over for the same purpose. Feature density would be high (dependent on number of reoccupations) and

Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record 1131

feature placement would be irrespective of earlier emplaced features. If placement of features is clustered, density low (for overall unit-area of general site contexts), and feature type heterogeneous, then a sedentary site is indicated. If feature density is low and closer to random than a clustered pattern for sedentary sites, then the features do not conform with the notion of redundancy and a site type more in line of a logistic base camp is indicated. In this case site use is probably not repeated and feature density is low; feature type is distinct to encompass varying activities at the base camp; and feature location is related to the location of other features. When logistic base camps are reoccupied and/or permanent structures reused, feature pattern and density are similar to those for permanently occupied settlements. However, ecofactual remains are expected to reveal seasonality in the logistic base camp while permanently occupied sites should reveal year-round ecofactual use. The concept of redundancy, then, can also be applied to ecofactual remains from archaeological sites of huntergatherers to see if similar expectations hold.

Diversity and Ubiquity as Means of Determining Site Type

In the case of analysing ecofactual evidence such as macrobotanical remains, two measures must be used to get at the concept of redundancy. This necessity is due to the fact that the concept of redundancy includes not only a quantitative dimension, but also a spatial one as indicated by Oyuela Caycedo (1993; n.d.), which allows for statements concerning behaviour and activity areas. For this study the measures of diversity and ubiquity were utilized (Pearsall, 1983), although density and relative presence (percentage) could also be utilized to determine the spatial conguration of remains (Jones et al., 1986; Hastorf & Popper, 1989; Lennstrom & Hastorf, 1992). Diversity itself is composed of two aspects, one of which is the quantity of the number of types of taxa at a site, technically referred to as species richness (Magurran, 1988). This aspect is important because it indicates that the actual identication of a type need not be made. In other words it is the mathematical quantity which is supplying the needed information, not, for instance, the scientic identication of the plant (though this is important, of course, for other reasons). The use of generic types is extremely useful when working in areas where systematic or ne-grained recovery of reference material are in their infancy. Further, the use of generic types may be more equivalent to how foragerscollectors did and still do look for potential foodstus. For instance Berlin (1990) notes that monotypic genera, those highly distinctive from the surrounding vegetation or without morphologically very similar species, will be named in a folk system of classication and that the name or its

meaning will be specic to that genus. When plants overlap in morphological traits, they will more likely be classied under a similar name and meaning, even if the scientic genera are dierent. If one looks at choices of food plant-use more as a general identifying of plants with similar morphological characteristics, then a better understanding of these choices is possible given these insights into folk classication systems, and the use of generic types in measures aimed at identifying plant-use strategies is justiable (see also Hather, 1994: 24 on the archaeobotanical species problem). For instance, similarities in morphological characteristics might explain why plants such as Chenopodium and Amaranthus are both found in early systems of cultivation with similar behavioural characteristics (see Smith, 1995). The comparable morphological characteristics could result in the plants being classied or thought of as similar, and explain why they might both be tried as a plant food with like processing techniques. The actual similarities in the plants characteristics become the reason for their choice as food, which might be obfuscated by the western scientic identication. The second aspect which can be incorporated into the diversity index is that of evenness, which indicates how many individuals of each type occur. A diversity index can be measured by the following equation (see Magurran, 1988: 3940): Simpsons Index: L= & n1 (n1 N (N 1) 1) ;1 L (1)

where n1 =number of individuals in a particular taxa, N =total number of individuals in sample, and 1=most diverse. This second aspect of diversity, evenness, is more problematic in macrobotanical studies since it has been readily acknowledged that the amount of remains of a plant species or type recovered may not be indicative of its importance (Asch, Ford & Asch, 1972; Dunnell, 1972; Yarnell, 1982; Johannessen, 1984; Pearsall, 1989: 194; Lopinot et al., 1991: 40). To overcome this fact, the concept of ubiquity of types is also incorporated into this study to obtain a picture of isolated occurrences of plants or of plants found throughout a site. Ubiquity is a measure of presence or absence of a given type or taxa in each sample analysed (see Hastorf & Popper, 1989; Thompson, 1994). Dierences in the ubiquity measure can be used to help to dene the type of site being studied. For instance, one means of dening activity areas using ecofactual remains would be through the use of ubiquity. In this case ubiquity of a type might be low throughout the site, but high in those restricted areas where some activity resulted in the accumulation of that type of ecofactual remain. This aspect of spatial distribution of ecofacts to determine activity areas emphasizes a point recently made

1132 R. M. Bonzani
Table 1. Redundancy, diversity, ubiquity, food type and ground stone technology as indicators of site types arising from dierent mobility strategies Residential base camp Redundancy Diversity Ubiquity Food type Ground-stone technology Low Low to medium Low to high Perishable Not necessary Logistic base camp Low High Low Perishable & non-perishable Not necessary Logistic special-purpose High Low High Non-perishable Necessary

by Lennstrom & Hastorf (1995) and Pearsall (1989), that various contexts of a site (both horizontally and vertically) need to be sampled, not just obvious features. Other measures, such as density and relative presence (percentage), can also be used to overcome the problems of quantication of ecofacts (Lennstrom & Hastorf, 1992, 1995; Jones et al., 1986). These measures are not dealt with in depth in this article but their hypothesized relationship to site type can be briey outlined. In the case of density of ecofactual remains (raw count of plant remains divided by the volume of soil in each otation sample) (see Miller, 1988), topographical maps of ecofact density can be determined and peaks analysed through nearestneighbour statistics with the results indicating redundancy and site type similar to those dened for feature distribution, as outlined above for Oyuela Caycedo (1993: 137152). Relative presence (percentage) distribution of the most important plant types is expected to follow patterns similar to those for ubiquity, as outlined below. Important plant types should be restricted to, or have high percentages in, specic areas in logistic base camps while being absent or present in lower percentages throughout the rest of the site. Residential base camps may follow this pattern, or ubiquity of the remains of the most utilized plant(s) may be high (Politis, 1996). Logistic special-purpose sites are expected to have high percentages of important plant types throughout the site. Redundancy of ecofacts in an assemblage would be indicated by their low diversity, in turn indicated either by the use of few species to the exclusion of all others or by the greater use of fewer species while lesser amounts of other species still occur. Ubiquity for the most important types would be high (>75% of units sampled) while secondary types would be expected to have lower ubiquity (i.e. <75% of units sampled). Non-redundant ecofactual evidence is indicated by high diversity of plant type use, in that many species are being utilized and in general are occurring in the same proportions. Ubiquity in this case is expected to be low for all types over a household cultural oor or in general site contexts given that activities utilizing these resources would be more restricted and dened in space (as sedentism increases, however, ubiquity of remains may also increase, see Rocek, 1995). Given

this general scenario, Table 1 indicates the expectations for redundancy of ecofactual remains in terms of diversity and ubiquity in sites arising from dierent mobility strategies of pre-agricultural groups.

Expectations
From Table 1 it can be seen that base camps of residentially mobile groups and of logistic groups are expected to be non-redundant in terms of ecofactual use. In the case of the logistic base camp the high diversity of plant types being utilized would preclude a redundant occurrence of ecofacts. The case of the residential base camp is less well dened. Plant type diversity may be low to medium, dependent on the temporal availability of the food resources, and ubiquity can range from low to high. Low ubiquity would indicate restricted use of ecofacts to specic activity areas (i.e. an eating area versus a sleeping area) and the short-term nature of the site (little overlapping of activity areas). The logistic special-purpose site, on the other hand, would be highly redundant, having both a low diversity of plant types being utilized and a high ubiquity of the most important types. The high ubiquity in this case could indicate either the same activities being performed in various areas of a site or the overlapping of activity areas due to repeated reoccupation and activities at the site. Further, the low to medium diversity of species in residential base camps can be explained by the groups locating their camp near a particular resource which would make up the bulk (though not all) of their food use at that time. Low diversity at special-purpose sites is due to members of a group moving to one or a few resources available in such a restricted space and time, and gathering and processing that particular resource at the site. The logistic base camp would have food resources from various groups that had collected/ hunted resources in various zones. In this same sense, base camps of residentially mobile groups might be expected to have diversity indexes which, although low compared to logistically more permanent base camps, would be higher than special-purpose sites as members would bring various other resources to the camp encountered during walks, hunting trips, etc. Likewise, residential base camps and special-purpose sites are

Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record 1133

Barlovento Colombia Cartagena 200 100

Rotinet

Canapote

Monsu Pto. Hormiga N Pto. Chacho

Mar Caribe

Canal del Dique El Guamo

Rio Magdalena

SJ-1 100 100 200 500 SJ-2 El Bongal Bucarelia

10

20 30 km

Figure 1. Location of San Jacinto 1 and 2 in northern Colombia (reproduced with permission from A. Oyuela Caycedo, 1993).

expected to have dierent species utilized and dierent related artefactual evidence to distinguish between the two. Residential base camps would have evidence of plant species which are not readily stored or made into non-perishable foods. Special-purpose sites, on the other hand, would have evidence of plants that can be stored and/or processed into more durable food items and of related lithic technologies. Logistic base camps would be expected to show both. Artefact redundancy would be high in specialpurpose sites and ground-stone technology (for plant processing) would occur. Processed plants could include grasses, tubers or the psuedo-cereals such as Chenopodium or Amaranthus. Ground-stone technology may or may not be necessary in residential base camps depending on the type of resource utilized (i.e. palm fruits with hard outer shells); also, it is not ubiquitously present or absent in logistic base camps. Feature redundancy in special-purpose sites would be high due to the same activities being repeated time and time again, while in base camps feature redundancy would be low due to the separation of activity areas and of dierent feature types. All of the above scenarios refer to pre-agriculture groups without permanent sedentary villages.

The Archaeological Site of San Jacinto 1

In 1986, Oyuela Caycedo (1987, 1990) investigated two archaeological sites near the town of San Jacinto, located in the savanna of Bol var, Serrania de San Jacinto, northern Colombia (Figure 1). As both sites were located near to this town, they were called San Jacinto 1 and San Jacinto 2, the older of the two sites being San Jacinto 1. This site is located in the northern foothills of the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes, c. 220 m above sea level on a small plain surrounded by low hills. The cultural strata at San Jacinto 1 were formed by human occupation and reoccupation and were exposed in prole by the cutting eect of a meandering stream, the quebrada San Jacinto. Approximately 4 m of earth lie above the cultural strata. Fibre-tempered pottery was recovered from all the cultural strata (Strata 209) and 10 radiocarbon determinations on the charcoal found in association with the pottery date to between 6000 and 5300 (Table 2, taken from Oyuela Caycedo, 1996) (Oyuela Caycedo 1987; Bonzani, 1995). Oyuela Caycedo (1993) indicates that the site was a favoured point bar location along a stream or river. The site was occupied both at numerous times within

1134 R. M. Bonzani
Table 2. Radiocarbon dates from San Jacinto 1 (uncalibrated) Stratum 10 10 10 10 10 12 12 12 12 16? Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Prole Prole Feature Prole 31 15 45 57 53 151 63 Sample No. GX-20353 GX-20352 GX-20354 Beta-77407 Beta-77405 GX-20355 Pitt-0154 Beta-20352 Beta-77406 Pitt-0155 Material Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Charcoal Dates 5300 5315 5325 5330 5510 5530 5665 5700 5730 5940 75 80 80 80 70 80 75 430 110 60

a season and from year to year. The occupations correspond to the dry season when the site was not in danger of ooding. Seven cultural strata (Strata 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20) were dened for the earliest occupations at the site (60005300 ) and these were interspersed by sterile soils indicative of alluvial ooding episodes. One other cultural layer, Stratum 5, was dened and dated to c. 21001700 . Numerous earth oven features used for cooking (Figure 2) and a ground-stone lithic technology of manos and metates indicate that the site was used as a special-purpose site to process a plant food resource for use over the dry season (see Oyuela Caycedo, 1987, 1993, 1995, 1996; Castro, 1994; Raymond, Oyuela Caycedo & Carmichael, 1994; Bonzani, 1995, 1996; Pratt, 1995).

Further, there is tentative evidence of the intensive use of seed plants, in this case grasses (Poaceae) (Figures 3 & 4), as 91% of the remains recovered from random samples belong to this taxon, with a 99% ubiquity of these remains in all units and features analysed from this time period (Tables 3 & 4) (Bonzani, 1995). In addition, grasses represented 94% of the seeds and fruits recovered from within the earth oven features (over 100) (Table 3; see Figure 2) and were found in association with a ground-stone lithic technology including 68 metates, manos, and grinding plaques. The association between these remains, ground-stone lithic technology and earth ovens indicates that intensive processing of seed resources may have been occurring at the site. No storage features were identied at the site. No signs of the cultivation of these plant remains has been found to date. Thus, conrmation of hypotheses such as Binfords (1968) and Harriss (1972) concerning the role of transitional savanna environments and the origins of agriculture as demonstrated by clear signs of cultivated and domesticated plants cannot be found at this time in the data from San Jacinto 1. The strategy most probably used in the potential intensive exploitation of these resources is one in line with the monitoring of resources and a spatialtemporal territoriality practiced when the resource became available (Oyuela Caycedo, 1993, 1995, 1996; Raymond, n.d.).

Figure 2. Numerous earth-oven features recovered from San Jacinto 1.

Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record 1135

Figure 3. Tentative identication: Poaceae, seed type 2 (see Bonzani 1995). Seeds measure 0.47 0.75 0.45 mm (l w h) (N =50). Carbonized. Provenance: E25N27, Stratum 10, Level 010.

Figure 4. Unidentied carbonized structure comprised of seed type 2. Structure is 3.6 mm in length, 1.4 mm in diameter. Provenance: E27N36, E27N37, Stratum 12, Level 928, Feature 63 (dated to 5730 110 , uncalibrated [Beta-77406]).

Materials and Methods

Material for otation was recovered from oors and all types of features encountered. In total, 67 random samples of the features and oors and 10 non-random samples of 14C- dated features were analysed for their macrobotanical content. The 77 samples analysed consisted of 27479 kg of soils which yielded 10179 g of carbonized material (the light fraction), 7191 g of which was analysed (Bonzani, 1995: appendix 2). Less than 2 g of seeds or fruit material were recovered from the 77 samples. The analysed samples include 45 random samples from the oors (18% of total units excavated), 22 random samples from the features (12% of features oated) and 10 non-random samples from 14C- dated features and from another feature (posthole) (5% of features oated). The random sample of features included 11 samples from the re-pit or earth ovens (10% of these features); seven samples from other feature types, including those from postholes, soils from lithic or snail accumulations, and walls of features (11% of these features); and four samples from Stratum 5 (100% of these features) (Bonzani, 1995:

appendix 2). Also, information on uses and seasonality of plants in the area was collected from local informants (Bonzani, 1995, n.d.a., n.d.b).

Results
To investigate the observation made by Oyuela Caycedo (1993) that the site of San Jacinto 1 represents a special-purpose site of logistically mobile groups, the macrobotanical remains from the site were analysed in terms of diversity and ubiquity. Table 5 indicates the diversity measures of plants recovered from all randomly selected units by stratum, from the cultural oors by stratum, and from the features by stratum (radiocarbon-dated features and the posthole were not included in any of these analyses). Diversity indexes were calculated for all units analysed by stratum to lessen the eects between sample size (number of identiable specimens) and the diversity index. This number of identiable specimens was greater than 25 in all strata, as recommended by Cruz-Uribe (1988) and Lennstrom & Hastorf (1992: 217220). The Poaceae were grouped together on similar taxonomic

1136 R. M. Bonzani
Table 3. Quantitative data, percentage of seed types recovered and condence intervals for grasses at 68% condence level in random samples analysed from San Jacinto 1 Sample n N (%) No. of grass seeds No. of Malvastrum seeds Total No. of seeds Grass seeds (%) Malvastrum seeds (%) Other (%)

Random samples Units and features 63 429 15 Random features Earth ovens 11 112 10 Other features 7 62 11 Random units 45 255 18

3882

92

4273

91

990 160 2732

15 17 60

1052 192 3029

94 83 90

6 12 4

1 9 2

5 8 8

Table 4. Quantitative data and percentage of seed types recovered in non-random samples analysed from San Jacinto 1 Sample n N (%) No. of grass seeds No. of Malvastrum seeds Total No. of seeds Grass seeds (%) Malvastrum seeds (%) Other (%)

Non-random samples Earth oven features 7(6) 112 5 Other features 3(2) 62 3

976 79

12 0

1004 86

97 92

1 0

2 8

Parenthesis indicates number of actual features analysed.

determination in this study. Table 6 lists the ubiquity of the most common plants recovered (Poaceae) for all randomly selected units analysed. Table 7 shows in comparison the ubiquity of Malvastrum (N =104), the third most common type identied at the site and most probably indicative of the natural background vegetation (Bonzani, 1995).
Table 5. Diversity index of macrobotanical remains from Strata 920 Diversity indexes Stratum 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 All units 0.25 (N =6) 0.23 (N =21) 0.19 (N =22) 0.14 (N =7) 0.10 (N =4) 0.13 (N =3) 0.59 (N =1) Floors 0.27 (N =3) 0.24 (N =15) 0.36 (N =16) 0.14 (N =5) 0.10 (N =4) 0.13 (N =3) 0.59 (N =1) Features 0.10 (N =3) 0.23 (N =6) 0.07 (N =6) 0.22 (N =2) NA NA NA

It became apparent that the diversity of species recovered from all units analysed was very low in Strata 12, 14, 16, and 18, and relatively low in Strata 9 and 10. Diversity was much higher in Stratum 20, though the single sample from this stratum makes interpretation dicult. It may indicate that mobility was higher and more residential mobility strategies were being practiced in this area at this time (see discussion of a similar conclusion based on snail remains in Oyuela Caycedo 1993: 160164). Experimentation with the use of grasses may have been
Table 6. Ubiquity of most common plant remains (Poaceae) from Strata 920 Stratum 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 Total Ubiquity 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% (N =6) (N =21) (N =22) (N =7) (N =4) (N =3) (N =1)

99% (N =64)

Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record 1137

Table 7. Ubiquity of Malvastrum from Strata 920 Stratum 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 Total Ubiquity 33% 71% 64% 71% 50% 33% 0% (N =6) (N =21) (N =22) (N =7) (N =4) (N =3) (N =1) Stratum 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 Table 8. Weight (g) of soil samples before otation and of recovered light fractions after otation for oor units and features Before otation Floor 15740 63260 59520 10360 11360 10000 2440 Feature 5780 12700 19840 4770 NA NA NA After otation Floor 6.1 78.1 96.5 50.3 50.0* 29.9 2.5 Feature 2.9 155.1 90.0 44.3 NA NA NA

61% (N =64)

occurring early at the site (Stratum 20). This experimentation and a more intensive use of the grasses may be indicated in Stratum 18 by the low diversity index received. The potential intensication of grass use appears to continue in Stratum 16 (the earliest stratum dated at the site to 5940 60 ) and such a conclusion is enforced in Stratum 14 by a continued low diversity index of plants in both oors and features and by the ubiquitous nature of the remains tentatively identied as grasses. This conclusion is conrmed to a certain degree by the high ubiquity of the grasses throughout the site and through time, though the small samples from Strata 16 and 18, and the fact that these strata represent the midden area, makes interpretation tentative. The ubiquity of the most common remains recovered, those of the grasses, was 99%, with these remains occurring in all but one unit analysed (99% for all randomly tested features; see Table 6). In comparison, the ubiquity of Malvastrum is lower at 61% of all units analysed (53% for all randomly tested features; see Table 7). Further, when the percentage distribution of the grasses and Malvastrum is compared (see Tables 3 & 4), the highest percentages of Malvastrum are found in non-earth oven features (i.e. snail accumulations, possible hearths, postholes) while the highest percentages of the grass remains are found in earth oven features (see Tables 3 & 4). As the number of samples analysed increases, the low diversity of plant remains is reinforced by the low indexes received for features, especially in Stratum 12 but also in Stratum 10 (see Table 5). This situation would be expected if a particular plant was being processed (or cooked) in the features, while remains of the processed plant type and other plant types either eaten, part of the background environmental vegetation, or used for other purposes would more probably occur on the cultural oors. The low diversity index for features, particularly those of the earth ovens (all the features randomly selected for analysis from Strata 12 and 14), indicates the near exclusion of other plant remains besides the grasses and points to a clear association between the cooking activities being carried out in the earth ovens and these seed remains. Activities linking the earth ovens, grasses, and ground-stone technology are indicated in Feature 63, where a block

*Data on weight of one sample not obtained.

metate was emplaced in an earth oven feature and where grass remains were found almost exclusively (diversity index of 003). The increase in diversity in the oor units of Stratum 12 indicates that other activities were occurring at the site, though seed processing for food appears to be the major focus of activity. Feasting activities related to plant-food use may also be occurring, though these would be immediate-return activities as far as the timing of consumption of the foods and beverages is concerned (social consequences could be more long term). These other activities may also be indicated in the spatial analysis of features conducted by Oyuela Caycedo (1993: 146147) where Stratum 12 shows a slight shift toward less random placement of features. This shift, however, may be due to lateral point bar movement and not a reection of site use patterns. Plant diversity returns to being relatively low in oor units analysed from Strata 9 and 10, though other plants continue to be used, possibly for immediatereturn food use as meals and/or snacks. Seed processing continues to be the major activity practiced in Stratum 10, as indicated by the macrobotanical remains, earth-oven features recovered and groundstone lithic technology. The site was abandoned during the formation of Stratum 9. To check if the diversity indexes calculated for the various strata and features were aected by sample size (as in the possible situation discussed by Rocek, 1995), a Pearson correlation was run on the data (Table 8). It is expected that higher weights of material oated should yield a higher diversity index of plant remains. The correlation coecient for the relation between the diversity index and the weight oated from the oors was high (P =0933, df =1). This result indicates that sample size was aecting the relative diversity for the oors, although two aspects must be noted. First, the results only seem to reinforce the earlier conclusion that the higher diversity index, given weight oated for Stratum 12 versus Stratum 10, indicates that other activities besides those related to the earth-oven features may have been taking place in Stratum 12 (see Table 8). Also, the interpretations from Strata 16, 18, and 20 are seen to be tentative due to small sample size.

1138 R. M. Bonzani

However, the relative indexes of diversity, and not the actual values, are being aected by sample size. In other words, if all the diversity indexes were increased by 40%, the correlation with sample size would be the same (P =0933, df =1), although the interpretation of site type or function would be quite dierent (see Kintigh, 1984 for similar discussion, though he uses only richness in calculating diversity). The correlation coecient for the features and the weight of features oated was not as high as for the oors (P =0578, df =1). This result indicates that other factors beside sample weight were aecting the relative diversity indexes for the features from the dierent strata. The main factor would be the association between the earth-oven features and the seeds tentatively identied as Poaceae; or, in other words, the grasses and earth-oven features were involved in the same behavioural activity, that of cooking. Taking into account also the ground-stone technology, a logical conclusion to draw for San Jacinto 1 is that the main activities occurring consisted of the collecting and grinding of these seeds and their cooking in the earth ovens.

Scholar that allowed me to write the chapter of my dissertation from which this information is taken. Comments by Drs Julie Hansen and Lee Newsom were addressed. Special appreciation is also extended to Drs Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo, Santiago Madrin a n, Carl Partanen, James Richardson, III, Frances King, Marc Bermann and Jeremy Sablo for assistance in various aspects of this research.

References
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Conclusions
From these data, then, the redundancy of ecofactual use as indicated by low diversity and near-100% ubiquity of the most frequent plant types recovered at San Jacinto 1 ts the expectation for special-purpose camps of logistically mobile huntergatherers. In this case, the data from the macrobotanical plant remains substantiate the argument made by Oyuela Caycedo (1993) based on stratigraphy, features, and groundstone technology. Collection of more data from other sites of this type or from other site types dened within this circuit of mobility should help to rene the given expectations. However, the main point of this paper is to stress that ecofactual remains can be utilized together with other data to help dene strategies of plant use and mobility. The development of excavation and sampling methodologies needs to focus on goals which illuminate behavioural and broader social patterns.

Acknowledgements
I would like to thank members of the town of San Jacinto and the Organizacio n de Campesinos Hacienda Catalun a for their assistance during the excavation of San Jacinto 1. Funding for this research was obtained through a Fulbright-Hays dissertation research fellowship, a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant (No. 9311912) and a Sigma Xi, The Scientic Research Society Grant-InAid of Research. Thanks also to Dr J. Scott Raymond and members of the Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, for an appointment as Visiting

Plant Diversity in the Archaeological Record 1139

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