Seeds of fleshy fruits are quite common at all three sites, with persimmon (Diospyros virginiana L.), grape (Vitis sp.), and maypops (Passiflora incarnata L.) being the most common taxa. A greater number of fruit types is represented at Fredricks than at the other two sites, and most are from Zone 3 of Feature 9, which contained a particularly rich assemblage of plant food remains. Most of the fleshy fruit types found at the Wall site were also found at Fredricks. In general, the fruit types recovered can be classified as weedy taxa adapted to early successional habitats, forest edges, and disturbed ground. Some of these plants, such as maypops, may have been tended or simply tolerated as garden volunteers because of their food value. The peach (Prunus persica L.) was certainly introduced as a crop, but its weediness contributed to its rapid spread to aboriginal groups.
Except for peach, which is present at Fredricks but absent from the Wall site, it is difficult to discern any major differences in the use of fleshy fruits. Persimmon, grape, and maypops all remained important, although grape shows a slight decline based on number per gram of plant food remains (Table 25). Hawthorn (Crataegus sp.) seems to have been relatively important at all three sites. The abundance of fruit types in Feature 9 at the Fredricks site may be a reflection of special activities such as fruit drying rather than of a trend toward use of a greater variety of fruit types. In any case, although fleshy fruits were not staple foods, they were commonly used.
Peach does, however, deserve some attention here as a species introduced by Europeans that was readily adopted by aboriginal groups. Sheldon (1978) has correctly pointed out the significance of peach remains as indicators of European contact. However, historical accounts (Lawson, in Lefler 1967; Salley 1911) of the presence of populations of peach trees in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries attests to the spread of this species somewhat independently of intentional propagation. The domesticated peach grows well with little or no tending (Hedrick 1972) and bears fruit within several years of germination. Therefore, peach remains are more properly considered signs of indirect rather than direct contact with Europeans.
At the Mitchum site, peach pits comprise 9.5% of plant food remains and occur in 23.5% of samples analyzed. Its representation at Fredricks is similar. Peach was certainly used during both occupations, although the density and durability of peach pit probably results in its overrepresentation relative to other plant foods. The rapid diffusion of peach and its partial independence from human care may be responsible for its abundance at Mitchum despite the scanty evidence there of contact in the form of trade goods.