Spatial Variation

Even in a mature ecological system, such as the oak-hickory forest that was probably the dominant vegetation pattern in the pre-contact Piedmont, areas of contrasting vegetation inevitably occur. This is because environment is not simply a stable backdrop for human activity, but rather a dynamic phenomenon subject to historical processes that produce both spatial and temporal variability (Winterhalder 1980:136). If mature hardwood forest is taken as a matrix, areas that contrast in some way with these surroundings can be termed patches (Wiens 1976; White and Pickett 1985). Natural disturbance in the form of fire or fallen trees are likely to create patches of varying sizes. The presence of human populations produces additional agents of disturbance, sometimes intentional (e.g., firing of forested tracts to drive game or encourage browse for herbivores) and sometimes less so (e.g., patches of herbaceous or shrub vegetation in fallowed agricultural fields, at various stages of succession). Thus the surroundings of Occaneechi Town, represented archaeologically by the Fredricks site, should be viewed as a mosaic of vegetational patches in a forested matrix, including anthropogenic (human-generated) patches as well as ones differentiated on the basis of natural factors such as disturbance, slope, elevation, soil substrate, and hydrology. Patch distribution is variable in time as well as space, producing a mosaic of vegetational patches at different stages of development (Wiens 1976:82), each with its own assemblage of species.

A formal survey of existing vegetation in the immediate vicinity of the Fredricks site has not yet been undertaken. Although such a survey would be useful and may be done in the future, its usefulness would be limited because of two important factors. First, because of the shifting nature of patches, especially in the context of considerable human disturbance, the distribution of vegetational patches at the time of occupation would be impossible to reconstruct on the basis of modern distributions. Even during the site occupation (estimated at less than 20 years) the dynamics of patch distribution would have become increasingly complex as agricultural fields were abandoned and new patches created through clearance. Second, the present-day composition of early successional habitats (i.e., areas recently disturbed and characterized in forested areas by sun-loving herbaceous species that grow and reproduce rapidly) has been drastically altered through the introduction of Old World weeds, which have in many cases out-competed indigenous species usually dominant in such situations. Nineteenth-century land survey records (Delcourt 1975) and charcoal analysis (Chapman et al. 1982) have also been used in the Eastern Woodlands to reconstruct past environments. Pollen analysis, if feasible, would also be a useful tool for this task. However, none of these methods have yet been used at the Fredricks site.

Therefore, only a speculative reconstruction of environmental patches near Occaneechi Town can be offered, based on general knowledge of community types common in the Piedmont today (Moore 1973; Moore and Wood 1976; Shelford 1963). Ethnographic information is available from a different cultural and geographical area. Alcorn (1984) has carefully analyzed anthropogenic vegetation zones and their management for the Teenek of northeast Mexico. Direct extrapolation from modern to prehistoric land use would of course be inappropriate since different cultures and vegetational environments are considered, as well as different time periods. No formal analogies are being drawn between observed and past behavior-to-artifact relationships. However, information about relationships between a farming society and its land can be used to generate ideas about what kinds of patches might have been used by the Occaneechi. Although such a reconstruction is admittedly speculative, it is valuable nonetheless as a background for understanding subsistence behavior as it is revealed archaeologically.

One of Alcorn's (1984) important findings was that most vegetation zones used by the Teenek can be classed as anthropogenic, even local forest. This was probably true of the Occaneechi Town locale as well, since hardwood forest was an important source of food (hickory, acorn, and walnut) and may thus have been managed to some extent (including the most drastic form of management, burning). However, hardwood forest may be considered the naturally occurring matrix vegetation within which anthropogenic patches would have occurred. Hardwood forest was probably the most common ecological community near the village. Except for nut harvests, though, hardwood forest with its thick canopy and sparse understory probably provided little in the way of edible herbaceous plants. Extensive management of hardwood forest was probably minimal, although selective removal of certain trees can provide additional light for nut-bearing species and other food plants. Although oak and hickory trees have too long a generation time to allow for extensive human manipulation through planting and harvesting, limited management of some kind may have been practiced. A close relationship involving some sort of management even seems likely, since acorns and hickory nuts were apparently staple foods, but there is no direct evidence of this.

Within the forest, large patches in various stages of succession may have been present as a consequence of burning. Firing of forest to encourage browse for game or to encircle deer has been documented for Southeastern groups (Hudson 1976; Swanton 1946). Lawson (Lefler 1967:31, 215) noted extensive burning of forest during game drives. Nut-bearing trees might have been either damaged or temporarily removed from these areas, but the resulting herbaceous vegetation would have produced more edible seed-bearing and fruit-bearing species than closed-canopy forest. Also, trees growing in more open locations, such as forest edges, are more productive. Plant species that dominate in such disturbed areas typically are annuals that produce large numbers of propagules (Horn 1974; Odum 1976). Most of the fleshy fruits used by the Occaneechi at the Fredricks site (including bramble, grape, and elderberry) grow well in such disturbed habitats. Lawson (Lefler 1967:34) mentioned "savannahs" near Congaree full of fruit-bearing bushes.

Closer to the village, anthropogenic patches were probably even more common. Perhaps most obvious would have been agricultural fields in which the dominant crops were corn, beans, cucurbits, and possibly others. The quantities of corn apparently consumed by the site inhabitants, as well as historic references to "fields" (Lefler 1967:56), indicate that separate agricultural fields (as opposed to small mixed gardens) were probably located near the village. Along with crops, weeds would have been present in fields, some of which may have been useful and hence spared. Teenek often spare useful trees when clearing a field in which to plant maize and beans (Alcorn 1984:346). Sun-loving weeds of agricultural fields near the Fredricks site might have included some of the fleshy fruit species mentioned above, as well as less useful ones such as morning-glory (Ipomoea sp.), still a common cornfield weed today. We do not know how extensively cornfields were weeded. However, William Hilton's "A Relation of a Discovery," speaking of the Carolina coast near the mouth of the Cape Fear River in 1664, mentions the high productivity of cornfields, "although the Land be overgrown with weeds through their lazinesse" (Salley 1911:44). It may be that European ethnocentrism mistook sparing of useful weeds for sloppy husbandry.

Abandoned agricultural fields may constitute a distinct type of anthropogenic patch. Among the Teenek, these are used in various ways before being replanted; sometimes they are replanted as mixed gardens, and sometimes simply maintained as habitats for useful wild or weedy species, especially medicinals (Alcorn 1984:367-370). Old fields were potential sources of fleshy fruits and medicinal plants. At Occaneechi Town, old field habitats may have been similar to those of other patches deforested through burning, though perhaps somewhat closer to the village.

Still closer to or within the village, patches of ground maintained in a more or less disturbed state were undoubtedly common. Among the Teenek, dooryard "gardens" constitute an anthropogenic zone near houses. Some of the plants managed in this zone are conscientiously tended and propagated; others are simply spared. Many are medicinals (Alcorn 1984:331). The existence of dooryard "gardens," or clusters of useful plants, is purely speculative for the Fredricks site. Lawson did not mention such "gardens" in Piedmont villages, but it is possible that an Englishman would not have recognized a confusion of apparent weeds as a garden (in contrast to cornfields, which were apparently similar enough to European agricultural fields to be noted as such).

Another anthropogenic patch is equally speculative for Occaneechi Town, and would be analogous to the cafetal, or coffee orchard of the Teenek (Alcorn 1984:372). The cafetal is essentially a managed forest, planted sometimes with coffee or a variety of fruit-bearing trees. The possible existence of such zones near Occaneechi Town is of particular interest because of the importance of fruit-bearing trees like persimmon, hawthorn, and peach. Certainly some amount of management of fruit trees is likely, particularly in the case of peach, which was a domesticate when it was introduced to North America. Lawson's account does not mention stands or orchards of fruit trees; however, he did state that peaches "are the only tame Fruit, or what is Foreign, that these People enjoy" (Lefler 1967:173). Piedmont Indians apparently had a long-standing relationship with native fruit trees before contact and with the peach thereafter. Certainly the existence of maintained stands of fruit trees analogous to the Teenek cafetal is a possibility.

In sum, a speculative reconstruction of main anthropogenic vegetational zones and patches near Occaneechi Town, with economic plants possibly found in each, can be summarized as follows:

1. Hardwood forest. Oak, hickory, and walnut. Also blueberry, hawthorn (on poorly drained soils), and grape (in low woods and on stream banks);

2. Large non-forested patches. Possibly Lawson's "savannahs." Patches in various stages of succession after burning. Sumac, bramble, possibly maypops, poke, and hawthorn;

3. Active agricultural fields. Corn, common bean, cucurbits, and weedy annuals (ground-cherry, poke, maypops);

4. Old fields. Groundcherry, poke, maypops, hawthorn (?), and bramble (?);

5. Dooryard "gardens" (?). Medicinals and herbs (?); and

6. Fruit tree stands (?). Persimmon, peach, and hawthorn (?).