How do Woodland Indians Eat?
They harvested their food from the forest, and from freshwater or tidal streams and marshes. Locations of Late Woodland archaeological sites document their preference for settling along these rich ecological “edges.” By about 900 A.D., they were supplementing their diets by growing corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and pumpkins. They weeded their gardens with hoes made from oyster shells or deer scapula (shoulder bones). Corn was a favorite food, and it was prepared in many different ways. Fresh corn was scraped into pots to cook with other foods, and ears of green corn were roasted in hearth ashes. Green corn was also dried on he cob to preserve it for winter eating. Dried corn was ground into cornmeal, which was mixed with water and either boiled or cooked on hot rocks by the fire. Dried corn could also be boiled with lye (ash from hearths) to make hominy. They usually ate squash fresh from the fields, but they often roasted ripe pumpkins whole on the hearth. Slices of both were also d
