Carbonized Corn

ca. Mid 17th Century

The archaeo-botanist Stephen Monckton examined the plant remains from four historic Wendat settlements as well as those from Sainte-Marie I, providing insight into the use of both local plant food resources and Wendat food production – Conrad Heidenreich had earlier documented a rare occurrence of untouched Wendat agricultural fields near Creemore, where the small hills or mounds in which the maize was planted were still intact. Monckton examined botanical samples from 47 different locations sampled by Kidd and found significant evidence of wild plant use as well as abundant maize cobs and squash and charred European pea.