Thanks, Kevin. I am thinking that a useful item would be traded before 
pretties. Maybe that is incorrect. Roundtree described the labor and 
discomfort of digging the tubers with a digging stick or by brute labor (the 
surface of the tubors caused stinging to the skin), so I would think that 
prudent women would seek first to make their labor easier. Perhaps that is 
my own perception.

As I think on it, I wonder if the women would have taken the corn to the 
settlement, or if the settlers would have come to the village to make the 
trade. If the settlers did the traveling, they may not have thought to bring 
a shovel, or maybe they did?

I just ordered two of Roundtree's books, in addition to the JSTOR article. I 
may finish the story before they arrive, but since I am publishing on the 
web, it is very easy to update the story when I get new information.

Anne
Anne Pemberton
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http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kevin Joel Berland" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 9:53 AM
Subject: Re: Native American Culture


> Not  sure the alternatives are either a shovel or pulling the tubers up by 
> hand.  There's some indication in the ethnological literature that 
> tidewater nations used a digging stick before shovels or spades were 
> available--and it's my impression that digging implements were not major 
> items in the trade goods exchange (I'm willing to be corrected, of 
> course), so digging sticks would still have been used in the period. 
> Rountree's studies are essential reading.
>
> Cheers -- Kevin
>
>
>
> On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 09:40:20 -0500 Anne Pemberton               wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I think I will have them deliver some corn to trade at Jamestown, perhaps
> three baskets of husked corn for a shovel and some pretties. The Reader 
> will
> help them negotiate the trade, since the settlers will ask for more corn 
> to
> trade for a shovel. John Smith may be involved in the trade.
>
> The shovel is to be used in harvesting the tubers from the swamp, that are
> used for flour when corn isn't available. Without a shovel, the women are
> using brute strength to pull out the tubers.
>
> With the advice from Helen Rountree's article, I will have breakfast from
> the stew pot, and, after their return from the corn trade, they will 
> butcher
> meat to add to the stew pot.
>
>
>
>
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