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exploitation of a single procurement area necessitated a sufficient density of yucca bolas to be roasted at a
given time, to maximize the yield in order to offset the costs incurred.
For yucca/earth oven utilization, although the quality/caloric yield of the end product should be
weighed against the presumed benefits of other strategies, the cumulative tasks needed for exploitation
suggest a rather costly endeavor. The total cost of a given resource procurement strategy, according to
Earle (1980:6-7), is the sum of all the associated costs: technological costs involve the time expended in
procuring the raw materials and in manufacturing tools; transportation cost is measured as the time
expended in reaching procurement area and in transporting procured resource back to base camp;
collection cost is measured as the time expended in procuring the resource once the group is at the
procurement area; processing cost is measured as the time expended in preparing the resource for storage
and consumption; storage cost is the time expended in constructing storage facilities.
Specific technological costs involve the production of digging sticks for the excavation of the pit,
cutting implements and scrapers for removing the hard outer skin of the bolas (basal rosettes), cooking
tools (including fire lighting kit and stokers), and perhaps post-cooking processing tools (baskets, platters,
molds, mallets, etc.). Transportation costs, assuming that the procurement site is within the catchment of
either a centralized village or at least seasonal camp, include travel to and from the procurement site.
Unless the cooking time is spent on other activities on-site, there is additional incurred transportation cost
to return to harvest the finished yucca from the oven. While it is assumed that the oven is located more or
less within the center of the procurement area, collection costs include time locating a sufficient amount
of yucca, time to burn off or otherwise remove outside bayonets from the bolas, dig the yucca out, and
transport it back to the oven location. Providing the oven is on a saddle or ridgeline, these collecting costs
would be incurred on significant slopes. Certainly the largest costs incurred in earth oven use are
processing costs. Oven excavation by digging sticks (with perhaps woven baskets for earth movement) in
well-drained stony matrix would take multiple person/hours. Rocks must also be obtained for the feature
lining and cooking platform, and firewood collected to fill the feature. There are additional costs of fire-
building, stamping, and mounding of the earth, as well as pre-processing of the bolas, including scraping
off unwanted foliage, gathering the green wrapping materials, and arranging the cooking surface with the
yucca. Subsequent to the cooking period, the oven must be dismantled and the yucca extracted. The
finished product must then be cooled and further processed for storage by molding and drying it into
cakes, and perhaps wrapping it in some form of storage packaging (Earle et al. 1995). As the ethnography
mentions, yucca was stored for up to a year, for availability during the lean winter months, and
construction of granaries or cache features increases storage costs (King et al. 1974; McIntyre 1986).
Specific tasks related to storage include additional excavation of pits, firing of materials in the bottom to
ward off vermin, and gathering of stones to create a viable seal.
Storage of foodstuffs is ideal for handling seasonal shortages, given the conditions faced within
the Tataviam seasonal round. To that end, the importance of facilities such as ovens in converting
vegetation into storable food cannot be overemphasized (Colson 1979; King et al. 1974). In fact, most
foragers can rarely provide a surplus to store food for more than a single season, and cannot count on
storage to carry them through a series of bad years. Therefore, food storage is planned from harvest to
harvest, and two bad years are regarded as a major calamity (Colson 1979). Suggestive along those lines
is a remark within the 1769 Pedro Fages account, in which he describes what he refers to as “century
plant,” presumably in reference to yucca: “It is juicy, sweet, and of a certain vinous flavor; indeed, a very
good wine can be made from it” (Priestley 1937:10). Fages quite possibly, if not an enterprising imbiber,
may have tasted some yucca that had “turned” and fermented in its storage.

CONCLUSION
The 2006 Day Fire Incident demonstrates that the potential damage to a heritage resource during
wildfire suppression tactics is often times more pronounced than that which occurs from actual burning.

SCA Proceedings, Volume 22 (2009) Vance, p. 14