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production of a cleansing soap. The flower stalk, when dried, could be used for a hearth for the fire
starting kit (Wessel 1986). The blossoms were blanched, parched, or dried, and seeds were also pounded
and ground into an edible paste. Generally, however, consumption of yucca entailed processing by
roasting over a fire or in an earth oven. The baking of stalks converted the pithy material to a rich
molasses-like food and the leafy basal rosette of the plant, which has a consistency similar to artichoke,
could also be roasted. This activity would generally occur in the spring to early summer as the plants were
in pre-florescence, and contained a considerable amount of stored starch for reproduction. After heating,
they apparently could be stored for over a year (Bean and Saubel 1973; King et al. 1974; Wessel 1986).

EARTH OVENS
The basic earth oven feature is a firing pit excavated for purposes of cooking food, using oxygen-
reduced heat from hot coals covered by a cap of earth and/or rocks. They have been reported throughout
southern California, with specific ethnographic reference among the Chumash, Cahuilla, Kawaiisu, and
Kitanemuk (Hudson and Blackburn 1981; King 1993; King et al. 1974; Milburn 2004).
The earth oven feature can be unlined, lined with stone, or in some cases neatly dressed with
stone. Earth ovens identified within the Tataviam region have generally been recorded as lenticular firing
pits lined with stones, ranging in size from cobbles to small boulders. The placement of these lining
stones for the firing platform appears unpatternend, excepting that larger stones are generally situated in
the bottom of the pit (Milburn 1998b).
In practice, the oven began as a pit excavated with digging sticks, generally measuring
approximately 1 m deep and about 2 m in diameter. Large firewood was compactly placed into the
resultant cavity, on the “firing surface,” and set alight and allowed to burn to create hot coals. When the
oven was thoroughly heated, the fire was raked out and partially covered with stone or dirt to about
ground surface level. A small hole or aperture would be left clear in the middle of the pit to retain oxygen,
and then the sand or earth tamped down to level, causing flames to shoot out of the hole. The yucca would
be placed on the resulting “cooking surface,” wrapped or layered in wet green vegetation. The feature was
then banked over with an earthen mound, which might initially reach a height of over 1 m, to contain the
heat. The mound would partially settle during the roasting process. The food was left to cook in the stored
heat in the oven for one to two nights. Subsequently, cooked yucca hearts were extracted for further
processing, in which they were dried, ground, and mixed with water to form cakes for storage (Balls
1962; Bean and Saubel 1973; Earle et al. 1995; Hudson and Blackburn 1981; Milburn 1998b; Wessel
1986).
Earth oven features are most likely located along ridgelines, including saddles and spurs, on
bench landforms, or on creek terraces in canyon bottoms (Earle et al. 1995; King et al. 1974). Milburn
(1998a:47) has distilled the determinant attributes for a typical earth oven landform: 1) an elevation zone
containing yucca as part of the plant community; 2) proximity to desired plant foods for ease of collection
and transportation to ovens; 3) proximity to stone resources for the construction of the features; 4)
suitable well-drained soil matrix for digging the required oven depression; 5) relatively level surface
geometry with sufficient size to contain features; 6) ready access to desirable fuelwood materials for the
firing of ovens; and 7) location on a ridgeline to facilitate travel and transportation of resources. It is
likely that most, if not all, of these characteristics may be found at landforms containing earth oven
deposits (Earle et al. 1995; King et al. 1974; Wessel 1986).
While the abundance of yucca in a particular area certainly enhances the likelihood of earth oven
sites being present, it is not the sole vegetative determinant of oven site distribution. Other dominant
vegetation variables near the oven features in the Tataviam resource area include woody species such as
juniper, islay, oaks, pinyon (Pinus monophylla), and manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.). While these species
are also food producers, there is indication that the wood availability equally served to influence oven
distribution, as the firing of the earth oven feature would require a large amount of fuel (King et al. 1974).

SCA Proceedings, Volume 22 (2009) Vance, p. 6