We see desert where they saw food

 Thinking about a 15-hour week reminded me of the Pecos People, the ancient people who lived in the desert around the Pecos River.

It’s difficult country. It’s hard to imagine small bands of people surviving there with tools made of stone, wood, leather and plant fiber.

Harry Shafer, professor emeritus at Texas A&M and curator of archeology at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, said the people got 80 to 90 percent of their calories by gathering.

That’s to say the people were informed. They knew things about the place, where to find food at different times of the year.

We see desert. They saw food in prickly pear, lechuguilla, sotol and, near the river and its tributaries, onions, cattails and persimmons.

I’d love to know how human beings figured out that sotol could be food. Sotol hearts are loaded with alkaloids, which are not good for humans and taste bad. But the Pecos People saw possibilities. They fired the hearts over several days in pit ovens.

The fire goes in the bottom of the pit, stones cover the fire, food goes on the stones and the whole thing is covered with grass and earth. Over three or four days, the smoldering heat breaks down the alkaloids while preserving the sugars.

The people pulped and dried the sotol hearts, making patties that were sweet and, if kept dry, lasted for months. It was trail food.