Wild fruits, forager children and secret treats in pre-Columbian South Florida

The archaeology of childhood has shown that research is possible on even the most ephemeral aspects of ancient human lives if we ask the correct questions of the material record. Children are now visible members of ancient societies and their impact on the physical environment in which they lived can be identified. This paper looks at food remains possibly recovered by children as a lens into one of the secret places and spaces of childhood. Fruit is often gathered by children in forager societies, in small peer groups that incorporate play, learning and socialisation into food provisioning. Using palaeobotanical and environmental data from the hunter-fisher-gatherer Tequesta society situated at the mouth of the Miami River along Biscayne Bay in south Florida, this paper suggests the human biological predilection for sugar facilitated a uniquely powerful relationship between plants, children and fruit trees. Fruit would have satisfied a powerful biological craving for sugar in this marine-resources focused culture. The relationship between children, fruit and wild food gathering shaped the foodscape of ancestral south Florida and the children who lived there. The lens of plant studies allows us to better appreciate the active role plants had in shaping human behaviour and landscape experiences.