Abstract
Toad bones, sometimes occurring in great numbers in pit features and other contexts in Native American village and mound sites in the Appalachian Summit, have been interpreted as evidence that toads were consumed, used for their purportedly hallucinogenic toad venom, placed as ritual deposits, or naturally entrapped/intrusive. A paucity or lack of bones of the head in some contexts is suggestive of decapitation and consumption of toads. Alternatively, bones of the head may be less preservable, recoverable, or identifiable. This study examines toad remains on Appalachian Summit late precontact and contact period sites, reviews previous experimentation, and presents a new experimental study undertaken to identify agencies of accumulation. We propose that toads were regularly consumed and possibly as part of ritualized events associated with village and mound construction. The temporal and geographic restriction of this practice to the Pisgah and Qualla phases of the Appalachian Summit suggests subsistence ethnicity as alluded to in historical accounts.
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