Groundstone recovered from Kiva 1 at Site 5MT3873 during archaeological excavation in the 1990s have been curated at a private facility. Seven of these tools were selected for pollen and starch analysis to examine their original use. Pollen analysis was included to inform about the local vegetation in addition to use of the tools, while starch analysis searched for evidence that roots or tubers were among the foods being ground. Four of the pieces of groundstone were selected for a test to compare recovery of starches prior to additional processing to recover pollen and starch with the results obtained by our standard methods.
Linda Scott Cummings (Sat,) studied this question.