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Fall Seasonal Settlement Patterns of the Takelma

Fall along the Rogue River

Salmon Roasting

Salmon Drying

Fall Chinook Salmon

Much of the food gathered throughout the fall was dried and stored for the winter months. This was accomplished by cooking bulbs in underground ovens, roasting or smoking meat over a fire, or by using drying racks for numerous plant and animal foods. Acorns, pine nuts, hazel nuts, and deer/elk meat were all collected during the fall. After drying, many of the food items were ground with a grinding stone and then stored for winter use.

White oak Rounded leaves

Processing acorns

Black oak Pointed leaves

During the fall, the Takelma women conducted controlled burns called "cool burns." These burns made acorns more visible for collecting, subdued encroaching vegetation in the oak savanna and chaparral, and kept grasslands open for foraging deer and elk populations. By burning the grasses, the Takelma women were also able to find and gather grasshoppers, as well as tarweed and other grass seeds (Gray 1987:34).

Gray, Dennis J.

1987 The Takelma and their Athapascan Neighbors: A New Ethnographic Synthesis for the Upper Rogue River Area of Southwestern Oregon. Eugene, Oregon: University of Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 37.

In addition, the cool burns supported new hazel and bear grass growth which are important basketry materials.