Pine nuts were a most valuable part of American Indian diet and culture. Archaeological reconstruction suggests human habitation stretching back some 12,000 years in the Great Basin, the area between the SierraNevadarange and the Rocky Mountains of the USA. The Great Basin provided small game for hunting, but seeds and plant roots were even more important. There are probably one hundred different species of grass in the Basin that provide har vestable seeds, One could walk through the grass with a tray and a beating stick knocking the seeds into the tray, and occasionally emptying the tray into a burden basket. Seeds could be stored without much treatment; eventually, they could be ground into flour. By far the most important seed to the Great Basin people was the pine nut, taken from the single-needle piny on pine (Pinus monophylla) or the double-needle piny on (P. edulis).
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