Research: NW Indigenous people have long history of carefully managing camas crop

A prized plant for regional Native Americans has been carefully cultivated for more than 3,500 years, according to an Oregon State University study.

Camas is a First Foods staple for Native Americans, who traditionally baked the bulbs in earthen ovens.

Molly Carney is an assistant professor of anthropology at OSU, and lead author on the study. She looked at bulbs from around 3,500 years ago, and saw Native gatherers were harvesting them selectively.

“We found by looking at the archaeological bulbs, that people were only harvesting these sexually-mature plants,” said Carney. “And we infer that they are replanting the immature plants that are popped out with those bulbs.”