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| Sotol (Dasylirion sp.) has a large bulb (head), most of it fiber. Only the innermost leaves are edible and then only after prolonged baking for up to 48 hours. Yet, prehistoric peoples apparently ate quite a bit of sotol at times, probably because it was one of the few foods reliably available in crisis times—winter/early spring and during droughts. Although no sotol was identified at Pavo Real, it may have been among the plants cooked in the larger hearths within the midden. There are many other species of potentially edible roots and bulbs (geophytes). |