Agave Roasting Pit, Palatki Ruins February 6, 2007

This Agave Roasting Pit is opposite where Lee was plopped( see other Palatki pix) Agave, also known as century plant, is quite an interesting item. It is what one ferments to make tequila, it looks like a yucca or aloe plant, and it blooms once every 80-100 years and then dies. The flower looks like a very chubby asparagus at first, and grows about 6-8 inches a day, blooming on 8-10 foot stalk that lasts a few days. The Indians dug them up and roasted them in these pits for several days. These pits are an archeological gold mine, because they threw their pots in the pit, and that allows them to dig up the pit and date the pottery. There were pottery shards laying on the top of the pile.