Above are photos of both sides of a large fragment of a parching tray recovered from Hinds Cave. The fragment is laying flat, but when the woven tray was in use, it was concave, like the one shown in the scene. Notice that side B is slightly charred and stained by ash and charcoal – this was the concave inside of the tray. The woven tray is an example of twined basketry and is made out of yucca or bear grass (Nolina sp.) and sotol (Dasylirion), plants that still grow near the cave.

The bottom photo shows a close up view of charred little walnuts found in Hinds Cave. Parching this tiny, but tough nuts makes it easier to crack the shells, pull out the big pieces of shell and grind up the rest into nut meal. Perhaps these particular nuts were never cracked because they were burned. TAMU Anthropological archives.