Seed-bearing plants are among the most commonly identified items in Great Basin coprolites from all time periods, reflecting the importance of small seeds as a dietary staple in an environment where large-seeded cereal crops are not native.

The processing of small seeds — grinding them with stone tools to produce a paste or flour, or cooking them in liquid to make a porridge or gruel — is documented both in the macrobotanical remains of the coprolites and in the ground stone tools (manos and metates) that appear in Great Basin archaeological sites from early periods.

The presence of specific types of bulrush and other aquatic and riparian plant materials in some coprolites is consistent with the exploitation of the lake-edge environment — harvesting the starchy roots, seeds, and pollen of plants that grew in or near Lake Chewaucan.

Bulrush and related plants are nutritionally dense and productive, and their exploitation would have been a logical component of the subsistence strategy of people living near a pluvial lake.