Coastal environments of the early mid-Holocene provided challenges and opportunities for agricult... more Coastal environments of the early mid-Holocene provided challenges and opportunities for agriculturalists living in the Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador (Santa Elena Province, formerly southwestern Guayas Province). Cores extracted from swamps in three river outflows, namely, the Río Verde/Río Zapotal drainage (Chanduy estuary), the Río Grande (Punta Carnero locality), and the Río Valdivia, provided pollen, phytolith, sedimentary, and elemental sequences relevant to documenting vegetation and agriculture. The Chanduy record documented maize and other cultigens from 3200 to 500 cal. BC, providing evidence for intensive cultivation of alluvial lands. The Punta Carnero core provided the first evidence for occupation of the peninsula during the ‘hiatus’ between the Vegas and Valdivia periods, as maize was present in a stratum dating to 4857 cal. BC. Records documented mid-Holocene sea-level stabilization, development of low-energy depositional environments, and variation in rainfall attri...
We present macrobotanical, starch, and phytolith data from artifacts and sediments from Middle Fo... more We present macrobotanical, starch, and phytolith data from artifacts and sediments from Middle Formative La Blanca (1000–600 cal BC) and Late Formative El Ujuxte (600 cal BC–cal AD 115 ) in the Soconusco region in Guatemala. Potential economic plants identified included palm (cf. Arecaceae), two varieties of maize (Zea mays), guava (Psidium guajava), bean (Phaseolus), chili peppers (Capsicum), squash (Cucurbitaceae), custard apple (Annonaceae), coco plum (Chrysobalanaceae), lerén (Calathea), arrowroot (Maranta), and bird-of-paradise (Heliconia). The results suggest that control of food production and consumption was critical for the transition from complex chiefdoms during the Middle Formative to the archaic state in the Late Formative. The arrival of a more productive South American variety of maize at El Ujuxte (about 2549 BP) allowed elites to exploit an already existing broad-based economic system and to use the maize-based religious system to increase control over maize agricul...
This study analyzed starch grain residues from 65 ceramic artifacts recovered from excavations of... more This study analyzed starch grain residues from 65 ceramic artifacts recovered from excavations of inhabited forest islands situated near raised fields in the Llanos de Mojos region of the southwestern Amazon Basin. The assemblage of starch grains from the forest island contexts represents a diverse array of plant resources including maize and manioc, but also other plants such as achira, arrowroot, and the first archaeological evidence for arracacha in the southwest Amazon. The artifacts sampled and plants identified in this study represent resource use by people living on forest islands who constructed and maintained adjacent raised fields for cultivation. The study highlights the importance of research into the diversity of local and regional foodways in the Llanos de Mojos.
Artifacts, including ceramics, ground stone, and soil samples, as well as dental calculus, recove... more Artifacts, including ceramics, ground stone, and soil samples, as well as dental calculus, recovered from sites in the eastern North American central Plains were submitted to multiple laboratories for analysis of microbotanical remains. Direct accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) dates of 361–197 cal BC provide evidence for the earliest use of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) in this region. Squash (Cucurbita sp.), wild rice (cf. Zizania spp.), and palm (Arecaceae sp.) microremains were also found. This research adds to the growing evidence of the importance of microbotanical analysis in documenting plant use and in the identification of early maize. The combined data on early maize from the eastern Plains adds to our understanding of the timing and dispersal of this crop out of the American Southwest. Alternative explanations for the adoption and early use of maize by eastern central Plains communities include its value as a secondary resource, as an addition to an existing farming strategy, or as a component of Middle Woodland rituals.
Coastal environments of the early mid-Holocene provided challenges and opportunities for agricult... more Coastal environments of the early mid-Holocene provided challenges and opportunities for agriculturalists living in the Santa Elena Peninsula, Ecuador (Santa Elena Province, formerly southwestern Guayas Province). Cores extracted from swamps in three river outflows, namely, the Río Verde/Río Zapotal drainage (Chanduy estuary), the Río Grande (Punta Carnero locality), and the Río Valdivia, provided pollen, phytolith, sedimentary, and elemental sequences relevant to documenting vegetation and agriculture. The Chanduy record documented maize and other cultigens from 3200 to 500 cal. BC, providing evidence for intensive cultivation of alluvial lands. The Punta Carnero core provided the first evidence for occupation of the peninsula during the ‘hiatus’ between the Vegas and Valdivia periods, as maize was present in a stratum dating to 4857 cal. BC. Records documented mid-Holocene sea-level stabilization, development of low-energy depositional environments, and variation in rainfall attri...
We present macrobotanical, starch, and phytolith data from artifacts and sediments from Middle Fo... more We present macrobotanical, starch, and phytolith data from artifacts and sediments from Middle Formative La Blanca (1000–600 cal BC) and Late Formative El Ujuxte (600 cal BC–cal AD 115 ) in the Soconusco region in Guatemala. Potential economic plants identified included palm (cf. Arecaceae), two varieties of maize (Zea mays), guava (Psidium guajava), bean (Phaseolus), chili peppers (Capsicum), squash (Cucurbitaceae), custard apple (Annonaceae), coco plum (Chrysobalanaceae), lerén (Calathea), arrowroot (Maranta), and bird-of-paradise (Heliconia). The results suggest that control of food production and consumption was critical for the transition from complex chiefdoms during the Middle Formative to the archaic state in the Late Formative. The arrival of a more productive South American variety of maize at El Ujuxte (about 2549 BP) allowed elites to exploit an already existing broad-based economic system and to use the maize-based religious system to increase control over maize agricul...
This study analyzed starch grain residues from 65 ceramic artifacts recovered from excavations of... more This study analyzed starch grain residues from 65 ceramic artifacts recovered from excavations of inhabited forest islands situated near raised fields in the Llanos de Mojos region of the southwestern Amazon Basin. The assemblage of starch grains from the forest island contexts represents a diverse array of plant resources including maize and manioc, but also other plants such as achira, arrowroot, and the first archaeological evidence for arracacha in the southwest Amazon. The artifacts sampled and plants identified in this study represent resource use by people living on forest islands who constructed and maintained adjacent raised fields for cultivation. The study highlights the importance of research into the diversity of local and regional foodways in the Llanos de Mojos.
Artifacts, including ceramics, ground stone, and soil samples, as well as dental calculus, recove... more Artifacts, including ceramics, ground stone, and soil samples, as well as dental calculus, recovered from sites in the eastern North American central Plains were submitted to multiple laboratories for analysis of microbotanical remains. Direct accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) dates of 361–197 cal BC provide evidence for the earliest use of maize (Zea mays ssp. mays) in this region. Squash (Cucurbita sp.), wild rice (cf. Zizania spp.), and palm (Arecaceae sp.) microremains were also found. This research adds to the growing evidence of the importance of microbotanical analysis in documenting plant use and in the identification of early maize. The combined data on early maize from the eastern Plains adds to our understanding of the timing and dispersal of this crop out of the American Southwest. Alternative explanations for the adoption and early use of maize by eastern central Plains communities include its value as a secondary resource, as an addition to an existing farming strategy, or as a component of Middle Woodland rituals.
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