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28Agricultural origins and dispersals are subjects of fundamental importance to archaeology as 29 well as many other scholarly disciplines. These investigations are world-wide in scope and 30 require significant amounts of paleobotanical data attesting to the exploitation of wild 31 progenitors of crop plants and subsequent domestication and spread. Accordingly, for the past 32 few decades the development of methods for identifying the remains of wild and domesticated 33 plant species has been a focus of paleo-ethnobotany. Phytolith analysis has increasingly taken its 34 place as an important independent contributor of data in all areas of the globe, and the volume of 35 literature on the subject is now both very substantial and disseminated in a range of international 36 journals. In this paper, experts who have carried out the hands-on work review the utility and 37 importance of phytolith analysis in documenting the domestication and dispersals of crop plants 38 around the world. It will serve as an important resource both to paleo-ethnobotanists and other 39 scholars interested in the development and spread of agriculture. 40

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The discovery of the fully developed Formative sites of Cotocallao (ca. 3750-2350 cal. B.P.) in the Quito Basin and La Chimba (ca. 2650-1700 cal. B.P.) in the northern highlands of Ecuador has raised questions about their cultural antecedents, which have not been resolved despite decades of archaeological work in the region. Paleoenvironmental coring investigations were conducted at Lake San Pablo in northern highland Ecuador to determine the date for the onset of prehistoric maize farming in the temperate highland valleys of this region. The investigations included analysis of lake sediments for pollen, phytoliths, diatoms, and tephra. Maize pollen was identified as early as 4900 cal. B.P., while maize phytoliths dated even earlier, to 6200 or 6600 cal. B.P. These results demonstrate a long history of maize farming in valleys around Lake San Pablo, but in the context of a punctuated record of major and minor volcanic eruptions. It is concluded that early horticultural sites predating Cotocallao and La Chimba must exist, but to find such sites, archaeologists will have to locate and study deeply buried A-horizon soils.

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We investigated foodways at Real Alto, an early Formative (4400–1800 BC) Valdivia site in coastal Ecuador, using starch and phytoliths recovered from 50 stone tools from three residential and two ceremonial structures, as well as 46 human dental calculus samples, to explore how food reflects the social relationships and economy of the community. Maize was important in daily meals and ceremonial foods by the Middle Valdivia (2800–2400 BC), but it was only one component of an agricultural system that included yuca, arrowroot, llerén, canna, yam, jackbean, squash, gourd, chili, and cotton. Ceremonial and everyday foods at Real Alto did not differ: actions surrounding food were both domestic and ceremonial, depending on context. Households had equal access to annual crops and to root-tubers with longer growing seasons. Gelatinized starch was commonly recovered on tools, indicating the processing of cooked foods. Dental calculus residues confirmed common consumption of cooked foods, fruits, and root-tubers. Cultivating crops with different water and growing season requirements necessitated diverse practices, potentially including selection of short-season varieties, hand watering, and growing crops over multiple rainy seasons. The latter two practices required increased labor inputs: access to labor was likely a key element supporting the nascent social hierarchy that emerged by the Middle Valdivia.