Cultigen Chenopods in the Americas: A Hemispherical Perspective

Fritz, Gayle J.; Bruno, Maria C.; Langlie, BrieAnna S.; Smith, Bruce D.; Kistler, Logan

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52849-6_3

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…While the study of seed coat thinning during domestication has been carried out by SEM based examination of a few point measurements on each seed (e.g. Fritz et al, 2017), synchrotron images can provide a more statistically robust assessment of withinspecimen variation in this trait and requires neither specimen destruction, nor the use of cracked or broken specimens. This technology, although currently somewhat limited in terms of time and access to beamtimes at National Synchrotrons, offers simple, non-destructive preparation of samples and exciting results.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking Beyond the Surface: Use of High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography on Archaeobotanical Remains

Murphy¹,

Fuller²,

Stevens³

et al. 2019

IANSA

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High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography (HRXCT) offers a powerful 3-dimensional, nondestructive and non-invasive diagnostic tool for imaging the external and internal structures of a range of specimens of interest including archaeobotanical remains. HRXCT offers new possibilities in terms of the research questions which may be asked of fragile and valuable archaeological and specifically archaeobotanical material. This technology, although currently somewhat limited in terms of time and access to beamtimes at National Synchrotrons, requires simple, non-destructive preparation of samples and produces exciting results. Based upon two rounds of successful work, we believe that this new methodology has wider implications and utility for advancing the field of imaging, and investigating aspects of plant domestication such as internal anatomical changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking Beyond the Surface: Use of High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography on Archaeobotanical Remains

Murphy¹,

Fuller²,

Stevens³

et al. 2019

IANSA

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“…In the second group of related works we find the mirror image of Svizzero’s theory: that camelid management could have led to the domestication of an indigenous Andean crop, quinoa , approximately 3,000 years ago. Such hypothesis, however, is based on recent empirical evidence ( Kuznar, 1993 ; Fritz et al, 2017 ). Parallel evidence suggesting that animal husbandry promotes plant domestication processes has also been found in the North American, Southwest ( Kuznar, 2001 ) and Mesoamerican pastoral contexts ( Bye, 1979 ).…”

Section: Domestication and The Pastoral Nichementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chronologically, first human-animal relations would have been in progress, later the plant would have joined such herding ecologies, which is in agreement with the archeological record (herding appears at 6,000–3,400 years ago, while domestic quinoa emerges about 3,000 years ago). Kuznar concludes asserting that just as plant communities’ composition in the past have been modified by llama and alpaca grazing (using palynological analysis) during millennia, correspondingly, modern herds dominated by goats began similar routes since their arrival to the Andes (see also Marsh, 2015 ; Fritz et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Old World Livestock Species In the Americasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Herding Ecologies and Ongoing Plant Domestication Processes in the Americas

Lezama-Núñez¹,

Santos-Fita

Villalobos

2018

Front. Plant Sci.

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Understanding both domestication processes and agricultural practices is an interdisciplinary endeavor. Ethnographic research is potentially helpful for reconstructing past events. Such knowledge is also crucial for documenting the links between biological and cultural diversity, as well as for future purposes such as innovation in food production and sustainability. Here, we review six ethnographic case studies in different pastoral socioecological systems of the American continent. The livestock species involved include the native South American camelids and Arctic reindeer, as well as some Old World species (mainly goats, sheep, and cattle). Starting with the Columbian exchange (15th-16th centuries) and continuing up to the present, Old World herbivores launched novel uses of the local flora which resulted in entirely new livelihoods and cultures, i.e., pastoralism with its variants. Three of these case studies approach specifically how herding ecologies (human–animal–plant relationships) stirred specific management practices (human–plant relationships) that in some instances have moved toward conscious human selection of plant phenotypes. The other examples correspond to three potential instances of similar ongoing processes that we propose on the basis of ethnobotanical and ethnozoological data that were produced separately by other authors. Based on the studies we have reviewed, along with additional information from other parts of the world, we are able to conclude that: (a) New World pastoralist societies are/have been continuously adding species to the humanity’s portfolio of useful plants; (b) animals have been aiding in this processes in different ways; and, (c) how human–animal–plant relationships unfold in the present could have been similar in the past, thus analogies may be proposed for explaining prehistoric multispecies interactions and their outcomes. With our review, we intend to bring more attention to contemporary pastoralists as plant managers, animals as agents in human-plant interactions, and domestication as a behavioral complex and multispecies process that is as important in the present or future as it was in the past. Our understanding of food production practices is not only fundamental for improving our current frameworks of governance, conservation, and restoration of useful species populations, but also of biocultural diversity altogether.

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“…From southwestern Arizona (Bayman et al 2004:132) to northeastern New Mexico (Kirkpatrick and Ford 1977) and from southeastern Nevada (McGuire et al 2014) to southeastern New Mexico (Jelinek 1966), archaeological evidence indicates that chenopodium and amaranth have been economic keystone species for centuries in the Southwest (Fritz et al 2017) and elsewhere in the New World (Carmody et al 2017). The method of their cultivation, however, is poorly understood (Ford 1981:22) because considerations of the economic effects of burning have not been coupled with the understanding that these plants are fire-responsive and that fire was an essential food-producing technology of prehistoric Southwestern societies.…”

Section: Fire-based Ruderal Production and The Economic Prehistory Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theoretical and Socioecological Consequences of Fire Foodways

Sullivan

Mink

2018

Am. Antiq.

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Archaeological investigations of the effects of anthropogenic fire on the subsistence economies of small-scale societies, particularly those of the prehispanic northern American Southwest, are embryonic in scope and disciplinary impact. When burning has been mentioned in such studies it typically has been with reference to its alleged effectiveness in clearing land or deforesting areas for maize agriculture. In this article, in contrast, we present the results of our initial efforts to estimate the yield and socioecological consequences of cultivating a common fire-responsive ruderal—amaranth—whose growth is enabled by anthropogenic burning of understory vegetation in the Southwest's pinyon-juniper ecosystems. With data from the Upper Basin (northern Arizona), we show that, in an area that is not environmentally conducive to maize production, populations could be supported with systematic, low-intensity anthropogenic fires that promoted the growth of amaranth and other ruderals, such as chenopodium, which consistently dominate archaeobotanical and pollen assemblages recovered from a variety of archaeological and sedimentary contexts in the region. Based on this evidence, as well as modern fire ecological data, we propose that fire-reliant ruderal agriculture, in contrast to maize agriculture, was a widespread, sustainable, and ecologically sound practice that enhanced food supply security independently of variation in soil fertility and precipitation.

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Cultigen Chenopods in the Americas: A Hemispherical Perspective

Cited by 22 publications

References 54 publications

Looking Beyond the Surface: Use of High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography on Archaeobotanical Remains

Looking Beyond the Surface: Use of High Resolution X-Ray Computed Tomography on Archaeobotanical Remains

Herding Ecologies and Ongoing Plant Domestication Processes in the Americas

Theoretical and Socioecological Consequences of Fire Foodways

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