Eastern North America as an independent center of plant domestication

Abstract

The status of eastern North America as an independent center of plant domestication has recently been called into question by a number of genetic and archaeological studies, which suggest that the region may not have witnessed the independent domestication of local crop plants, but rather may have been on the receiving end of domesticated crop plants introduced from Mexico. Here, I provide a synthesis of the currently available archaeological and genetic evidence from both eastern North America and Mexico regarding the spatial and temporal context of initial domestication of the four plant species identified as potential eastern North American domesticates: marshelder (Iva annua), chenopod (Chenopodium berlandieri), squash (Cucurbita pepo), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus). Genetic and archaeological evidence provides strong support for the independent domestication of all four of these plant species in the eastern United States and reconfirms the region as one of the world's independent centers of domestication. Between approximately 11,000 and 5,000 years ago, human societies in many different regions of the world brought a wide range of different species of plants and animals under domestication, marking the initial emergence of food production economies and the beginning of one of the major transitions in human history. This transition, often described as the ''Neolithic Revolution'' or the ''Origins of Agriculture'' has been an enduring area of inquiry in both archaeology and biology for more than a century. By 1940, Nikolai Vavilov had identified a total of seven primary centers of plant domestication, worldwide, based on areas of maximum genetic diversity in crop plants (1). Vavilov's seven centers of origin have been subjected to considerable rethinking as a constant stream of genetic and archaeological studies, fueled by new approaches and technological advances, have substantially expanded and refined our understanding of the spatial and temporal contexts of initial plant and animal domestication (2-4). In just the last 5-10 years, several new independent centers of plant domestication have been identified in tropical forest regions of South America and Southeast Asia (5-7) (Fig. 1). At the same time that these Southeast Asian and South American centers have been recognized, however, the status of another, previously identified independent center of plant domestication has been called into question. A number of recent genetic and archaeological studies have led to suggestions that eastern North America, identified as a center of plant domestication 20 years ago (8), may not have witnessed the independent domestication of local crop plants but rather may have been on the receiving end of domesticated crop plants introduced from Mexico (9-14).Here, I reconsider eastern North America's status as an independent center of plant domestication and provide a new synthesis of the currently available archaeological and genetic evidence from both eastern North America and Mexico regarding the spatial and tempora...

Niche construction and the behavioral context of plant and animal domestication

“…Each of the eight to ten environmentally and culturally diverse world regions currently identified as likely independent centers of domestication and agricultural origin exhibits a unique multiple-millennia sequence of domestication of different species. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Further evidence in support of the proposition that initial domestication occurred within broad strategies of resource management is provided by the diversity of human behavior patterns included under the general heading of ''domestication.'' For each of the hundreds of different species of plants and animals brought under domestication at widely scattered times and places around the world, human societies had to develop a unique, species-specific set of new behaviors.…”

“…Eight to ten centers of domestication are now recognized worldwide. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] These independent centers of domestication exhibit considerable variation in terms of climate, physical environment, biotic community composition, and human developmental history. As a result, they comprise a significant comparative data set of independent, parallel, regional-scale case-study situations with which not only to search for similarities, but to consider alternative explanatory frameworks for domestication.…”

General patterns of niche construction and the management of ‘wild’ plant and animal resources by small-scale pre-industrial societies

“…Spring floodwaters would have reshaped river valley topography, and shifted the locations of prime sandbank real estate on an annual basis, necessitating the relocation of anthropogenic chenopod stands each year. Unfortunately, it is not possible to establish whether the seeds scattered by the Natchez had been harvested from local wild stands of chenopod the preceding autumn, or whether they represented the seed stock of the domesticated C. berlandieri that had been grown in eastern North America for more than 3000 years [55]. Nor have any good archaeological markers of this form of niche construction yet been identified, so the time depth of broadcast sowing in river or lake edge habitats, in eastern North America or any other world areas, remains undocumented.…”

Contributions of Flowering Time Genes to Sunflower Domestication and Improvement

“…Sunflower was initially domesticated .4000 years ago from wild H. annuus populations in eastern North America (Heiser 1951;Rieseberg and Seiler 1990;Harter et al 2004;Smith 2006). Over its history as a crop, sunflower experienced several periods of intense selection and population bottlenecks (Putt 1997;Tang and Knapp 2003), including its transformation in the mid-20th century by breeders into a globally important oilseed crop.…”