Evidence for Domesticated Amaranth From a Sedentary Period Hohokam House Floor at Las Canopas

Fritz, Gayle J.; Adams, Karen R.; Rice, Glen E.; Czarzasty, John L.

doi:10.1179/kiv.2009.74.4.002

Cited by 13 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…punctatum (Schumach.) J.B. Hutch) growing in floodplains and adjacent first level terraces (Gasser and Kwiatkowski 1991b;Fish 2004;Fritz et al 2009). By A.D. 800 large Hohokam pithouse villages, many with public features such as ceremonial ballcourts and platform mounds, spread along rivers like the San Pedro (Clark and Lyons 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

Hohokam Lost Crop Found: A New Agave (Agavaceae) Species Only Known from Large-scale pre-Columbian Agricultural Fields in Southern Arizona

Hodgson¹,

Salywon²,

Doelle³

2018

Systematic Botany

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For over thirty years archaeologists have provided evidence that southern Arizona pre-Columbian Native Americans, the Hohokam, extensively cultivated agave. However, no archeologists reported finding living agaves growing in the rock-piled or gridded Hohokam fields, therefore researchers could only speculate about the species cultivated. Our work expands upon a recent publication noting several agaves growing in prehistoric dry-farmed fields on terraces overlooking the San Pedro River. These agaves have affinities to A. phillipsiana W. C. Hodgs. and A. palmeri Engelm. based on flower color but differ by their gray-green leaves with thick bases and conspicuous bud imprinting. They are extremely rare, reproduce asexually via rhizomatous offsets with no apparent fruit set, have relatively uniform intra-and inter-population morphology, grow only with archaeological features and are unknown from natural settings: all characteristics expected in a domesticated crop. Here we describe Agave sanpedroensis, provide a key to distinguish it from other agaves in south-central Arizona and propose that it is a clonal, relictual crop grown from ca. A.D. 800-1450 by the Hohokam, and thus represents a 'lost crop' as sought by archaeologists. The extensive size and wide distribution of Hohokam agave fields that transformed the landscape and are still visible today indicates the crop's importance in the Hohokam economy. The question of where and when this agave originated has implications for North American domestication centers. Our discovery emphasizes the importance of collaborative research between archaeologists and botanists whose distinctive data can provide a richer understanding of how the Hohokam developed and then sustained one of the American Southwest's largest prehistoric populations.

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confidence: 99%

Hohokam Lost Crop Found: A New Agave (Agavaceae) Species Only Known from Large-scale pre-Columbian Agricultural Fields in Southern Arizona

Hodgson¹,

Salywon²,

Doelle³

2018

Systematic Botany

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“…(milk vetch) and Hordeum pusillum Nutt. (little barley) (Bohrer, 1991; Fritz et al., 2009; Gasser, 1982).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human food use increases plant geographical ranges in the Sonoran Desert

Flower

Hodgson

Salywon

et al. 2021

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim Climate is usually regarded as the main determinant of plant species distributions. However, past human use of species for food might also have influenced distributions. We hypothesized that human‐mediated dispersal has resulted in food plants occupying more of their potential geographical range. We also hypothesized that key ecological traits could predispose a species to occupy more of its potential climatic geographical range and be selected by humans for food. Location The Sonoran Desert of south‐western North America. Time period Present day. Major taxa studied Food plants. Methods We used ethnobotanical data and data from large botanical ecoinformatics databases to estimate realized (dispersal‐ and climate‐constrained) and potential (climate‐constrained) ranges for food plants and their used and unused congeners. Results We found that food plants fill more of their potential geographical ranges than their unused congeners. We also found that succulence and annual growth interacted with food usage to increase range filling. Main conclusions Human food use has expanded the distribution of many plant species in the Sonoran Desert.

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“…spp.) developed a thinner seed coat, or testa, during domestication (Asch and Hart 2004;Fritz et al 2009). The source of morphological changes can be genetic mutations or natural/cultural selection pressures on a plant species.…”

Section: Criteria Of Plant Domesticationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Record of Domesticated Little Barley (Hordeum pusillumNutt.) in Colorado: Travel, Trade, or Independent Domestication

Graham

Adams

Smith

et al. 2017

KIVA

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Little Barley Grass (Hordeum pusillum Nutt.) is a well-known native food domesticated in the U.S. Southwest by prehistoric Hohokam farmers in Central and Southern Arizona. This domesticated grass has recently been recovered from a late Basketmaker III community in southwestern Colorado, far from its well-known Hohokam region. Although travel or trade could explain this new Colorado record, we review morphological, ecological, and other types of evidence to consider a case for independent domestication. This case is supported by Old World molecular evidence for independent domestications of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) in both the Near East and Tibet. Simple mutations, frequent in nature, can produce wild plant populations of possible interest to humans. Supporting evidence exists in the form of larger than usual grass pollen grains. Supplemental plausibility arguments can include prior familiarity with the domestication process, and finding modern mutations such as free-threshing grains or larger-than-normal polyploid plants. Molecular assessments of modern populations can elucidate Little Barley relationships between major regions of North America, subregions of the U.S. Southwest, and uncharred archaeological specimens. This new Little Barley example presents evidence upon which such stories are

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Evidence for Domesticated Amaranth From a Sedentary Period Hohokam House Floor at Las Canopas

Cited by 13 publications

References 5 publications

Hohokam Lost Crop Found: A New Agave (Agavaceae) Species Only Known from Large-scale pre-Columbian Agricultural Fields in Southern Arizona

Hohokam Lost Crop Found: A New Agave (Agavaceae) Species Only Known from Large-scale pre-Columbian Agricultural Fields in Southern Arizona

Human food use increases plant geographical ranges in the Sonoran Desert

A New Record of Domesticated Little Barley (Hordeum pusillumNutt.) in Colorado: Travel, Trade, or Independent Domestication

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