Palm springs on the Rio Grande: Insight into Archaic forager plant use from phytoliths recovered from a Late Holocene alluvial section in northern New Mexico

Abstract

In this study we present new evidence from phytolith studies for the presence of Sabal sp. (likely minor), an allochthonous plant, around Tesuque Creek in northern New Mexico during the early part of the Late Holocene, in the vicinity of known Late Archaic hunter-gatherer communities using the area at that time. We analyzed phytoliths from sediments taken from an alluvial section on the east side of Tesuque Creek dating to c. 3600–2400 cal. BP. The phytoliths demonstrated a change over time from a succulent dominated landscape to a shrubby one, with the later introduction of high densities of palmetto phytoliths associated with marshy deposits and adjacent burn levels. This evidence suggests a more diverse resource landscape available to local hunter-gatherer groups than previously understood, and may have implications for the early management of microenvironments, plant communities. This evidence demonstrates the value of phytolith analysis from alluvial sections for understanding human land and plant use practices over time. Our study provides a new perspective on what resources and land use areas were available for Archaic peoples inhabiting the area, and how they may have experimented with managing lesser known types of wild plant resources before the establishment of the triad of crops from Mesoamerica. This opens up new avenues for understanding the landscapes, land use practices, and environmental impacts of pre-agricultural communities in the northern Rio Grande and in other semi-arid environments worldwide.

Building resilient landscapes in a semi-arid watershed: Anthropogenic and natural burning histories in Late Holocene Tesuque Creek, northern New Mexico

“…The interpretation of human production of at least some of the burn levels is supported by multiple lines of evidence. First, the burns in Units 5–4 correspond with (a) dates for Late Archaic settlements within walking distance of the section site (as discussed above), (b) overall increase in intensity and frequency of burn events; (c) evidence in the phytolith data for the introduction of non-endemic palmetto phytoliths (Damick et al, 2021), and (d) phytolith indices for cool-season burning and burning of low-flammability wetland vegetation communities.…”

“…Palmettos are not native to this region and were likely introduced by early Archaic foragers as they provided an important alternative starchy food source and important fibrous weaving material. These resources were previously provided by succulents, which disappeared when palmettos were introduced (Figure 3a; see Damick et al, 2021). Since we published the evidence for low-level cultivation of Sabal palmetto elsewhere, we will not repeat it in detail here.…”

“…The phytolith proxies for water-loving taxa give good indications for relative water availability in the immediate area. For instance, when the spheroid echinate phytoliths (representing palmettos (Damick et al, 2021) and bulliform flabellates (typical of reed grasses) are graphed together, it is clear that their relative concentration levels increase and decrease during the same depositional sequences throughout all Units (Figure 3d). Increases in density of these phytolith types correspond with the marshy sediments indicating wetter depositional environments.…”

Northwest Native Plants: A Digital Space for Paleoethnobotanical Knowledges and Biocultural Heritage

“…Microfossils produced by plants also offer an opportunity to explore human-plant relationships in contexts where macrobotanical remains may not preserve or occur, and many new methodological developments work to make this line of inquiry increasingly approachable [80]. For example, recent microbotanical work and multiproxy methodological investigations have advanced starch and phytolith identification, our understanding of variabilities in precontact diet, past human management of plants and microenvironments, and shifting paleoenvironments in western North America [81][82][83][84]. Yet there is still a great deal to learn about starch grains produced by the region's berries, fruits, seeds, and geophytes, the phytoliths and calcium oxalate crystals associated with regional plant taxa and their organs, the effects of processing plant foods on macro and microbotanical remains, and the related complex biocultural relationships between people and plants throughout deep time.…”