Transition to History in the Pueblo Southwest

Reed, Erik K.

doi:10.1525/aa.1954.56.4.02a00120

Cited by 8 publications

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“…BMII was the principal formative period in the history of the American Southwest; the development of farming-based economies during this period gave rise to advances in food production still used by Puebloan peoples today (Ford 1984;Lipe 1999b;Matson 1991;2006b, Reed 1954. Although the Basketmaker III period exhibited more rapid technological development, including bow-and-arrow technology, bean horticulture, and widespread use of ceramic storage and cooking containers, BMII encompasses the cultural and economic transition from foraging to farming society.…”

Section: Basketmaker II Maize Dependencementioning

confidence: 99%

Supplementing Maize Agriculture in Basketmaker II Subsistence: Dietary Analysis of Human Paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin (42SA3714)

Battillo¹

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This research explores the factors that motivated increasing reliance on maize during the Basketmaker II period in the North American Southwest. Through the analysis of 44 human paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin, Utah, I investigate resource choice and nutritional supplementation of maize before the advent of bean horticulture. In order to discern what resources provided caloric and nutritional supplementation to maize, all paleofecal specimens were analyzed for pollen and macrofossil content, and 20 were further sampled for PCR analysis targeted at several select animal and plant species. Eight paleofecal specimens from various stratigraphic layers were directly AMS dated in order to better assess the chronology of the midden from which they were excavated, and to determine their cultural phase association. The resulting data allowed for the testing of three hypotheses based in human behavioral ecology, specifically applying diet-breadth and patch-choice models. The results of this project demonstrate that the diet of these early maize farmers was relatively broad, and included a high proportion of resources with lower caloric returns than maize. Furthermore, plants associated with field and disturbance settings, such as goosefoot (Chenopodium spp.) and purslane (Portulaca spp.), which provide excellent nutritional complements to maize, made large contributions to the diet. Overall, these findings indicate that people were pushed to increase their reliance on farming due to resource depression, and that the anthropogenic niche created by farming activities encouraged greater focus on the field as a patch of multiple types of resources, and not only as a location for growing maize. The discovery of corn smut (Ustilago maydis) spores in all but one of the specimens studied suggest that this parasitic fungus may also have made a noteworthy contribution to the diet, further supporting the emphasis on the field as a patch. In combination, these data and theoretical analyses help to explain the subsistence choices made by Basketmaker II people. In particular, these results clarify what motivated people to increasingly focus on farming, and highlight the wild resources used to augment maize-based nutrition prior to the incorporation of beans, which provided essential nutrients during later periods.

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Section: Basketmaker II Maize Dependencementioning

confidence: 99%

Supplementing Maize Agriculture in Basketmaker II Subsistence: Dietary Analysis of Human Paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin (42SA3714)

Battillo¹

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The American Southwest: A Problem in Cultural Isolation

Jennings¹,

Reed²,

Griffin³

et al. 1955

Mem. Soc. Am. Archaeol.

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One of the seminar topics scheduled for the summer of 1955 by the Society for American Archaeology was “The American Southwest: A Problem in Cultural Isolation.” The assignment was to “… examine the assumption that these Southwestern cultures resulted from local acceptance and development of generalized and/or specific traits which can be isolated in distant cultural contexts at earlier times than their climactic developments can be observed in the Southwest.”

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The ancient pueblos – an introduction to the village forms of the Anasazi

Saille¹

1975

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Transition to History in the Pueblo Southwest

Cited by 8 publications

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Supplementing Maize Agriculture in Basketmaker II Subsistence: Dietary Analysis of Human Paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin (42SA3714)

Supplementing Maize Agriculture in Basketmaker II Subsistence: Dietary Analysis of Human Paleofeces from Turkey Pen Ruin (42SA3714)

The American Southwest: A Problem in Cultural Isolation

The ancient pueblos – an introduction to the village forms of the Anasazi

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