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The diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States and its impact

Bibliographic Data

ID23363619
AuthorsWilliam L Merrill (Smithsonian Institution), Robert J Hard (0000-0001-5920-2836, Department of Anthropology, One UTSA Circle, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249), Jonathan B Mabry (Historic Preservation Office, City of Tucson, P.O. Box 27210, Tucson, AZ 85726), G J Fritz (0000-0002-6433-2771, Washington University in St. Louis), Karen R Adams (Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, 23390 Road K, Cortez, CO 81321), John R Roney (Colinas Cultural Resource Consulting, 6100 North 4th Street, Private Mailbox #300, Albuquerque, NM 87107; and), A C Macwilliams (Department of Archaeology, 2500 University Drive Northwest, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4)
Year2009
Volume106
Issue50
Pages21019-21026
Publication date2009-12-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0027-8424 • E-ISSN: 1091-6490
PublisherNational Academy of Sciences (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1073/pnas.0906075106
PMID19995985
PMCIDPMC2795521
OpenAlexW1965331287
LanguageEN
Citations received72
References cited85

Our understanding of the initial period of agriculture in the southwestern United States has been transformed by recent discoveries that establish the presence of maize there by 2100 cal. B.C. (calibrated calendrical years before the Christian era) and document the processes by which it was integrated into local foraging economies. Here we review archaeological, paleoecological, linguistic, and genetic data to evaluate the hypothesis that Proto-Uto-Aztecan (PUA) farmers migrating from a homeland in Mesoamerica introduced maize agriculture to the region. We conclude that this hypothesis is untenable and that the available data indicate instead a Great Basin homeland for the PUA, the breakup of this speech community into northern and southern divisions ≈6900 cal. B.C. and the dispersal of maize agriculture from Mesoamerica to the US Southwest via group-to-group diffusion across a Southern Uto-Aztecan linguistic continuum.

Agriculture · Archaeology · Biological dispersal · Biology · Foraging · Geography · Homeland · Mesoamerica · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Demography · Ecology · Latin American history and culture · Law · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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Unique citing works72
Citations per year4,5
Citation span2010 - 2026 (17)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 68
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