The cultural and chronological context of early Holocene maize and squash domestication in the Central Balsas River Valley, Mexico
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23365495 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anthony J Ranere (0000-0003-3294-2185, Temple University), Dolores R Piperno (0000-0002-0584-3133, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama), Irene Holst (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado Postal 0843-03092, Balboa, Republic of Panama), Ruth Dickau (Temple University), J Iriarte (0000-0002-8155-5360, University of Exeter) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 106 |
| Issue | 13 |
| Pages | 5014-5018 |
| Publication date | 2009-03-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0027-8424 • E-ISSN: 1091-6490 |
| Publisher | National Academy of Sciences (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1073/pnas.0812590106 |
| PMID | 19307573 |
| PMCID | PMC2664064 |
| OpenAlex | W2003542199 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 72 |
| References cited | 23 |
Molecular evidence indicates that the wild ancestor of maize is presently native to the seasonally dry tropical forest of the Central Balsas watershed in southwestern Mexico. We report here on archaeological investigations in a region of the Central Balsas located near the Iguala Valley in Guerrero state that show for the first time a long sequence of human occupation and plant exploitation reaching back to the early Holocene. One of the sites excavated, the Xihuatoxtla Shelter, contains well-stratified deposits and a stone tool assemblage of bifacially flaked points, simple flake tools, and numerous handstones and milling stone bases radiocarbon dated to at least 8700 calendrical years B.P. As reported in a companion paper (Piperno DR, et al., in this issue of PNAS), starch grain and phytolith residues from the ground and chipped stone tools, plus phytoliths from directly associated sediments, provide evidence for maize ( Zea mays L.) and domesticated squash ( Cucurbita spp.) in contexts contemporaneous with and stratigraphically below the 8700 calendrical years B.P. date. The radiocarbon determinations, stratigraphic integrity of Xihuatoxtla's deposits, and characteristics of the stone tool assemblages associated with the maize and squash remains all indicate that these plants were early Holocene domesticates. Early agriculture in this region of Mexico appears to have involved small groups of cultivators who were shifting their settlements seasonally and engaging in a variety of subsistence pursuits.
Archaeology · Biology · Context (archaeology) · Domestication · Geography · Holocene · Phytolith · Pleistocene · Pollen · Radiocarbon dating · Banana Cultivation and Research · Ecology · Geology · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies · Seed and Plant Biochemistry
Carl O. Sauer
Condiciones de salud de una población antigua del occidente de Mesoamérica
Intensive Agriculture and Early Complex Societies of the Basin of Mexico
Agriculture in Aboriginal Australia
Genetic Affiliation of Pre-Hispanic and Contemporary Mayas through Maternal Linage
Maize
Mesoamerica’s Archaic Period
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica’s Archaic Period
Current Views on Power, Economics, and Subsistence in Ancient Western Mexico
The Origins of Food Production in Mesoamerica
Modes of Production and Archaeology
Archaic-Period Foragers and Farmers in Mesoamerica
River Systems and the Anthropocene
Historical evolution and current variants of the Yucatecan milpa system
The ancient Maya and limestone
Pleistocene-Holocene human palaeoecology in southern Mexico
Paleoethnobotanical evidence of Early Formative period diet in coastal Oaxaca, Mexico
Beyond the Ecofact
A Mosaic of Adaptation
New World Paleoethnobotany in the New Millennium (2000–2013)
Pre-Columbian agriculture, fire, and Spanish contact
Functional studies of flaked and ground stone artefacts reveal starchy tree nut and root exploitation in mid-Holocene highland New Guinea
An improved methodology for the recovery of Zea mays and other large crop pollen, with implications for environmental archaeology in the Neotropics
Lagoa do Quari (São Raimundo Nonato, Piauí)
Experimenting with domestication
Phytoliths as a tool for investigations of agricultural origins and dispersals around the world
Year old domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) from the Tilemsi Valley, Mali
Archaic period settlement and subsistence in the Maya lowlands
First archaeological identification of nixtamalized maize, from two pit latrines at the ancient Maya site of San Bartolo, Guatemala
Mosaic pattern of sustained rice domestication and its environmental and cultural implications in Neolithic East China
Cooking up recipes for ancient starch
Grass inflorescence phytoliths of useful species and wild cereals from sub-Saharan Africa
Pre-pottery farmers on the Pacific coast of southern Mexico
Innovations, food storage and the origins of agriculture
Methodological Challenges to Tracking Zea mays (Maize) Historical Pathways Through Macrobotanical, Microbotanical, and Stable Isotope Evidence
Isotopic study of maize exploitation during the Formative Period at Pacopampa, Peru
Unpacking the Neolithic
Integrated palaeoecology and archaeology - a powerful approach for understanding pre-Columbian Amazonia
Afro-Indigenous harvests
The origins of food production in north China
First human impacts and responses of aquatic systems
Reevaluating What We Know About the Histories of Maize in Northeastern North America
Late glacial and Early Holocene migrations, and Middle Holocene settlement on the lower isthmian land-bridge
What do we know about domestication in eastern Asia
Teosinte before domestication
Gathering and Sowing Across the Central Maya Lowlands
AMS Dates of New Maize Specimens Found in Rock Shelters of the Tehuacan Valley
The Food System during the Formative Period in West Mesoamerica1
The Archaic Diet in Mesoamerica
Distillation in Western Mesoamerica before European Contact
Narrowing the Gap
Innovative use of alkalis in the ancient Americas
Terminal Pleistocene Through Middle Holocene Occupations in Southeastern Mesoamerica
Ethnoecology in Pre-Hispanic Central America
Technical Requirements and Technical Choices in Pottery Production
How Maize Farmers in the US Southwest Grew and Prospered Under El Niño but Suffered Under La Niña
Millet microremains-an alternative approach to understand cultivation and use of critical crops in Prehistory
The El Gigante Rockshelter
Otomanguean historical linguistics
South American Maize and Political Economy of the Middle and Late Formative Soconusco Region of Guatemala
Alluvial Stratigraphy and the Search for Preceramic Open-air Sites in Highland Mesoamerica
Design and Function of Lowe and Sawmill Points from the Preceramic Period of Belize
Early Prehistoric Maize in Northern Highland Ecuador
Early Maize in the Maya Area
Informal Planting of Squashes and Gourds by Rural Farmers in Southwestern Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Implications for the Local Adoption of Food Production in Prehistory
The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics
The Origins of Agriculture
Los orígenes prehispánicos de una tradición alimentaria en la cuenca de méxico
Is it agriculture yet? Intensified maize-use at 1000 cal BC in the Soconusco and Mesoamerica
Hierarchical method using ethnographic data sets to guide archaeological research
El chile y los olmecas de San Lorenzo
Corn
Starch grains reveal early root crop horticulture in the Panamanian tropical forest
Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica
Directly dated starch residues document early formative maize ( Zea mays L.) in tropical Ecuador
The Initial Domestication of Cucurbita pepo in the Americas 10,000 Years Ago
A single domestication for maize shown by multilocus microsatellite genotyping
The earliest archaeological maize ( Zea mays L.) from highland Mexico
A 6,000 year history of Amazonian maize cultivation
Mobility strategies in Colombia's middle mountain range between the early and middle Holocene
Maize in ancient Ecuador
Homeotic Sexual Translocations and the Origin of Maize (Zea Mays, Poaceae)
Genetic Evidence and the Origin of Maize
Reconsidering the Ocampo Caves and the Era of Incipient Cultivation in Mesoamerica
| Unique citing works | 72 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,24 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2026 (18) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 67 |