Earliest evidence of peanut, cotton, squash farming
Rated • 1 review • archaeology, native american • physorg.com
"...wild-type peanuts, squash and cotton as well as a quinoa-like grain, manioc and other tubers and fruits in the floors and hearths of buried preceramic sites, garden plots, irrigation canals, storage structures and on hoes. The researchers used a technique called accelerator mass spectrometry to determine the radiocarbon dates of the materials. Data gleaned from botanists, other archaeological findings and a review of the current plant community in the area suggest the specific strains of the discovered plant remains did not naturally grow in the immediate area.
"The plants we found in northern Peru did not typically grow in the wild in that area," Dillehay says. "We believe they must have therefore been domesticated elsewhere first and then brought to this valley by traders or mobile horticulturists.
"The use of these domesticated plants goes along with broader cultural changes we believe existed at that time in this area, such as people staying in one place, developing irrigation and other water management techniques, creating public ceremonials, building mounds and obtaining and saving exotic artifacts."
The researchers dated the squash from approximately 9,200 years ago, the peanuts from 7,600 years ago and the cotton from 5,500 years ago.
"The plants we found in northern Peru did not typically grow in the wild in that area," Dillehay says. "We believe they must have therefore been domesticated elsewhere first and then brought to this valley by traders or mobile horticulturists.
"The use of these domesticated plants goes along with broader cultural changes we believe existed at that time in this area, such as people staying in one place, developing irrigation and other water management techniques, creating public ceremonials, building mounds and obtaining and saving exotic artifacts."
The researchers dated the squash from approximately 9,200 years ago, the peanuts from 7,600 years ago and the cotton from 5,500 years ago.
