Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T09:35:43.538Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kautantouwit's Legacy: Calibrated Dates on Prehistoric Maize in New England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Elizabeth A. Little
Elizabeth A. Little*
Affiliation:
R. S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Andover, MA 01810; Nantucket Historical Association, POB 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554; Correspondence to: 37 Conant Road, Lincoln MA 01773-3912
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper (1) presents four new AMS dates taken directly on prehistoric maize found in New England; (2) collects in one place and in a common format the 16 currently available dates directly on maize from the region; (3) shows, by comparing dates on charcoal or shell associated with 10 of these maize samples, that charcoal and shell are not reliable proxies for dating maize; and (4) draws several archaeological inferences from the dataset. First, a cluster of dates between about cal A.D. 1250 and 1450 that are temporally concentrated but spatially widespread suggests a relatively sudden increase in the archaeological visibility of maize in New England at this time. The increase in visibility roughly coincides with an increase in maize consumption in the midcontinent, although further studies are needed to clarify the timing of the latter. Second and even more striking is the simultaneous increase in the archaeological visibility of beans as well as maize in New England during the same period. Finally, preliminary evidence suggests that these increases may be related to the use of soils fertilized by alluvial limestone or old shell midden material.

Résumé

Résumé

Este artículo: (I) presenta cuatro nuevas fechas de EAM (espectrómetro acelerador de masa) tomadas directamente sobre maíz prehistórico encontratio en Nueva Inglaterra; (2) recopila en unformato común, las 16 fechas actualmente disponibles tomadas directamente del maíz de la región; (3) demuestra, comparando las fechas obtenidas en carbón o concha relacionadas con 10 de cstas muestras de maíz, que ni el carbón ni la concha son métodos fidedignos para fechar el maíz; y (4) delinea varias inferenclas arqueológicas del conjunto de los datos. Primero, un grupo de fechas sobre el maíz, de aproximadamente entre 1250 y 1450 cal d.C. período temporalmente concentrado pero geográficamente extenso, sugiere un aumento relativamente súbito de la presencia arqueológica de maíz en Nueva Inglaterra. El aumento en la presencia coincide aproximadamente con un aumento en el consumo de maíz en la zona central del continente, aunque se requieren más estudios para clarificar ese periodo. En segundo lugar, v aim mas destacado, es el aumento simultáneo en la presencia arqueológica defrijol y maíz en Nueva Inglaterra durante el mismo peróodo. Finalmente, las evidencias preliminares sugieren que estos aumentos pueden estar relacionadas al uso de tierras abonadas por caliza aluvial o par materiales de antiguos concheros.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 2002 , pp. 109 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Asch Sidell, N. 1999 Prehistoric Plant Use in Maine: Paleoindian to Contact Period. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, edited by Hart, J. P., pp. 191–223. Bulletin No. 494, New York State Museum, Albany.Google Scholar
Bartlein, P. J., Edwards, M. E., Shafer, S. L., and Barker, E. O., Jr. 1995 Calibration of Radiocarbon Ages and the Interpretation of Paleoenvironmental Records. Quaternary Research 44:417–124.Google Scholar
Bendremer, J. C. M., and Dewar, R. E. 1994 The Advent of Prehistoric Maize in New England. In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by Johannessen, S. and Hastorf, C. A., pp. 369–393. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology No. 5. Westview, Boulder.Google Scholar
Browman, D. L. 1981 Isotopic Discrimination and Correction Factors in Radiocarbon Dating. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 4:241–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buikstra, J. E. 1992 Diet and Disease in Late Prehistory. In Disease and Demography in the Americas, edited by Verano, J. W. and Ubelaker, D. H., pp. 87–101. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Buikstra, J. E., and Milner, G. R. 1991 Isotopic and Archaeological Interpretations of Diet in the Central Mississippi Valley. Journal of Archaeological Science 18:319–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassedy, D. F. 1998 From Erie Canal to Long Island Sound: Technical Synthesis of the Iroquois Pipeline Project, 1989-1993. Garrow & Associates, Inc., Atlanta. Submitted to Iroquois Gas Transmission System, Shelton, Connecticut. Copies available from the New York Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.Google Scholar
Cassedy, D. E, and Webb, P. 1999 New Data on the Chronology of Maize Horticulture in Eastern New York and Southern New England. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, edited by Hart, J. P., pp. 85–99. Bulletin No. 494. New York State Museum, Albany.Google Scholar
Ceci, L. 1979 Maize Cultivation in Coastal New York: The Archaeological, Agronomical, and Documentary Evidence. North American Archaeologist 1:45–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceci, L. 1984 Shell Midden Deposits as Coastal Resources. World Archaeology 16:62–74.Google Scholar
Ceci, L. 1990 Radiocarbon Dating “Village” Sites in Coastal New York: Settlement Change in the Middle to Late Woodland. Man in the Northeast 39:1–28.Google Scholar
Chilton, E. S. 1999 Mobile Farmers of Pre-Contact Southern New England: The Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Evidence. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, edited by Hart, J. P., pp. 157–176. Bulletin No. 494. New York State Museum, Albany.Google Scholar
Chilton, E. S., Largy, T B., and Curran, K. 2000 Evidence for Prehistoric Maize Horticulture at the Pine Hill Site, Deerfield, Massachusetts. Northeast Anthropology 59:23–46.Google Scholar
Crawford, G. W., Smith, D. G., and Bowyer, V. E. 1997 Dating the Entry of Corn (Zea Mays) into the Lower Great Lakes Region. American Antiquity 62:112–119. Crawford, G. W” D. G. Smith, J. R. Desloges. and A. M. DavisGoogle Scholar
Crawford, G. W., Smith, D. G., and Bowyer, V. E. 1998 Floodplains and Agricultural Origins: A Case Study in South-Central Ontario, Canada. Journal ofField Archaeology 25:123–137’.Google Scholar
Creel, D., and Long, A. 1986 Radiocarbon Dating of Corn. American Antiquity 51:826–837.Google Scholar
Demeritt, D. 1991 Agriculture, Climate, and Cultural Adaptation in the Prehistoric Northeast. Archaeology of Eastern North America 19:183–202.Google Scholar
Dimmick, F. R. 1994 Creative Farmers of the Northeast: A New View of Indian Maize Horticulture. North American Archaeologist 15:235–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dincauze, D. F. and Hasenstab, R. J. 1989 Explaining the Iroquois: Tribalization on a Prehistoric Periphery. In Centre and Periphery; Comparative Studies in Archaeology, edited by Champion, T. C., pp. 67–87. Unwin and Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Doebley, J. 1990 Molecular Evidence and the Evolution of Maize. Economic Botany 44 (3 Supplement):6–27.Google Scholar
Fiedel, S. J. 1990 Middle Woodland Algonquian Expansion: A Refined Model. North American Archaeologist 11:204–230.Google Scholar
Fiedel, S. J. 1999 Older Than We Thought: Implications of Corrected Dates for Paleoindians. American Antiquity 64:95–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, R. I. 1997 Agricultural Origins in North America. The Review of Archaeology 18(2): 12–18.Google Scholar
Fritz, G. J. 1990 Multiple Pathways to Farming in Prehistoric Eastern North America. American Journal of World Prehistory. 4:387–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritz, G. J. 1992 “Newer,” “Better” Maize and the Mississippian Emergence: A Critique of Prime Mover Explanations. In Late Prehistoric Agriculture: Observations from the Midwest, edited by Woods, W. I., pp. 19–43. Studies in Illinois Archaeology No. 8. Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, Springfield.Google Scholar
Galinat, W. C, and Campbell, R. G. 1967 The Diffusion of Eight-Rowed Maize from the Southwest to the Central Plains. Massachusetts Agricultural Station Monograph, Series 1:1–16.Google Scholar
Hall, R. 1967 Those Late Corn Dates: Isotopic Fractionation as a Source of Error in Carbon-14 Dates. The Michigan Archaeologist 13:171–180. 1999a Dating Roundtop's Domesticates: Implications for Northeast Late Prehistory. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, edited by J. P. Hart, pp. 47–68. Bulletin No. 494. New York State Museum, Albany.Google Scholar
Hart, J. P. 1999b Maize Agriculture Evolution in the Eastern Woodlands of North America: A Darwinian Perspective. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 6:137–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, J. P., and Scarry, C. M. 1999 The Age of Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the Northeastern United States. American Antiquity 64:653–658.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, J. P., and Asch Sidell, N. 1996 Prehistoric Agricultural Systems in the West Branch of the Susquehanna River Basin, A.D. 800 to A.D. 1350. Northeast Anthropology 52:1–32.Google Scholar
Hasenstab, R. J. 1994 The Three Sisters: Staples of the Iroquois. Paper presented at the Arthur C. Parker Conference, Ethnobiology: Perspectives and Practice in the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada. Rochester Museum and Science Center,Google Scholar
Rochester, NY. 1996 Aboriginal Settlement Patterns in Late Woodland Upper New York State. Journal of Middle Atlantic Archaeology 12:17–26.Google Scholar
Rochester, NY. 1999 Fishing, Farming, and Finding the Village Sites: Centering Late Woodland New England Algonquians. In The Archaeological Northeast, edited by Levine, M. A., Sassaman, K. E., and Nassaney, M. S., pp. 139–153. Bergin and Garvey, Westport, Connecticut.Google Scholar
Hayden, B. 1995 A New Overview of Domestication. In Last Hunters, First Farmers: New Perspectives on the Prehistoric Transition to Agriculture, edited by Price, T. D. and Gebauer, A. B., pp. 273–299. School of American Research, Santa Fe.Google Scholar
Heckenberger, M. J., Petersen, J. B., and Sidell, N. Asch 1992 Early Evidence of Maize Agriculture in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont. Archaeology of Eastern North America 20:125–149.Google Scholar
Joesten, R., and Quarrier, S. S. (editors) 1982 Guidebook for Field Trips in Connecticut and South Central Massachusetts, No. 5. New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference. Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut, Natural Resources Center, Department of Environmental Protection, Hartford.Google Scholar
Kaplan, L., and Lynch, T. F. 1999 Phaseolus (Fabaceae) in Archaeology: AMS Radiocarbon Dates and Their Significance for PreColumbian Agriculture. Economic Botany 53:261–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Largy, T. R., Lavin, L., Mozzi, M. E., and Furgerson, K. 1999 Corncobs and Buttercups: Plant Remains from the Goldkrest Site. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, edited by Hart, J. P., pp. 69–84. Bulletin No. 494, New York State Museum, Albany.Google Scholar
Little, E. A. 1987 Inland Waterways in the Northeast. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 12:55–76.Google Scholar
Little, E. A. 1993 Radiocarbon Age Calibration at Archaeological Sites of Coastal Massachusetts and Vicinity. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:457–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Little, E. A. 1994 Radiocarbon Ages of Different Materials, Maize, Shell, and Charcoal, in One Pit Feature at Myrick 's Pond, Brewster MA. Nantucket Archaeological Study No. 16. Copy obtainable from Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Agogino, G. 1999a Maize Notes. Nantucket Archaeological Study No. 17. Copy obtainable from R. S. Peabody Museum of Archaeology, Andover, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Agogino, G. 1999b Maize Age and Isotope Values at the Goldkrest Site. In Corncobs and Buttercups: Plant Remains from the Goldkrest Site, by Largy, T. R., Lavin, L., Mozzi, M. E., and Furgerson, K., Appendix I. In Current Northeast Paleoethnobotany, edited by Hart, J. P., pp. 81–82. Bulletin No. 494, New York State Museum, Albany.Google Scholar
Little, E. A., and Schoeninger, M. J. 1995 The Late Woodland Diet on Nantucket Island and the Problem of Maize in Coastal New England. American Antiquity 60:351–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luedtke, B. E. 1980 Survey of the University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station. In Widening Horizons, edited by Hoffman, C., pp. 95–129. Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Middleborough, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Mulholland, M. T. 1984 Patterns of Change in Prehistoric Southern New England: A Regional Approach. Ph.D dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Noble, W. C. 1975 Corn, and the Development of Village Life in Southern Ontario. Ontario Archaeology 25:37–16.Google Scholar
Pretola, J., and Little, E. A. 1988 Nantucket: An Archaeological Record of the Far Island. Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut 51:47–68.Google Scholar
Ritchie, W. A. 1969 The Archaeology of Martha's Vineyard: A Framework for the Prehistory of Southern New England-A Study in Coastal Ecology and Adaptation. The American Museum of Natural History. The Natural History Press, New York.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, M. J., and Schurr, M. R. 1994 Interpreting Carbon Stable Isotope Ratios. In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by Johannessen, S. and Hastorf, C. A., pp. 55–66. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology, No. 5. Westview, Boulder.Google Scholar
Snow, D. R. 1996 More on Migration in Prehistory: Accommodating New Evidence in the Northern Iroquoian Case. American Antiquity 61:791–196.Google Scholar
Strauss, A. E. 1976 Lithic Analysis of a Mudstone/”Argillite” Workshop: The Wills Hill Site. Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society 38:22–29.Google Scholar
Strauss, A. E. 1994 Intensive Archaeological Survey and Excavation of a Prehistoric Shell Pit Feature at Houselot 37 Bates Lane in Brewster, Massachusetts. Report on file, Massachusetts Historical Commission, Boston.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Polach, H. A. 1977 Reporting of 14C Data. Radiocarbon 19:355–363.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. J. 1993 Extended 14C Data Base and Revised CALIB (version 4.2) 14C Age Calibration Program. Radiocarbon 35:215–230. (http://depts.washington.edu/qil/calib/) Hughen, B. Kromer, G. McCormac, J. van der Plicht, M. SpurkGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P. J., Bard, E., Beck, J. W., Burr, G. S., 1998 INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40:1041–1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tieszen, L. L., and Fagre, T. 1993 Carbon Isotopic Variability in Modern and Archaeological Maize. Journal of Archaeological Science 20:25–40.Google Scholar
van der Merwe, N., and Vogel, J. C. 1978 13C Content of Human Collagen as a Measure of Prehistoric Diet in Woodland North America. Nature 276:815–816.Google Scholar
Wagner, G. E. 1986 The Corn and Cultivated Beans of the Fort Ancient Indians. Missouri Archaeologist 47:107–135.Google Scholar
Wagner, G. E. 1987 Use of Plants by the Fort Ancient Indians. Ph.D Dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Williams, R. 1936 [1643] A Key into the Language of America [facsimile]. Applewood, Bedford, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Wymer, D. A. 1994 The Social Context of Early Maize in the Mid-Ohio Valley. In Corn and Culture in the Prehistoric New World, edited by Johannessen, S. and Hastorf, C. A., pp. 411–43. University of Minnesota Publications in Anthropology No. 5. Westview, Boulder.Google Scholar