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New Evidence for the Early Use of Cultigens in the American Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alan H. Simmons
Alan H. Simmons*
Affiliation:
Desert Research Institute, Social Sciences Center, Box 60220, University of Nevada System, Reno, NV 89506
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Abstract

Recent excavations near Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico have yielded evidence for the use of cultigens by the early second millennium B.C. and continuing into the first millennium B.C. This information comes from four sites, all of which have been radiocarbon dated. The evidence for the oldest use of a cultigen, maize, is in the form of pollen; however, macrobotanical specimens of maize or squash were also recovered from sites dating to the Late Archaic. These data are summarized, as are their significance and implications.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 1986 , pp. 73 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1986

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References

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