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What Are the Chances of Finding Maize in Peru Dating before 1000 B.C.?: Reply to Bonavia and Grobman

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert McKelvy Bird
Robert McKelvy Bird*
Affiliation:
P.O. Box 5142, Raleigh, NC 27650
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Abstract

Maize is claimed to occur occasionally in preceramic deposits in Peru. Cobs, kernels, tassels, pollen, and plant parts have been reported to be associated with Cotton Preceramic period refuse (ca. 2500–1750 B.C., uncorrected) in several north-central coast sites. Maize has been found in some much earlier highland occupations that also have yielded a wide range of ancient dates. These samples represent many types, some with characteristics not found again until late in the first millennium A.D. This arouses suspicion. Checking of artifacts, ecofacts, and radiocarbon dates associated with the maize reveals some that are less than 100 years old and many that are less than 1,500 years old. It also reveals shallow deposits and/or much disturbed context.

Résumé

Résumé

Algunos investigadores han sostenido que restos de maíz se encuentran ocasionalmente en varios depósitos precerámicos en el Perú. Sitios localizados en la costa centro-norte han rendido tusas, semillas, espigas, pollen, y partes de plantas asociados a desechos del período precerámico con algodón (ca. 2500–1750 A.C., no corregido). Maíz ha sido encontrado en varias ocupaciones serranas más tempranas, las cuales han producido además un amplio rango de fechas antiguas. Estas muestras representan muchos tipos de maíz, algunos de ellos con características no duplicadas hast a fines del primer milenio D.C. Este hecho suscita sospechas. La verificación de artefactos, ecofactos, y fechas radiocarbónicas asociadas a los restos de maíz revela que unos tipos tienen menos que cien años y que muchos tienen menos de 1.500 años de antigüedad. Ademds, tal verificación indica que algunos depósitos tienen poca profundidad y/o mucha perturbación.

Type
Comment
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , October 1990 , pp. 828 - 840
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1990

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References

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