Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-kw2vx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-20T18:02:06.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Antiquity of Maize Cultivation in Ecuador: Summary and Reevaluation of the Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Deborah M. Pearsall  and
Dolores R. Piperno
Deborah M. Pearsall
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, American Archaeology Division, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211
Dolores R. Piperno*
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Republic of Panama
*
(Mailing address: STRI, A.P.O. Miami 34002) and MASCA, The University Museum, University of Pennsylvania, 33rd and Spruce Sts., Philadelphia, PA 19104
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

La Identification of maize phytoliths from the Preceramic Vegas and Formative period Real Alto sites, Guayas Province, Ecuador, has raised the issue of the antiquity of maize in Ecuador. This paper reviews how maize is identified using phytoliths and addresses criticisms of this technique. Our reexamination of the original Vegas and Real Alto samples using Piperno's three-dimensional variant method confirms the presence of maize in western Ecuador by at least 5000 B.C. Remains of charred maize from other sites suggest that more than one race was being utilized by the Formative period.

Résumé

Résumé

La identificatión de fitolitos de maíz provenientes de los sitios Vegas y Real Alto (períodos Precerámico y Formativo respectivamente) Provincia del Guayas, Ecuador; a puesto en relieve la importacia de la antiguedad del maíz en el Ecuador. Este artículo revisa como el maíz fue identificado con tratamiento crítico, utilizando la técnica de fitolitos. Nuestra reexaminación de las muestras originates de aquellos sitios, aplicando el método tridimencional de Piperno, confirma que el maíz estuvo presente en el occidente del Ecuador, al menos desde el 5000 A.C.. Los restos de maíz carbonizados recuperados en otros sitios; nos sugiere que más de una raza estaba siendo utilizada durante el período Formativo.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , April 1990 , pp. 324 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1990

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

Beadle, G. 1980 The Ancestry of Corn. Scientific American 242 : 112–119.Google Scholar
Bird, R. McK. 1984 South American Maize in Central America? In Pre-Columbian Plant Migration, edited by Stone, D., pp. 39–65. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 76. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Bray, W., Herrera, L., and Cardale Schrimpff, M. 1985 Report on the 1982 Field Season in Calima. Pro Calima 4 : 2–26.Google Scholar
Damp., J. 1979 Better Homes and Gardens : The Life and Death of the Early Valdivia Community. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Damp., J. 1984 Architecture of the Early Valdivia Village. American Antiquity 49 : 573–585.Google Scholar
Doebley, J. F. 1983 The Maize and Teosinte Male Inforescence : A Numerical Taxonomic Study. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 70(1) : 32–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doebley, J. F., Goodman, M. M., and Stuber, C. W. 1984 Isoenzymatic Variation in Zea (Gramineae). Systematic Botany 9 : 203–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, M. E. 1983 Phytolith Analysis in Archaeology. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 8 : 287–297.Google Scholar
Ford, R. I. 1984 The Evolution of Corn Revisited. Quarterly Review of Archaeology 4(4) : 12-13, 16.Google Scholar
Galinat, W. C. 1971 The Origin of Maize. Annual Review of Genetics, 5 : 447–478.Google Scholar
Galinat, W. C. 1983 The Origin of Maize as Shown by Key Morphological Traits of its Ancestor, Teosinte. Maydica 28 : 121–138.Google Scholar
Galinat, W. C. 1984 The Origin of Maize. Science 225 : 1093–1094.Google Scholar
Galinat, W. C. 1985 The Missing Links Between Teosinte and Maize : A Review. Maydica 30 : 137–160.Google Scholar
litis, H. H. 1983 From Teosinte to Maize : The Catastrophic Sexual Transmutation. Science 222 : 886–894.Google Scholar
litis, H. H. 1984 The Origin of Maize. Science 225 : 1094–1096.Google Scholar
litis, H. H. and Doebley, J. F. 1984 Zea-K Biosystematical Odyssey. In Plant Biosystematics, edited by Grant, W. F., pp. 587–616. Academic Press, Toronto.Google Scholar
Lathrap, D. W., Collier, D., and Chandra, H. 1975 Ancient Ecuador : Culture, Clay, and Creativity, 3000-300 B. C. Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lathrap, D. W., Marcos, J. G., and Zeidler, J. A. 1977 Real Alto : An Ancient Ceremonial Center. Archaeology 30(1) : 2–13.Google Scholar
Lippi, R. D., Bird, R. McK., and Stemper, D. M. 1984 Maize Recovered at La Ponga, an Early Ecuadorian Site. American Antiquity 49 : 118–124.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1974 Corn : Its Origin, Evolution, and Improvement. Belknap, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1986 The Mystery of Corn : New Perspectives. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 127(4) : 215–247. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C, Mac Neish, R. S., and Galinat., W. C. 1967 Prehistoric Wild and Cultivated Maize. In The Prehistory ofthe Tehuacan Valley, Vol. 1 : Environment and Subsistence, edited by Byers, D. S., pp. 178–200. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Marcos, J. G. 1978 The Ceremonial Precinct at Real Alto : Organization of Time and Space in Valdivia Society. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Illinois. University Microfilm, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Monsalve, J. G. 1985 A Pollen Core from the Hacienda Lusitania Pro Calima 4 : 40–44.Google Scholar
Mulholland, S. 1986 Phytolith Studies at Big Hidatsa, North Dakota : Preliminary Results. In The Prairie : Past, Present, and Future. Part I : Pre-European People on the Prairies, edited by Clambery, G. K. and Pemble, R. H., pp. 21–24. Center for Environmental Studies, Tri-College University, Fargo, North Dakota.Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1977-1978 Early Movements of Maize Between Mesoamerica and South America. Journal ofthe Steward Anthropological Society 9(1–2) : 41–75.Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1978 Phytolith Analysis of Archeological Soils : Evidence for Maize Cultivation in Formative Ecuador. Science 199 : 177–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pearsall, D. M. 1979 Application of Ethnobotanical Techniques to the Problem of Subsistence in the Ecuadorian Formative. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Illinois. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1980 Analysis of an Archaeological Maize Kernel Cache from Manabi Province, Ecuador. Economic Botany 34 : 344–351.Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1982 Phytolith Analysis : Applications of a New Paleoethnobotanical Technique in Archaeology. American Anthropologist 862–871.Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1988 An Overview of Formative Period Subsistence in Ecuador : Palaeoethnobotanical Data and Perspectives. In Diet and Subsistence : Current Archaeological Perspectives, edited by Kennedy, B. V. and LeMoine, G. M., pp. 149–158. Proceedings ofthe 19th Annual Chacmool Conference, Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary, Alberta.Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1989 Paleoethnobotany : A Handbook of Procedures. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Pickersgill, B., and Heiser, C. B. Jr. 1977 Origins and Distribution of Plants Domesticated in the New World Tropics. In Origins of Agriculture. edited by Reed, C. A., pp. 803–835. Mouton, The Hague.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R. 1981 First Report on the Phytolith Analysis ofthe Vegas Site OGSE-80, Ecuador. In The Vegas Culture : Early Prehistory of Southwestern Ecuador, by Stothert, K.. Museo Antropologico del Banco Central del Ecuador, Guayaquil, in press.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R. 1983 The Application of Phytolith Analysis to the Reconstruction of Plant Subsistence and Environments in Prehistoric Panama. Ph. D. dissertation, Temple University. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R. 1984 A Comparison and Differentiation of Phytoliths from Maize and Wild Grasses : Use of Morphological Criteria. American Antiquity 49 : 361–383.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R. 1988 Phytolith Analysis : An Archaeological and Geological Perspective. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R. 1989 Non-affluent Foragers : Resource Availability, Seasonal Shortages, and the Emergence of Agriculture in Panamanian Tropical Forests. In Foraging and Farming : The Evolution of Plant Exploitation, edited by Harris, D. and Hillman, G., pp. 538–554. One World Archaeology 13. Unwin Hyman, London.Google Scholar
Piperno, D. R., Clary, K. H., Cooke, R. G., Ranere, A. J., and Weiland, D. 1985 Preceramic Maize in Central Panama : Phytolith and Pollen Evidence. American Anthropologist 87 : 871–878.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A. C. 1980 Parmana : Prehistoric Maize and Manioc Subsistence Along the Amazon and Orinoco. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A. C. 1984 Problems Interpreting the Diffusion of Cultivated Plants. In Pre-Columbian Plant Migration, edited by Stone, D., pp. 1–18. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 76. Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Stothert, K. E. 1985 The Preceramic Las Vegas Culture of Coastal Ecuador. American Antiquity 50 : 613–637.Google Scholar
Zeidler, J. A. 1984 Social Space in Valdivia Society : Community Patterning and Domestic Structure at Real Alto, 3000-2000 B. C. Ph. D. dissertation, University of Illinois. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Zevellos, M. C, Galinat, W. C., Lathrap, D. W., Leng, E. R., Marcos, J. G., and Klumpp, K. M. 1977 The San Pablo Corn Kernel and its Friends. Science 196 : 385–389.Google Scholar