Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Foreword
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Domestication of Plants and Animals: Ten Unanswered Questions
- 1 The Local Origins of Domestication
- Section I Early Steps in Agricultural Domestication
- 2 Evolution of Agroecosystems: Biodiversity, Origins, and Differential Development
- 3 From Foraging to Farming in Western and Eastern Asia
- 4 Pre-Domestic Cultivation during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Northern Levant
- 5 New Archaeobotanical Information on Plant Domestication from Macro-Remains: Tracking the Evolution of Domestication Syndrome Traits
- 6 New Archaeobotanical Information on Early Cultivation and Plant Domestication Involving Microplant (Phytolith and Starch Grain) Remains
- 7 How and Why Did Agriculture Spread?
- 8 California Indian Proto-Agriculture: Its Characterization and Legacy
- Section II Domestication of Animals and Impacts on Humans
- Section III Issues in Plant Domestication
- Section IV Traditional Management of Biodiversity
- Section V Uses of Biodiversity and New and Future Domestications
- Index
- References
6 - New Archaeobotanical Information on Early Cultivation and Plant Domestication Involving Microplant (Phytolith and Starch Grain) Remains
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables
- Figures
- Foreword
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Domestication of Plants and Animals: Ten Unanswered Questions
- 1 The Local Origins of Domestication
- Section I Early Steps in Agricultural Domestication
- 2 Evolution of Agroecosystems: Biodiversity, Origins, and Differential Development
- 3 From Foraging to Farming in Western and Eastern Asia
- 4 Pre-Domestic Cultivation during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in the Northern Levant
- 5 New Archaeobotanical Information on Plant Domestication from Macro-Remains: Tracking the Evolution of Domestication Syndrome Traits
- 6 New Archaeobotanical Information on Early Cultivation and Plant Domestication Involving Microplant (Phytolith and Starch Grain) Remains
- 7 How and Why Did Agriculture Spread?
- 8 California Indian Proto-Agriculture: Its Characterization and Legacy
- Section II Domestication of Animals and Impacts on Humans
- Section III Issues in Plant Domestication
- Section IV Traditional Management of Biodiversity
- Section V Uses of Biodiversity and New and Future Domestications
- Index
- References
Summary
Archaeobotanical information relating to early plant cultivation and domestication and derived from microfossil research is rapidly expanding. In this paper I review recent data, focusing on the lowland tropics of Central and South America and primarily on phytolith, starch grain, and where available, ancient DNA remains. New and important macrobotanical evidence is also discussed. I more briefly review recent developments in other regions of the Americas and the Old World, in order to provide a broader survey of microfossil contributions to early agriculture studies. Data generated during the past ten years impact old and newer debates concerning how and when important crop plants arose and spread, and when effective food production – defined as systemic cultivation that supplied stable and significant dietary inputs – began. Phytolith and starch grain applications provide information at various, fundamental levels of understanding ranging from basic identifications of wild and domesticated species, to the direct documentation of ancient diets through recovery from the calculus of human teeth, to the generation of data on the evolution of domestication genes in some major crops.
The geographic scenario of agriculture in Central and South America
Before reviewing archaeobotanical data it is useful to outline the geographic scenario of plant domestication in Central and South America, where the great majority of New World crops originated (Sauer 1950, Piperno and Pearsall 1998). Figure 6.1(a, b) provides a summary based on current archaeological, molecular, and ecological information. The maps will undoubtedly be subject to some future changes as well as further refinements, especially in South America where many important root and other crops were domesticated. An important point to be stressed is that crop origins were more spatially diffuse than once thought. Particularly in South America, it is difficult in the light of current evidence to talk about single or a few nuclear areas/centers of crop domestication, a point that Harlan first brought to light many years ago (Harlan 1971).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Biodiversity in AgricultureDomestication, Evolution, and Sustainability, pp. 136 - 159Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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