Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T11:14:45.743Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maize Pollen of 3500 B.P. from Southern Alabama

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Miriam L. Fearn  and
Kam-biu Liu
Miriam L. Fearn
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geography, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688
Kam-biu Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A large Gramineae pollen, positively identified as corn (Zea mays), from the sediments of Lake Shelby in coastal Alabama at a stratigraphic level securely dated to 3500 B.P. predates any other evidence for corn in eastern North America by at least 1,000 years. Currently, the most frequently cited and accepted date for corn in eastern North America is approximately 1800 B.P. from macrobotanical remains; however, several paleoecological studies have reported corn pollen in older contexts. The Lake Shelby pollen adds to a growing body of microfossil evidence supporting the presence of maize in eastern North America much earlier than the macrobotanical records indicate. Corn was probably present in eastern as well as western North America by 3000 B.P.

Resumen

Resumen

Un gran grano de polen de la familia Gramineae, positivamente identiftcado como maíz (Zea mays), fue obtenido de los sedimentos del Lago Shelby en la costa de Alabama en un nivel estratigráfico definitivamente datado en 3500 A.P. Este grano de polen predata cualquier otra evidencia para el maíz en el este de Norte America por lo menos en 1,000 años. En el momento, la más frecuente y aceptada fecha para el maíz en el este de Norte America es aproximadamente 1800 A.P. proveniente esta de restos macrobotánicos; sin embargo, varios estudios paleoecológicos han reportado polen de maíz en contextos más antiguos. El polen obtenido en el lago Shelby se suma a un cuerpo creciente de evidencia microfosil que soporta la presencia del maíz en el este norteamericano mucho más anterior de lo que indican los datos macrobotánicos. El maíz estuvo probablemente presente en el este asi como también en el oeste de Norte America para el 3000 A.P.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 109 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1995

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. W. 1980 The Ancestry of Corn. Scientific American 242(1) : 112–119.Google Scholar
Bryant, V. M., and Hall, S. A. 1993 Archaeological Palynology in the United States : A Critique. American Antiquity 58 : 277–286.Google Scholar
Burden, E. T., McAndrews, J. H., and Norris, G. 1986 Palynology of Indian and European Forest Clearance and Farming in Lake Sediment Cores from Awenda Provincial Park, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 23 : 43–54.Google Scholar
Bush, M. B., Piperno, D. R., and Colinvaux, P. A. 1989 A 6, 000 Year History of Amazonian Maize Cultivation. Nature 340 : 303–305.Google Scholar
Byrne, R., and McAndrews, J. H. 1975 Pre-Columbian Purslane ﹛ Portulaca oleracea L) in the New World. Nature 253 : 726–727.Google Scholar
Chapman, J., and Crites, G. D. 1987 Evidence for Early Maize (Zea mays) from the Icehouse Bottom Site, Tennessee. American Antiquity 52 : 352–354.Google Scholar
Conard, N., Asch, D. L., Asch, N. B., Elmore, D., Gove, H., Rubins, M., Brown, J. A., Wiant, M. D., Famsworth, K. B., and Cook, T. G. 1984 Accelerator Radiocarbon Dating of Evidence for Prehistoric Horticulture in Illinois. Nature 308 : 443–446.Google Scholar
Curren, C. B. 1976 Prehistoric and Early Historic Occupation of the Mobile Bay and Mobile Delta Area of Alabama with an Emphasis on Subsistence. Journal of Alabama Archaeology 22(1) : 61–84.Google Scholar
Delcourt, P. A., Delcourt, H. R., Cridlebaugh, P. A., and Chapman, J. 1986 Holocene Ethnobotanical and Paleoecological Record of Human Impact on Vegetation in the Little Tennessee River Valley, Tennessee. Quaternary Research 25 : 330–349.Google Scholar
Doebley, J. 1990 Molecular Evidence and the Evolution of Maize. Economic Botany 44(3 Supplement) : 6–27.Google Scholar
Edwards, K. J., and Mac Donald, G. M. 1991 Holocene Palynology : II Human Influence and Vegetation Change. Progress in Physical Geography 15(4) : 354–391.Google Scholar
Farnsworth, P., Brady, J. E., DeNiro, M. J., and Neish, R. S. Mac 1985 A Re-evaluation of the Isotopic and Archaeological Reconstructions of Diet in the Tehuacan Valley. American Antiquity 50 : 102–116.Google Scholar
Galinat, W. C. 1985 Domestication and Diffusion of Maize. In Prehistoric Food Production in North America, edited by Ford, R. I., pp. 279–307. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan No. 75, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Hall, R. L. 1980 An Interpretation of the Two-Climax Model of Illinois Prehistory. In Early Native Americans : Prehistoric Demography, Economy, and Technology, edited by Browman, D. L., pp. 401–462. Mouton Publishers, The Hague.Google Scholar
Irwin, H., and Barghoorn, E. S. 1965 Identification of the Pollen of Maize, Teosinte and Tripsacum by Phase Contrast Microscopy. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 21(2) : 37–56.Google Scholar
Kidder, T. R. 1992 Timing and Consequences of the Introduction of Maize Agriculture in the Lower Mississippi Valley. North American Archaeologist 13(1) : 15–41.Google Scholar
Liu, K. B., and Fearn, M. L. 1993 Lake Sediment Record of Late Holocene Hurricane Activities from Coastal Alabama. Geology 21(9) : 793–796.Google Scholar
Liu, K. B., and Colinvaux, P. A. 1988 A 5, 200-Year History of Amazon Rain Forest. Journal of Biogeography 15 : 231–248.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J. H. 1988 Human Disturbance of North American Forests and Grasslands : The Fossil Pollen Record. In Vegetation History, edited by Huntley, B. and Webb, T. III, pp. 673–697. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J. H., and Boyko-Diakonow, M. 1989 Pollen Analysis of Varved Sediment at Crawford Lake, Ontario : Evidence of Indian and European Farming. In Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland, edited by Fulton, R. J., pp. 528–530. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Neumann, C. J., Jarvinen, B. R., Pike, A. C., and Elms., J. D. 1987 Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean 1871-1986. National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, North Carolina Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M. 1992 The Origins of Plant Cultivation in South America. In The Origins of Agriculture, edited by Cowan, C. W. and Watson, P. J., pp. 173–205. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Pearsall, D. M., and Piperno, D. R. 1990 Antiquity of Maize Cultivation in Ecuador : Summary and Reevaluation of the Evidence. American Antiquity 55 : 324–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piperno, D. R. 1985 Phytolithic Analysis of Geological Sediments from Panama. Antiquity 59 : 13–19.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
Riley, T. J., Edging, R., and Rossen, J. 1990 Cultigens in Prehistoric Eastern North America. Current Anthropology 31(5) : 525–541.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauer, J. O. 1993 Historical Geography of Crop Plants : A Select Roster. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.Google Scholar
Sears, W. H. 1982 Fort Center, An Archaeological Site in the Lake Okeechobee Basin. University Presses of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Simmons, A. H. 1986 New Evidence for the Early Use of Cultigens in the American Southwest. American Antiquity 51 : 73–89.Google Scholar
Smith, B. D. 1989 Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America. Science 246 : 1566–1571.Google Scholar
Smith, B. D. 1992 Rivers of Change. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Stowe, N. R. 1990 The Gulf Formational Stage on the North Central Gulf Coast. Paper presented at the South East Archaeological Conference, Mobile, Alabama.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. J. 1993 Extended 14C Data Base and Revised Calib 3. 0 l4C Age Calibration Program. Radiocarbon 35(1) : 215–230.Google Scholar
Tsukada, M., and Rowley, J. R. 1964 Identification of Modern and Fossil Maize Pollen. Grana Palynologica 5(3) : 406–412. Stevenson Google Scholar
Upham, S., Mac Neish, R. S., Galinat, W. C., and M., C. 1987 Evidence Concerning the Origin of Maiz de Ocho. American Anthropologist 89(2) : 410–419.Google Scholar
Walthall, J. A. 1980 Prehistoric Indians of the Southeast. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R. 1965 Prehistoric Maize in Southeastern Virginia. Science 150 : 881–882.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R., and Langham, E. J. 1965 Measurement as a Means of Identifying Fossil Maize Pollen. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 92(1) : 7–20.Google Scholar
Whitehead, D. R., and Sheehan, M. C. 1985 Holocene Vegetational Changes in the Tombigbee River Valley, Eastern Mississippi. American Midland Naturalist 113(1) : 122–137.Google Scholar
Wilkes, H. G. 1977 Hybridization of Maize and Teosinte in Mexico and Guatemala and the Improvement of Maize. Economic Botany 31(3) : 254–293.Google Scholar