Pre-Hispanic Horticulture in the Paraná Delta (Argentina): Archaeological and Historical Evidence

BONOMO, M.; ACEITUNO, F. J. ; POLITIS, G; POCHETTINO, M. L.

World Archaeology

Taylor & Francis

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2011 vol. 43 p. 557 - 579

0043-8243

Many American cultivated species have been domesticated in the Neotropical Lowlands. While the southern limit of some cultivars (e.g. maize) is relatively well known for the Andean Region, the south-western limit of lowland horticulture has been poorly established in South America. Sixteenthcentury European accounts mentioned the presence of cultivated plants in the delta of the Parana´ River, but until now this had not been confirmed by direct archaeobotanical data. This paper presents and discusses the results of starch grains analysis from six archaeological sites of the Parana´Delta (Argentina), ranging from 1302 to 1492 years cal., which confirm the pre-Hispanic presence of cultivars in the area. Wild (algarrobo) and domesticated (maize and beans) plant remains were found in ceramic containers and on grinding tools from those sites. Our research contributes new data on the late dispersion of cultivated species in the Parana´ Delta, an area so far excluded from continental models for the dispersal of cultivars in the Americas.