Plant domestication and man-plant degrees of dependence in the pre-Hispanic cultural development of Argentinean Northwest.

LEMA VERONICA

Tradiciones y transformaciones en Etnobotánica

CYTED-RISAPRET

Lugar: San Salvador de Jujuy; Año: 2010; p. 50 - 55

Plant domestication in the Argentinean Northwest was analysed from a palaeoethnobotanical perspective focused on the identification of degrees of dependence in Man-plant relationships. Methodology consisted in anatomical, morphological and biometrical analysis of archaeobotanical macroremains of Cucurbita sp. and Phaseolus vulgaris L.. The obtained results show the absence of a continuum of transformation in a lineal transition from the wild to the domesticated form in both taxa. Instead, archaeological record evidences the existence in the past of wild-weedy-crop complexes, resulting from husbandry practices and selective pressures which enhanced diversity over homogeneity