Cultivation, production and domestication: evaluating the archaeological visibility of interactions between human societies and plant populations in the past

LEMA VERONICA

Tradiciones y transformaciones en Etnobotánica

CYTED-RISAPRET

Lugar: San Salvador de Jujuy; Año: 2010; p. 111 - 117

In this paper we analyze C. maxima ssp. maxima evolution under domestication in South America with the aim to identify if the earliest archaeological seed remains of this specie belong to different landraces, if they are the result of populations subject to different husbandry practices, or correspond to a single crop population. Archaeological remains were recovered in two early archaeological sites: Cerro Lampay (Central Andes, Archaic period) and Pampa Grande (Argentinean Northwest, Formative period). Anatomical descriptors in seeds testa were analysed in samples of modern landraces and crop populations resulting from husbandry practices. These seeds were obtained during ethnobotanical studies with an ethnoarchaeological application in the Argentinean Northwest. Results obtained after analysing and comparing quantitative parameters between modern and ancient seeds suggest that a C. maxima ssp maxima homogeneous morphotype was present in both archaeological sites, probably representing a single landrace on each archaeobotanical assemblage.