Pre-Hispanic horticulture in the Parana Delta (Argentina): archaeological and historical evidence

BONOMO, MARIANO; ACEITUNO, FRANCISCO; POLITIS, GUSTAVO; POCHETTINO, MARIA LELIA

World Archaeology

TAYLOR & FRANCIS

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 (i.e. maize) is relatively well-known for the Andean Region, the south-western limit of lowland horticulture has been poorly established in South America. Sixteen century European accounts mentioned the presence of cultivated plants in the Delta of the Paraná River, but until present it was not confirmed by direct archaeobotanical data. This paper present and discuss the results of starch grains analysis from six archaeological sites of the Paraná Delta (Argentina), ranging from 1302 to 1492 years cal. AD which confirm the pre-Hispanic presence of cultivars in the area. This analysis indicates the presence of wild plants (algarrobo) and domesticated plants (maize and beans) in ceramic containers and grinding tools of these sites. Therefore, this research contributes with new data of the late dispersion of the cultivated species in the Paraná Delta, an area excluded from continental models for the dispersal of cultivars in the Americas.