The Archaeological Evidence for Manioc Cultivation: A Cautionary Note

DeBoer, Warren R.

doi:10.2307/279328

Cited by 38 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Elsewhere in the Neotropics, starch analyses of proposed grater-board chips have resulted in a similar lack of expected manioc starch (Berman and Pearsall, 2008;Perry, 2004Perry, , 2005. But as these and other researchers (DeBoer, 1975;Dole, 1994) have noted, ethnographic literature shows that graterboards were made from many materials other than stone chips, such as palm spines, animal teeth, shell, and ceramic, as noted above, and they were often used for many things other than manioc.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Diversity of cultivars and other plant resources used at habitation sites in the Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia: evidence from macrobotanical remains, starch grains, and phytoliths

Dickau

Bruno

Iriarte

et al. 2012

Journal of Archaeological Science

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Diversity of cultivars and other plant resources used at habitation sites in the Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia: evidence from macrobotanical remains, starch grains, and phytoliths

Dickau

Bruno

Iriarte

et al. 2012

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Until recently its dispersal history was poorly known, due mainly to its rarity in macrobotanical and phytolith records. Archaeologists became accustomed to inferring its use from certain artifact types [inferences that probably need to be reevaluated (40,41)]. However, advances in pollen and especially starch grain analyses have markedly increased the direct botanical data available regarding the history of this cultigen.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Starch grain evidence for the preceramic dispersals of maize and root crops into tropical dry and humid forests of Panama

Dickau

Ranere

Cooke

2007

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

167

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The Central American isthmus was a major dispersal route for plant taxa originally brought under cultivation in the domestication centers of southern Mexico and northern South America. Recently developed methodologies in the archaeological and biological sciences are providing increasing amounts of data regarding the timing and nature of these dispersals and the associated transition to food production in various regions. One of these methodologies, starch grain analysis, recovers identifiable microfossils of economic plants directly off the stone tools used to process them. We report on new starch grain evidence from Panama demonstrating the early spread of three important New World cultigens: maize (Zea mays), manioc (Manihot esculenta), and arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea). Maize starch recovered from stone tools at a site located in the Pacific lowlands of central Panama confirms previous archaeobotanical evidence for the use of maize there by 7800 -7000 cal BP. Starch evidence from preceramic sites in the less seasonal, humid premontane forests of Chiriquí province, western Panama, shows that maize and root crops were present by 7400 -5600 cal BP, several millennia earlier than previously documented. Several local starchy resources, including Zamia and Dioscorea spp., were also used. The data from both regions suggest that crop dispersals took place via diffusion or exchange of plant germplasm rather than movement of human populations practicing agriculture.agricultural origins ͉ crop dispersals ͉ Neotropics ͉ starch grain analysis W ith the advent of molecular studies directed toward understanding the phylogenetics of various economic plants throughout the world, the domestication hearths of several major crop plants have been identified (e.g., refs. 2-5). However, tracing the dispersal of these domesticates, and the economic transition from foraging to food production by the societies that domesticated or adopted them, remains firmly dependent on the recovery of identifiable archaeobotanical remains. The development and application of microbotanical techniques in archaeology has led to major advances in investigating plant use and subsistence in regions where preservation of macrobotanical remains (seeds, fruits, tubers) is poor. In the Americas, phytoliths, pollen, and most recently starch grains, have provided substantial empirical evidence demonstrating the considerable antiquity of food production and crop dispersals in tropical regions once considered peripheral to agricultural origins. Numerous studies now show that people were experimenting with horticulture and moving domesticated plants around tropical forests by 9500-7500 cal BP, ¶ and that food production concentrating on a few particularly productive cultigens was widespread throughout the Neotropics by 5500 cal BP (6-14).The Isthmus of Panama forms a relatively narrow landbridge between North and South America, and was the terrestrial route for the dispersal of numerous domesticates. Not surprisingly, some of the earliest evidence for the spre...

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“…He also highlighted how these were lacking in the much smaller ceramic middens of the Ucayali River. Although cautionary notes [191] and recent starch-grain analyses have cast doubt on the association between these griddles and manioc use [192,193], the widespread use of bitter manioc in eastern Amazonia, the presence of Manihot pollen in Colombian sites with anthropogenic dark earths [38,46], and the fact that bitter manioc processing could well decrease the preservation of Manihot starch grains [see 161], warrants caution with the cautionary note. Insisting that their main use was the processing of bitter manioc, on the other hand, brings to mind suggestions by Reichel-Dolmatoff [194,195], Sanoja [196] and Angulo [197], who long ago argued that model-incised ceramic complexes north of the Amazon basin reflected the cultivation of this crop variety.…”

Section: Anthropogenic Soils and Maniocmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils

Arroyo‐Kalin

2010

Diversity

140

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Abstract:The emergence of sedentism and agriculture in Amazonia continues to sit uncomfortably within accounts of South American pre-Columbian history. This is partially because deep-seated models were formulated when only ceramic evidence was known, partly because newer data continue to defy simple explanations, and partially because many discussions continue to ignore evidence of pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape transformations. This paper presents the results of recent geoarchaeological research on Amazonian anthropogenic soils. It advances the argument that properties of two different types of soils, terras pretas and terras mulatas, support their interpretation as correlates of, respectively, past settlement areas and fields where spatially-intensive, organic amendment-reliant cultivation took place. This assessment identifies anthropogenic soil formation as a hallmark of the Amazonian Formative and prompts questions about when similar forms of enrichment first appear in the Amazon basin. The paper reviews evidence for embryonic anthrosol formation to highlight its significance for understanding the domestication of a key Amazonian crop: manioc (Manihot esculenta ssp. esculenta). A model for manioc domestication that incorporates anthropogenic soils outlines some scenarios which link the distribution of its two broader varieties-sweet and bitter manioc-with the widespread appearance of Amazonian anthropogenic dark earths during the first millennium AD.

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The Archaeological Evidence for Manioc Cultivation: A Cautionary Note

Cited by 38 publications

References 14 publications

Diversity of cultivars and other plant resources used at habitation sites in the Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia: evidence from macrobotanical remains, starch grains, and phytoliths

Diversity of cultivars and other plant resources used at habitation sites in the Llanos de Mojos, Beni, Bolivia: evidence from macrobotanical remains, starch grains, and phytoliths

Starch grain evidence for the preceramic dispersals of maize and root crops into tropical dry and humid forests of Panama

The Amazonian Formative: Crop Domestication and Anthropogenic Soils

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