The diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States and its impact

Merrill, William L.; Hard, Robert J.; Mabry, Jonathan B.; Fritz, Gayle J.; Adams, Karen R.; Roney, John R.; MacWilliams, A. C.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0906075106

Cited by 158 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…Although maize was introduced to this area from the south by ∼2100 B.C. (18,21,27), birth rates as proxied by 15 (19,28,29), the low juvenility indices reported here favor suggestions that these occupations tended to be short-lived (30,31) or part of a seasonal round (27), and perhaps most important, because this also affects mobility, focused on varieties of maize that were not yet very productive (32).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…B.C. (all dates are either calibrated calendrical years from 14 C or calendar years derived from tree rings), with first known appearances in the United States in southern Arizona and west central New Mexico (17,18). Despite legitimate expectations to the contrary (19)-and in contrast to the situation in Europe and the Near East-high values for the juvenility index in the Southwest greatly lagged the first appearance of cultigens, according to an earlier study calculated on 4,396 sets of human remains from 51 archaeological sites and composite samples (20).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Kohler

Reese

2014

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

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Significance Population size greatly affects the human condition but is difficult for archaeologists to estimate. For the Neolithic North American Southwest, we use indirect methods to estimate birth rate and life expectancy, two major factors determining population size. The population boom usually accompanying the introduction of cultivated plants and animals, the “Neolithic Demographic Transition,” was slow to emerge here and was marked by considerable subregional variability in birth rate. This variability is likely related to differing morbidities and availability of agricultural lands in various subregions. In common with many Neolithic peoples, pre-Hispanic Puebloans experienced very high birth rates, especially between A.D. 500 and 1300 when they possibly exceeded the highest in the world today, and quite low life expectancy at birth.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Kohler

Reese

2014

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

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“…The approach reported in this paper could be applied in the future to similar human spread phenomena (e.g., the Austronesian Neolithic expansion [60], preceramic dispersals of maize and root crops into Panama [61], the diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States [62], etc. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vertical cultural transmission effects on demic front propagation: Theory and application to the Neolithic transition in Europe

Fort

2011

Phys. Rev. E

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It is shown that Lotka-Volterra interaction terms are not appropriate to describe vertical cultural transmission. Appropriate interaction terms are derived and used to compute the effect of vertical cultural transmission on demic front propagation. They are also applied to a specific example, the Neolithic transition in Europe. In this example, it is found that the effect of vertical cultural transmission can be important (about 30%). On the other hand, simple models based on differential equations can lead to large errors (above 50%). Further physical, biophysical, and cross-disciplinary applications are outlined.

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“…The structure of the language family and its diversity as well as reconstructed Proto-Uto-Aztecan (PUA) vocabulary suggest a northern origin for UA somewhere in the Southwest or Southern California (2,(17)(18)(19)(20). Recently, Merrill et al (16) used linguistic data to support a PUA homeland in the Great Basin, which also provides additional support for a northern origin. In contrast, Hill (3) argued that UA originated in the vicinity of where maize was domesticated, perhaps in Central Mexico.…”

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confidence: 97%

“…However, recent phytolith data have pointed to an origin in the lowland tropics of Tabasco more than 7,000 YBP (14). Whereas the origin and timing of domestication continues to be debated in Mesoamerica, the introduction of maize into the Southwest before 4,000 YBP is no longer disputed (15,16). The early appearance of this cultigen in the Southwest, soon after its widespread use in Mesoamerica, has been used to support the hypothesis that maize cultivation spread with humans from Mesoamerica and therefore, was not spread primarily through cultural diffusion (3)(4)(5).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis with genetic variation exhibited by populations in the Southwest and Mesoamerica

Kemp

González‐Oliver

Malhi

et al. 2010

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

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The Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis posits that prehistoric population expansions, precipitated by the innovation or early adoption of agriculture, played an important role in the uneven distribution of language families recorded across the world. In this case, the most widely spread language families today came to be distributed at the expense of those that have more restricted distributions. In the Americas, Uto-Aztecan is one such language family that may have been spread across Mesoamerica and the American Southwest by ancient farmers. We evaluated this hypothesis with a large-scale study of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y-chromosomal DNA variation in indigenous populations from these regions. Partial correlation coefficients, determined with Mantel tests, show that Y-chromosome variation in indigenous populations from the American Southwest and Mesoamerica correlates significantly with linguistic distances (r = 0.33-0.384; P < 0.02), whereas mtDNA diversity correlates significantly with only geographic distance (r = 0.619; P = 0.002). The lack of correlation between mtDNA and Y-chromosome diversity is consistent with differing population histories of males and females in these regions. Although unlikely, if groups of Uto-Aztecan speakers were responsible for the northward spread of agriculture and their languages from Mesoamerica to the Southwest, this migration was possibly biased to males. However, a recent in situ population expansion within the American Southwest (2,105 years before present; 99.5% confidence interval = 1,273-3,773 YBP), one that probably followed the introduction and intensification of maize agriculture in the region, may have blurred ancient mtDNA patterns, which might otherwise have revealed a closer genetic relationship between females in the Southwest and Mesoamerica.mtDNA | Uto-Aztecan | Y chromsome | maize | migration

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The diffusion of maize to the southwestern United States and its impact

Cited by 158 publications

References 76 publications

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Long and spatially variable Neolithic Demographic Transition in the North American Southwest

Vertical cultural transmission effects on demic front propagation: Theory and application to the Neolithic transition in Europe

Evaluating the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis with genetic variation exhibited by populations in the Southwest and Mesoamerica

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