Rivers of Change

by Smith, Bruce D.; Cowan, C. Wesley (CON); Hoffman, Michael P. (CON)

• ISBN13: 9780817353483
• ISBN10: 0817353488
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-08
• Publisher: Univ of Alabama Pr

Summary

Organized into four sections, the twelve chapters of "Rivers of Change" are concerned with prehistoric Native American societies in eastern North America and their transition from a hunting and gathering way of life to a reliance on food production.

Author Biography

Bruce D. Smith is an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
I. Rivers of Change
Introduction: Fields of Opportunity, Rivers of Change	3	(16)
The History of Maize in Eastern North America and the Existence of Premaize Farming Economies	9	(1)
Early Gourds in the East---Introduced Tropical Domesticate or Indigenous Wild Plants?	10	(1)
Plant Domestication in Eastern North America	11	(2)
Premaize Farming Economies in Eastern North America	13	(3)
Notes	16	(1)
Literature Cited	16	(3)
II. An Independent Center of Plant Domestication
The Floodplain Weed Theory of Plant Domestication in Eastern North America	19	(16)
Introduction	19	(2)
Edgar Anderson and the Plants of Open Habitats	21	(3)
Jack Harlan, J. M. J. de Wet, and the Adaptive Syndrome of Domestication	24	(2)
Technological Advance and Documenting Eastern Domesticates	26	(1)
The Initial Appearance of Anthropogenic Open Areas in Eastern North America	27	(1)
The Floodplain Niche of Indigenous Domesticates	28	(1)
Conclusions	29	(3)
Literature Cited	32	(3)
The Independent Domestication of Indigenous Seed-Bearing Plants in Eastern North America	35	(32)
Introduction: An Independent Origin	35	(1)
The 1920s: Linton and ``Various Small Grains in the Southeast''	35	(1)
The 1930s: Gilmore and Jones	36	(1)
The 1940s: Carter and Quimby	37	(1)
The 1950s: Anderson and Fowler	37	(1)
The 1960s: Yarnell and Struever	37	(1)
The 1970s: Discovery of Middle Holocene Cucurbits	38	(2)
Middle Holocene Cucurbits in the Eastern Woodlands	40	(1)
Cucurbita Terminology and Taxonomy	40	(1)
Cucurbita Rinds	41	(1)
Cucurbita Seeds	41	(4)
Geographical Range Arguments	45	(1)
Alternative Explanations	46	(3)
The Archaeobotanical Evidence for Initial Domestication of Seed-Bearing Plants	49	(1)
Iva annua	49	(1)
Helianthus annuus	49	(1)
Chenopodium berlandieri	50	(1)
The Fourth Millennium Transition	50	(1)
The Domestication of Indigenous Seed Crops	51	(1)
Early Holocene Foragers	51	(1)
The Hypsithermal	51	(1)
Sedentism and the Emergence of Domestilocalities	52	(1)
The ``Natural'' Floodplain Habitat Situations of Initial Indigenous Domesticates	53	(1)
Selective Pressures and the Coevolution of Domesticates within Domestilocalities	54	(3)
Discussion: A Coevolutionary Explanation	57	(1)
The Initial Establishment of Domestilocalities	58	(1)
Selective Encouragement	58	(1)
Deliberate Planting of Harvested Seeds	58	(2)
Notes	60	(2)
Acknowledgments	62	(1)
Literature Cited	62	(5)
Is It an Indigene or a Foreigner?	67	(36)
Bruce D. Smith
C. Wesley Cowan
Michael P. Hoffman
Introduction	67	(1)
Single Origin Explanations of the Late 1970s and 1980s	68	(1)
The Emergence of a Multiple Origins Explanation for the Domestication of Cucurbita pepo	69	(1)
Documenting a Developmental Dichotomy	70	(1)
The Cophyletic Model: Recasting the Question of ``Wild'' versus ``Escape''	71	(3)
Recent Single Mesoamerican Origin Models	74	(1)
Wilson's 1990 Explanation	74	(1)
Kirkpatrick and Wilson's 1988 Explanations	75	(2)
The Asches' 1991 Explanation	77	(3)
The Geographical Range of Free-Living Gourds in Eastern North America	80	(8)
The Niche and Habitat of Free-Living Cucurbita Gourds in Eastern North America	88	(1)
Herbarium Sheet and Published Habitat Descriptions	88	(1)
The Western Ozarks	89	(1)
Bryant Creek and the Gasconade River	89	(1)
The Buffalo River	90	(4)
The White River	94	(1)
Cucurbita Gourds as Agricultural Weeds	95	(1)
The Niche and Habitat of Free-living Cucurbita Gourds	95	(1)
Conclusions	96	(2)
Acknowledgments	98	(1)
Literature Cited	98	(5)
III. Premaize Farming Economies in Eastern North America
The Role of Chenopodium as a Domesticate in Premaize Garden Systems of the Eastern United States	103	(30)
Introduction	103	(1)
The Continuum of Human-Plant Relationships	104	(1)
Wild Status Plants	105	(1)
Weedy Plants	105	(1)
Cultivated Plants	106	(1)
Domesticated Plants	107	(1)
Placing the Plants of Premaize Garden Systems along the Wild to Domesticated Continuum	107	(1)
Modern Weed Analogs	107	(1)
Prehistoric Range Extension	107	(1)
Archaeological Abundance Relative to Modern Occurrence	107	(1)
``Plausibility Arguments''	108	(1)
Morphological Change	108	(1)
Premaize Plant Husbandry Systems	108	(2)
Morphological Indicators of Domestication in Chenopodium	110	(1)
Infructescence Compaction	110	(1)
Loss of Natural Shatter Mechanisms	111	(1)
Uniform Maturation of Fruit	111	(1)
Increased Perisperm Food Reserves for Seed Germination and Seedling Growth	111	(3)
Loss or Reduction in Thickness of Outer Epiderm	114	(1)
Archaeological Indicators of Domestication in Chenopodium	115	(1)
Building a Case for Domesticated Chenopodium in Premaize Plant Husbandry Systems	116	(1)
The Russell Cave Chenopodium Assemblage	117	(1)
Rediscovery: The Basket and its Temporal and Cultural Context	118	(1)
Initial Processing and General Condition of the Fruits	119	(1)
Unruptured Fruits	120	(1)
Ruptured Fruits	121	(1)
Scanning Electron Microscopy	121	(1)
Fruit Size	121	(1)
Pericarp Morphology	122	(1)
Margin Configuration	122	(1)
Outer Epiderm Thickness Measurements	123	(1)
The Strength of the Case for Domestication	123	(2)
Discussion	125	(3)
Notes	128	(1)
Acknowledgments	129	(1)
Literature Cited	129	(4)
Chenopodium berlandieri ssp. jonesianum: Evidence for a Hopewellian Domesticate from Ash Cave, Ohio	133	(30)
Introduction	133	(1)
The Andrews Excavation	134	(2)
Subsequent Excavations by Wilson, Moorehead, and Goslin	136	(2)
The Temporal Context of the Ash Cave Deposits	138	(1)
The Cultural Context of the Ash Cave Chenopod Assemblage	139	(2)
The Ash Cave Chenopodium Assemblage	141	(1)
General Description	141	(1)
Maximum Fruit Diameter	142	(3)
Pericarp Morphology	145	(1)
Testa or Outer Epiderm	146	(8)
The Case for Domestication: Summary of a Comparative Morphological Analysis	154	(1)
Taxonomic Considerations: C. berlandieri ssp. jonesianum	155	(1)
Discussion: Hopewellian Plant Husbandry Systems	156	(2)
Notes	158	(1)
Acknowledgments	158	(1)
Collections	159	(1)
Literature Cited	159	(4)
The Economic Potential of Chenopodium berlandieri in Prehistoric Eastern North America	163	(22)
Introduction and Research Design	163	(1)
Methods	164	(1)
Results	165	(1)
Wayne County, Michigan	165	(3)
Fulton County, Pennsylvania	168	(1)
Mississippi County, Arkansas	168	(1)
Cherokee County, South Carolina	169	(1)
Prince Georges County, Maryland	169	(1)
Washington County, Maryland	169	(1)
Pike County, Ohio	169	(1)
Mississippi County, Missouri	170	(2)
Hardin County, Tennessee	172	(1)
Cullman County, Alabama	172	(1)
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama	173	(1)
Discussion	173	(1)
The Habitat of C. berlandieri in the Eastern United States	173	(2)
The Economic Potential of Chenopodium berlandieri	175	(1)
Harvest Yield Comparisons	176	(9)
Notes	180	(1)
Acknowledgments	181	(1)
Literature Cited	181	(4)
The Economic Potential of Iva annua in Prehistoric Eastern North America	185	(16)
Introduction	185	(1)
Methods	185	(2)
Results	187	(1)
Marshall County, Kentucky	187	(1)
Obion County, Tennessee	188	(1)
Crittenden County, Arkansas	188	(1)
Chicot County, Arkansas	189	(1)
East Carroll Parish, Louisiana	189	(1)
Hinds County, Mississippi	189	(1)
Rankin County, Mississippi	190	(1)
Crenshaw County, Alabama	190	(1)
Mississippi County, Missouri	190	(1)
Crittenden County, Arkansas	190	(1)
Hardin County, Tennessee	191	(1)
Acorn County, Mississippi	191	(1)
Colbert County, Alabama	191	(1)
Jefferson County, Alabama	191	(1)
Tuscaloosa County, Alabama	192	(1)
Discussion	192	(1)
The Habitats of Iva annua in the Eastern Woodlands	192	(3)
The Economic Potential of Iva annua	195	(2)
Harvest Yield Comparisons	197	(1)
Marshelder as a Premaize Field Crop: Half-Hectare Fields of Iva annua and Chenopodium berlandieri	197	(4)
Notes	200	(1)
Acknowledgments	200	(1)
Literature Cited	200	(1)
Hopewellian Farmers of Eastern North America	201	(48)
Introduction	201	(4)
The Nature and Development of Hopewellian Food Production Economies	205	(4)
Hopewellian Farming Communities	209	(6)
The Upper Duck River Valley of Central Tennessee	215	(10)
Bynum Mounds	225	(1)
Pinson Mounds	225	(4)
The Lower Illinois River Valley	229	(7)
The American Bottom	236	(13)
Conclusions	239	(4)
Acknowledgments	243	(1)
Literature Cited	243	(6)
In Search of Choupichoul, the Mystery Grain of the Natchez	249	(18)
Introduction	249	(1)
Le Page, the Natchez, and Choupichoul	250	(2)
The Passages that Refer to Choupichoul	252	(4)
In Search of Belle Dame Sauvage	256	(1)
The Case for Chenopodium berlandieri	257	(2)
Along the Sand Banks of the Mississippi River	259	(2)
Chenopodium berlandieri in Prehistory	261	(1)
Conclusion	262	(1)
Acknowledgments	262	(1)
Literature Cited	262	(5)
IV. Synthesis
Origins of Agriculture in Eastern North America	267	(14)
Introduction	267	(1)
An Independent Center of Plant Domestication	268	(4)
The Emergence of Food Production Economies	272	(2)
The Shift to Maize-Centered Agriculture	274	(2)
Notes	276	(1)
Literature Cited	276	(5)
Prehistoric Plant Husbandry in Eastern North America	281	(20)
Introduction	281	(1)
Early and Middle Holocene Foragers prior to 7,000 B.P. (5050 B.C.)	282	(1)
Middle Holocene Collectors 7,000 to 4,000 B.P. (5050 to 2050 B.C.)	282	(5)
The Initial Domestication of Eastern Seed Plants 4,000 to 3,000 B.P. (2050 to 1050 B.C.)	287	(1)
The Development of Farming Economies 3,000--1,700 B.P. (1050 B.C. to A.D. 250)	288	(3)
The Expansion of Field Agriculture 1,700 to 800 B.P. (A.D. 250 to 1150)	291	(1)
Maize-Centered Field Agriculture after 800 B.P. (A.D. 1150)	292	(4)
Acknowledgments	296	(1)
Literature Cited	296	(5)
Index	301