Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-v5vhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-30T19:15:31.223Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Origins of Agriculture in the Americas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2022

Hugh C. Cutler
Hugh C. Cutler*
Affiliation:
Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recent Archeological, Botanical and Geographical Work Has Produced so much information on native agriculture of the New World that it is time to review again what we know about origins and dispersal of agriculture in this hemisphere. Harris, a geographer (1967), summarized ideas on origins of agriculture of both Old and New Worlds. Smith (1968b) gives some brief observations on recent archeological evidence, but his paper was prepared in 1966. Here we will consider the most recent published materials and include some unpublished observations on the more important plants.

Type
Topical Review
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , Fall 1968 , pp. 3 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © 1968 by the University of Texas Press

Footnotes

∗

This work is based in part on studies supported by National Science Foundation grants. Bibliographic work was aided by Joseph Pietch.

References

Ames, Oakes 1939 Economic Annuals and Human Culture. Cambridge, Botanical Museum, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Anderson, Edgar 1956 Man as a Maker of New Plants and New Plant Communities. In: Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth. W. L. Thomas, Jr., ed., Chicago.Google Scholar
Anderson, Edgar 1960 The Evolution of Domestication. In: Evolution after Darwin, Sol Tax, ed., 2:67–84, Chicago.Google Scholar
Anderson, Edgar 1962 Plants, Man and Life. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Anderson, Edgar and Cutler, H. C. 1942 Races of Zea Mays: I. Their Recognition and Classification. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 29:69–88.Google Scholar
Barghoorn, E. S., Wolfe, M. K., and Clisby, K. H. 1954 Fossil Maize from the Valley of Mexico. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 16:229–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, J. B. 1948 Preceramic Cultures in Chicama and Viru. Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology. 4:21–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brieger, F. G., Gurgel, J. T. A., Paterniani, E., Blumenschein, A., and Alleoni, M. R. 1958 Races of Maize in Brazil and other Eastern South American Countries. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication 593.Google Scholar
Bronson, Bennet 1966 Roots and the Subsistence of the Ancient Maya. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 22:251–279.Google Scholar
Brown, W. L. 1960 Races of Maize in the West Indies. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication 792.Google Scholar
Bukasov, S. M. 1931 The Cultivated Plants of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia. Bulletin of Applied Botany, Genetic and Plant Breeding. 47:470–553.Google Scholar
Callen, E. O. 1967a Analysis of the Tehuacán Coprolites. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:261–289.Google Scholar
Callen, E. O. 1967b The First New World Cereal. American Antiquity. 32:535–538.Google Scholar
Carter, G. F. 1945 Plant Geography and Culture History in the American Southwest. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology. 5.Google Scholar
Carter, G. F. 1950 Plant Evidence for Early Contacts with America. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 6:161–182.Google Scholar
Clausen, R. T. 1944 A Botanical Study of the Yam Beans (Pachyrrhizus). Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. Memoir 264.Google Scholar
Collier, Donald 1961 Agriculture and Civilization on the Coast of Peru, in Symposium on the Evolution of Horticultural Systems in Native South America. Anthropologica Supplement 2:101–109.Google Scholar
Collins, J. L. 1951 Antiquity of the Pineapple in America. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology. 7:145–155.Google Scholar
Collins, J. L. 1960 The Pineapple. Botany, Cultivation and Utilization. New York and London.Google Scholar
Correll, Donovan 1962 The Potato and Its Wild Relatives. Renner, Texas.Google Scholar
Cuatrecasas, José 1964 Cacao and Its Allies, A Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Theobroma. Contributions United States National Herbarium. 35:379–614.Google Scholar
Cutler, H. C. 1946 Races of Maize in South America. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 12:257–291.Google Scholar
Cutler, H. C. 1954 Food Sources in the New World. Agricultural History 28:43–49. Reprinted (1962) in Readings in Cultural Geography. P. L. Wagner and M. M. Mikesell, eds. Chicago.Google Scholar
Cutler, H. C. 1965 Corn and Cucurbits. In: A Survey and Excavation of Caves in Hidalgo County, New Mexico, by M. F. Lambert and J. R. Ambler. School of American Research Monograph 25. Sante Fe.Google Scholar
Cutler, H. C. and Anderson, Edgar 1941 A Preliminary Survey of the Genus Tripsacum. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 28:249–269.Google Scholar
Anderson, Edgar and Cárdenas, Martín 1947 Chicha, a Native South American Beer. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 13:33–60.Google Scholar
Cárdenas, Martín and Whitaker, T. W. 1961 History and Distribution of the Cultivated Cucurbits in the Americas. American Antiquity. 26:469–486.Google Scholar
Whitaker, T. W. and Whitaker, T. W. 1967 Cucurbits from the Tehuacán Caves. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:212–219.Google Scholar
Darlington, C. D. 1963 Chromosome Botany and the Origins of Cultivated Plants. 2nd ed. New York and London.Google Scholar
Engel, Frederick 1963 A Preceramic Settlement on the Central Coast of Peru. Asia, Unit 1. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 53:3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fryxell, P. A. 1965 Stages in the Evolution of Gossypium L. Advancing Frontiers of Plant Sciences. 10:31–56.Google Scholar
Gilmore, R. M. 1950 Fauna and Ethnozoology of South America. In: Handbook of South American Indians, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143, 6:345–464.Google Scholar
Goodspeed, T. H. 1954 The Genus Nicotina. Chronica Botanica. 16:1–536.Google Scholar
Grant, U. J., Hatheway, W. H., Timothy, D. H., Cassalett D., C. and Roberts, L. M. 1963 Races of Maize in Venezuela, National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 1136.Google Scholar
Grobman, A., Salhuana, W., and Sevilla, R. in collaboration with Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1961 Races of Maize in Peru and Origins, Evolutions, and Classification. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 915.Google Scholar
Harlan, J. R. 1966 Plant Introduction and Biosystematics. In: Plant Breeding, K. J. Frey, ed., Ames. 55–83.Google Scholar
Harris, D. R. 1967 New Light on Plant Domestication and Origins of Agriculture: A Review. Geographical Review. 57: 1, 90–107.Google Scholar
Hatheway, W. H. 1957 Races of Maize in Cuba. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 453.Google Scholar
Heiser, C. B. Jr. 1963 Contributions of the Indians of America to Agriculture. In: Principal Papers, 10th Annual Pan American Festival, April 1963, Latin American Institute, Southern Illinois University. 4—10.Google Scholar
Heiser, C. B. Jr. 1964 Origin and Variability of the Pepino (Solarium muricatum): A Preliminary Report. Baileya 12:151–158.Google Scholar
Heiser, C. B. Jr. 1965 Cultivated Plants and Cultural Diffusions in Nuclear America. American Anthropologist. 67: 4, 930–949.Google Scholar
Helbaek, Hans 1963 Palaeo-Ethnobotany, In: Science in Archaeology, Don Brothwell and Eric Higgs, eds. New York.Google Scholar
Hodge, W. H. 1951 Three Native Tuber Foods of the High Andes. Economy Botany. 5: 2, 185–201. 1954 The Edible Arracacha: A Little Known Root Crop of the Andes. Economic Botany. 8:195–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchinson, J. B., ed. 1965 Essays on Plant Crop Evolution. London.Google Scholar
Irvin, Henry, and Barghoorn, E. S. 1965 Identification of the Pollen of Maize, Teosinte and Tripsacum by Phase Contrast Microscopy. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 21:37–57.Google Scholar
Jenkins, J. A. 1948 The Origin of the Cultivated Tomato. Economic Botany 2:379–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johannessen, C. L. 1957 Man's Role in the Distribution of the Corozo Palm (Orbignya spp.) Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers. 19:29–33.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence 1967 Archaeological Phaseolus from Tehuacán. In: Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:201–211.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Lawrence and Macneish, R. S. 1960 Prehistoric Bean Remains from Caves in the Ocampo Region of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 19:33–56.Google Scholar
Krapovickas, Antonio, and Rigoni, V. A. 1957 Nuevas especies de Arachis vinculadas al problema del origen del mani. Darwiniana 11:431–455. San Isidro, Argentina.Google Scholar
Krapovickas, Antonio, and Rigoni, V. A. 1960 La nomenclatura de las subespecies y variedades de Archis hypogaea L. Revista de Investigaciones Agrícolas. 14:197–228. Buenos Aires.Google Scholar
Lanning, E. P. 1965 Early Man in Peru. Scientific American. 214: 4, 68–76. 1967 Peru Before the Incas. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.Google Scholar
León, Jorge 1964 Plantas alimenticias andinas. Instituto Interamericano de Ciencias Agrícolas, Zona Andina. Boletín Técnico 6.Google Scholar
Lundell, C. L. 1939 Plants Probably Utilized by the Old Empire Maya of Petén and Adjacent Lowlands. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters. 24:37–56.Google Scholar
Mackie, W. W. 1943 Origin, Dispersal, and Variability of the Lima Bean, Phaseolus lunatus. Hilgardia. 15:1–29.Google Scholar
Macneish, R. S. 1964a Ancient Mesoamerican Civilization. Science. 143:531–537.Google Scholar
Macneish, R. S. 1964b The Origins of New World Civilization. Scientific American. 211: 5, 29–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macneish, R. S. 1967a An Interdisciplinary Approach to an Archaeological Problem. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:14–24.Google Scholar
Macneish, R. S. 1967b A Summary of the Subsistence. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. Byers, D. S., ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:290–310.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., Dick, H. W., and Cámara-Hernández, Julián 1967 Bat Cave Revisited. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 22:1–31.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., Macneish, R. S., and Galinat, W. C. 1964 Domestication of Corn. Science. 143:538–545.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., Macneish, R. S., and Galinat, W. C. 1967a Prehistoric Wild and Cultivated Maize. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:178–200.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., Macneish, R. S., and Galinat, W. C. 1967b Prehistoric Maize, Teosinte, and Tripsacum from Tamaulipas, Mexico, Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 22:33–63.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., Macneish, R. S., and Wiley, G. R. 1964 Origins of Agriculture in Middle America. In: Natural Environment and Early Cultures. Robert Wauchope, gen. ed., Handbook of Middle American Indians. 1:427–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., and Reeves, R. G. 1939 The Origin of Indian Corn and its Relatives. Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 574. 1959 The Origin of Corn. Science. 18:329–440.Google Scholar
Mangelsdorf, P. C., and Sanoja O., M. 1965 Early Archaeological Maize from Venezuela. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 21:105–112.Google Scholar
Patino, V. M. 1963 Plantas cultivadas y animales domésticos en América equinoccial. 2 Vols. Cali, Colombia.Google Scholar
Phillips, L. L. 1963 The Cytogenetics of Gossypium and the Origin of New World Cottons. Evolution. 17:460–469.Google Scholar
Ramírez, E. R., Timothy, D. H., Díaz, E., B., and U. J. Grant in collaboration with G. E. Nicholson C., Edgar Anderson, and W. L. Brown 1960 Races of Maize in Colombia. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 747.Google Scholar
Roberts, L. M., Grant, U. J., Ramírez E., R., Hatheway, W. H., and Smith, D. L. in collaboration with Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1957 Races of Maize in Colombia. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 510.Google Scholar
Rogers, D. J. 1963 Studies of Manihot esculenta Crantz and Related Species. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club. 90:43–54.Google Scholar
Rogers, D. J. 1965 Some Botanical and Ethnological Considerations of Manihot esculenta. Economic Botany. 19:369–377.Google Scholar
Sauer, C. O. 1950 Cultivated Plants of South and Central America. In: Handbook of South American Indians. J. H. Steward, ed., Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. 143: 6,487–543.Google Scholar
Sauer, C. O. 1952 Agricultural Origins and Dispersals. Amer. Geog. Soc. Bowman Memorial Lectures. Ser. 2. New York.Google Scholar
Sauer, C. O. 1965 Cultural Faactors in Plant Domestication in the New World. Euphytica 14:301–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sauer, J. D. 1964 Revision of Canavallia. Brittonia, 16:106–181.Google Scholar
Sauer, J. D. 1967 The Grain Amaranths and their Relatives: A Revised Taxonomic and Geographic Survey. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 54:103–137.Google Scholar
Schwanitz, Franz 1967 Die Evolution der Kulturpflanzen. Bayerischer Landwirtschaftsverlag. Munich.Google Scholar
Shultes, R. E. and Cuatrecasas, J. 1953 Notes on the Cultivated Lulo. Botanical Museum (Harvard) Leaflets. 16:97–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C. E. Jr. 1967 Plant Remains. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation, Andover. 1:220–255.Google Scholar
Smith, C. E. Jr. 1968a Archeological Evidence for Selection of Chupandilla and Cosahuico under Cultivation in Mexico. Economic Botany. 22:140–148.Google Scholar
Smith, C. E. Jr. 1968b New World Centers of Origin of Cultivated Plants and the Archeological Evidence, Economic Botany. 22:253–266.Google Scholar
Stephens, S. G. 1966 The Potentiality for Long Range Oceanic Dispersal of Cotton Seeds. American Naturalist. 100:199–210.Google Scholar
Stephens, S. G. 1967 A Cotton Boll Segment from Coxcatlan Cave. In: The Prehistory of Tehuacán Valley. D. S. Byers, ed., R. S. Peabody Foundation. Andover. 1:256–260.Google Scholar
Timothy, D. H., Hatheway, W. H., Grant, U. J., Torregroza C., M., Sarria V., D., and Varela A., D. Races of Maize in Ecuador. National Academy of Sciences- National Research Council Publication No. 975.Google Scholar
Timothy, D. H., Peña V., B., and Ramírez E., R. in collaboration with Brown, W. L. and Anderson, Edgar 1961 Races of Maize in Chile. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 847.Google Scholar
Towle, M. A. 1961 The Ethnobotany of Pre-Columbian Peru. Viking Fund Publication in Anthropology 30.Google Scholar
Vavilov, N. I. 1931 Mexico and Central America as the Principal Centre of Origin of Cultivated Plants of the New World. Bulletin of Applied Botany, Genetics, and Plant Breeding. 26: 3, 135–178 (Russian), 179–199 (English). Leningrad.Google Scholar
Vavilov, N. I. 1951 The Origin, Variation, Immunity and Breeding of Cultivated Plants. Selected writings translated from the Russian by K. S. Chester. Chronica Botanica. 13:1–6: 1–366.Google Scholar
Wagner, Erika 1967 Prehistory and Ethnohistory of the Carache Area in Western Venezuela. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, No. 71.Google Scholar
Wellhausen, E. J., Fuentes O., A., and Hernández Corzo, A. in collaboration with Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1957 Races of Maize in Central America. National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council Publication No. 511.Google Scholar
Wellhausen, E. J., Roberts, L. M., and Hernández X, E., in collaboration with Mangelsdorf, P. C. 1952 Races of Maize in Mexico. The Bussey Institution of Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Whitaker, T. W. and Bird, J. B. 1949 Identification and Significance of the Cucurbit Materials from Huaca Prieta, Peru. American Museum Novitiates. 1426:1–15.Google Scholar
Whitaker, T. W. and Carter, G. F. 1961 A Note on the Longevity of Seed of Lagenaria siceraria (Mol.) Standley after Floating in Sea Water. Torrey Botanical Club Bulletin. 88:104–106.Google Scholar
Whitaker, T. W. and Cutler, H. C. 1966 Food Plants in a Mexican Market. Economic Botany. 20:6–16.Google Scholar
Whitaker, T. W., Cutler, H. C. and Macneish, R. S. 1957 Cucurbit Materials from Three Caves near Ocampo, Tamaulipas. American Antiquity. 22:352–358.Google Scholar
Whitaker, T. W. and Davis, G. N. 1962 Cucurbits: Botany, Cultivation, and Utilization. London.Google Scholar
Wilkes, H. G. 1967 Teosinte: The Closest Relative of Maize. The Bussey Institution of Harvard University. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Zhiteneva, N. E. 1930 Survey of the Principal Literature on the Systematics of Pumpkins and Squashes. Bulletin of Applied Botany. Genetics, and Plant Breeding. 23: 3, 343–356. Leningrad.Google Scholar