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  • From: "Kevin Ancell" <kancell AT goodearthgardens.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Early Farmers
  • Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 06:38:08 -0500


Early Mexican Settlers Were Farmers


May 17, 2001



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By PAUL RECER

AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation -
Ancient farmers in a lost civilization grew corn-like plants on a Mexican
coastal plain more than 6,000 years ago. Researchers say traces of pollen
from the crude grain may be the earliest evidence of maize farming in North
America.

Researchers dug deep pits in fields just off the Gulf of Mexico near San
Andres in Mexico and sieved tons of dirt to find traces of an agricultural
civilization that spent thousands of years growing crops and cultivating
crude grains that later were developed into corn.

``We know nothing about these people, but we know they were growing crops
long before people there were thought to be farmers,'' said John G. Jones, a
Texas A&M researcher and co-author of a study appearing Friday in the
journal Science. ``These were hunters and gatherers who also planted
crops.''

Jones said the scientists found pollen from plants in the botanical family
known as Zea that includes teosinte and maize, the ancestors of modern corn.

``The pollen we found cannot be identified beyond the genus of Zea,'' Jones
said. ``We believe it may have been maize in the process of becoming
domesticated.''

The researchers found traces of charcoal, such as from domestic fires, but
no bones, tools or other clues to the ancient farmers, Jones said.

Zea is thought to have originated in western Mexico, far from the gulf site.
Finding the pollen so distant from its native habitat, Jones said, is proof
that people transported seed from the west and then planted it when they
settled at a site in what is now the Mexican state of Tabasco.

Jones said that ancient farmers selectively bred Zea plants over thousands
of years until it finally evolved into the familiar corn, with rows of seeds
on a cob. Eventually maize or corn became a common crop throughout the
prehistoric Americas.

But when the ancient farmers first were planting it, Jones said, Zea was
just a type of grass with large seeds that provided a dependable source of
food.

Jones said the pollen for corn's ancestor was found in sediments dated at
5100 B.C. Jones said this may be the oldest evidence yet of cultivation in
the Americas and certainly predates other known farming of cornlike plants.

The researchers also found pollen that suggests the ancient farmers may have
been the first to domesticate sunflowers as a food crop. The pollen was
dated at 4,000 years.

Also found was the pollen of cotton. It was dated at 2500 B.C.

Jones said the pollen was found in a basin that apparently trapped water and
debris washed out of an adjacent field. The pollen was found in different
sediment layers, each carefully dated, down to 24 feet below the surface.

The researchers used radiocarbon techniques to age-date the soil and bits of
wood at each sediment level. They then keyed the resulting ages to the
pollen found at that level.

Jones said the research team, which included six other scientists, has not
found any tools, shelters or bones that would give clues about the ancient
farmers. More digging in the area is planned.

Gayle J. Fritz, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis,
said it is clear that Jones and his group have found the oldest evidence for
the cultivation of sunflowers. She is less certain about the conclusions
about maize.

``There was a lot of maize grown at that site in later years,'' she said,
noting that is possible that pollen from more recent production was mixed
with soil samples from an earlier time. This would distort the dates, Fritz
said.

``This is excellent work, but I would be more comfortable about the dates if
they excavate a cob and get direct dates from it,'' She said.

Pollen is notoriously difficult to date, she noted, adding that other
researchers have gotten solid radiocarbon dates of 4300 B.C. from corn cobs
uncovered in a site south of Mexico City.

Jones said the farmers in the Tabasco area would have predated by thousands
of years the Mayans, a famous civilization that built temples, pyramids and
large cities in areas of the nearby Yucatan.

^___=

On the Net:

Science journal: http://www.eurekalert.org









  • Early Farmers, Kevin Ancell, 05/18/2001

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