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Identifying water availability with maize phytoliths in Range Creek Canyon, Utah
Abstract
In arid and semi-arid regions, systems of water management and irrigation are crucial for successful crop production, and therefore provide valuable information regarding human behavior and the environmental constraints under which they operated. Unfortunately, structural evidence of irrigation can be difficult to locate, prompting various studies to evaluate the utility of phytolith analysis as a means of identifying past water availability. Evidence suggests the ratio of long-cell to short-cell phytoliths is an effective measure of relative water availability in some important economic crops such as wheat, barley, and sorghum. Expanding on this, the present research applies a similar method of analysis to determine the utility of maize (Zea mays) phytoliths for understanding past water availability. Experimental maize crops receiving different amounts of irrigation were grown in Range Creek Canyon, Utah, a canyon in the northern Colorado Plateau occupied by Fremont populations most heavily from around 800-1100BP. The production of long-cell and short-cell phytoliths from maize leaves, husks, and tassels is analyzed using statistical modeling. Results suggest the ratio of long-cell to short-cell phytoliths in maize increases as a function of increased water availability. The statistical models indicate maize phytoliths are an effective tool for inferring past water availability. By examining maize phytolith assemblages from archaeological contexts, analyzing the inferred available water, and comparing to relative climate and precipitation records, systems of irrigation can be identified and better understood.
... Jenkins et al. (2020) proposed for the first time to apply the same ratio to sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), with positive results. The same ratio has been exploited by Ermish and Boomgarden (2022), who tested how sensitive to fixed phytoliths ratio and long-cells proportion of maize (Zea Mays L.) respond to wet-dry conditions (Ermish and Boomgarden, 2022). The results highlighted strong differences between well irrigated and less-irrigated C₄ crops, proving that the methodology is effective even in crops with reduced water availability. ...
... Jenkins et al. (2020) proposed for the first time to apply the same ratio to sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench), with positive results. The same ratio has been exploited by Ermish and Boomgarden (2022), who tested how sensitive to fixed phytoliths ratio and long-cells proportion of maize (Zea Mays L.) respond to wet-dry conditions (Ermish and Boomgarden, 2022). The results highlighted strong differences between well irrigated and less-irrigated C₄ crops, proving that the methodology is effective even in crops with reduced water availability. ...
... Although the concentration of phytoliths gives us a more precise measure of the accumulation of each morphotype in relation to the biomass analyzed, the percentage allows not only to compare the results with other studies, but above all, with the archeological assemblage, whose concentration does not correspond with the concentration of phytoliths derived from modern samples. To the percentages of the individual morphotypes, the ratio of sensitive to fixed phytoliths, which had yielded positive results in previous publications (Ermish and Boomgarden, 2022;Jenkins et al., 2020) was also added to the model. Logistic regressions were used to evaluate the chance that archeological samples grew in WW or WS conditions (Bruce et al., 2020). ...
The interpretation of crop water management practices has been central to the archeological debate on agricultural strategies and is crucial where the type of water strategy can provide fundamental explanations for the adoption and use of specific crops. Traces of water administration are difficult to detect and are mostly indirect, in the form of water harvesting or distribution structures. Attempts have been made to infer plant water availability directly from archaeobotanical remains. Current evidence suggests that the ratio of sensitive to fixed phytolith morphotypes can be used as a proxy for water availability in C₃ crops, as well as in sorghum and maize. Nevertheless, the controversy on whether genetically and environmentally controlled mechanisms of biosilica deposition are directly connected to water availability in C₄ crops is open, and several species remain to be tested for their phytolith production in relation to water levels. This research aims at clarifying whether leaf phytolith assemblages and concentration, silica skeleton size and ratio of sensitive to fixed morphotypes can be related to different water regimes in Eleusine coracana Gaertn., Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br., and Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench. We cultivated 5 traditional landraces for each species in lysimeters, under different watering conditions and analyzed their phytolith content/production in leaves. Results show higher proportions of long cells, bulliforms and stomata produced in well water conditions. The model built on the basis of phytolith composition has been then applied to interpret archeological phytolith assemblages recovered from a single phase at four different sites of the Indus Civilisation: Harappa, Kanmer, Shikarpur and Alamgirpur. The results show that most probably C4 crops grew under water stress conditions, providing new data on the interpretation of ancient agricultural management in the Indus Valley.
Modern plant tissues are often processed for phytolith analysis. They represent a fundamental source of comparison for archeological and palaeoenvironmental phytolith assemblages; they efficiently serve for morphological studies of phytolith shapes and dimensions and, in the last two decades, they have been increasingly involved in physiological studies, which aim to understand the functioning of Si absorption in plants. Here we present a relatively fast, safe, and inexpensive phytolith extraction, combining a dry ashing technique followed by wet oxidation, and a counting methodology. This protocol offers an optimized strategy that achieves very pure samples, preservation of a high number of silica skeletons (phytoliths in anatomical connection), and a counting method which assures the richness and the evenness of the phytolith assemblage distribution. 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Longstaffe. 2002. ‘Climatic Influences on the Oxygen Isotopic Composition of Biogenic Silica in Prairie Grass’.Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta66 (11): 1891–1904.https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(02)00822-0 Webb, Elizabeth A. 2010. ‘Limitations on the Climatic and Ecological Signals Provided by the Δ13C Values of Phytoliths from a C4 North American Prairie Grass’.Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta74 (June): 3041–50.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2010.03.006 -Yang, Shilei, Qian Hao, Hailong Wang, Lukas Van Zwieten, Changxun Yu, Taoze Liu, Xiaomin Yang, Xiaodong Zhang, and Zhaoliang Song. 2020.‘A Review of Carbon Isotopes of Phytoliths: Implications for Phytolith-Occluded Carbon Sources’.Journal of Soils and Sediments.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-019-02548-4 -Zancajo, Victor M. R., Sabrina Diehn, Nurit Filiba, Gil Goobes, Janina Kneipp, and Rivka Elbaum. 2019. ‘Spectroscopic Discrimination of Sorghum Silica Phytoliths’.Frontiers in Plant Science10.https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.01571 -Zurro, Debora. 2018. ‘One, Two, Three Phytoliths: Assessing the Minimum Phytolith Sum for Archaeological Studies’.Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences10 (October): 1673–91.https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-017-0479-4 -Zurro, Débora, Juan José García-Granero, Carla Lancelotti, and Marco Madella. 2016. ‘Directions in Current and Future Phytolith Research’.Journal of Archaeological Science68 (April): 112–17.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2015.11.014
We present the results of the analysis of phytoliths, grain size and organic matter content (LOI550℃), and AMS 14C dating of sedimentary profiles and individual archaeological samples from the Changshan site in Jilin Province, Northeast (NE) China. Our aim was to elucidate the origins of agriculture in the East Liao River Basin. The results indicate that there were two intervals during which prehistoric culture flourished at the Changshan site: ~ 6,500–5,600 cal years BP in the Neolithic, and ~ 3,700–2,750 cal years BP in the Bronze Age. Abundant η-type husk phytoliths from common millet and a few Ω-type husk phytoliths from foxtail millet found at the Changshan site provide direct evidence for prehistoric agriculture during these two periods. Prehistoric agriculture was practiced together with hunting and fishing, which were part of a multi-subsistence strategy. The relatively warm and wet climate during ~ 6,500–5,600 cal years BP and ~ 3,700–2,750 cal years BP promoted the prosperity of the local culture, together with cultural interchange, and the climatic conditions also encouraged the dispersal of early agriculture in the East Liao River Basin. In addition, archaeological excavations have shown that there was frequent interchange and interaction among prehistoric cultures in NE China, and we hypothesize that the Liao River Basin was the main routeway for cultural interchange and the dispersal of prehistoric agriculture in NE China.
A wealth of information on the patterns of human subsistence and plant domestication has been generated from studies on maize (Zea mays) starch granules. However, very little work has been conducted on how the size and morphology of those granules might change as a function of water stress during the growing season. In the arid Southwest, the role of irrigation in growing maize is an essential parameter in many foraging models. Our study seeks to determine if there are significant changes in the size and other morphological attributes of starch granules from maize planted at Range Creek Canyon under two different irrigation regimes ranging from little water (once every three weeks) to ample water (once a day). Our results provide data on the effects of irrigation on Z. mays starch granules and, therefore, have implications for identifying archaeological maize and possibly determining past water regimes at Range Creek Canyon.
The environmental impact of the ancient Maya, and subsequent ecological recovery following the Terminal Classic decline, have been the key foci of research into socio-ecological interactions in the Yucatán peninsula. These foci, however, belie the complex pattern of resource exploitation and agriculture associated with post-Classic Maya societies and European colonisation. We present a high-resolution, 1200-year record of pollen and charcoal data from a 52-cm short core extracted from New River Lagoon, near to the European settlement of Indian Church, northern Belize. This study complements and extends a previous 3500-year reconstruction of past environmental change, located 1-km north of the new record and adjacent to the ancient Maya site of Lamanai. This current study shows a mixed crop production and palm agroforestry management strategy of the ancient Maya, which corroborates previous evidence at Lamanai. Comparison of the two records suggests that core agricultural and agroforestry activities shifted southwards, away from the centre of Lamanai, beginning at the post-Classic period. The new record also demonstrates that significant changes in land-use were not associated with drought at the Terminal Classic (ca. CE 1000) or the European Encounter (ca. CE 1500), but instead resulted from social and cultural change in the post-Classic period (CE 1200) and new economies associated with the British timber trade (CE 1680). The changes in land-use documented in two adjacent records from the New River Lagoon underline the need to reconstruct human-environment interactions using multiple, spatially, and temporally diverse records.
Predictive models are central to both archaeological research and cultural resource management. Yet, archaeological applications of predictive models are often insufficient due to small training data sets, inadequate statistical techniques, and a lack of theoretical insight to explain the responses of past land use to predictor variables. Here we address these critiques and evaluate the predictive power of four statistical approaches widely used in ecological modeling—generalized linear models, generalized additive models, maximum entropy, and random forests—to predict the locations of Formative Period (2100–650 BP) archaeological sites in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. We assess each modeling approach using a threshold-independent measure, the area under the curve (AUC), and threshold-dependent measures, like the true skill statistic. We find that the majority of the modeling approaches struggle with archaeological datasets due to the frequent lack of true-absence locations, which violates model assumptions of generalized linear models, generalized additive models, and random forests, as well as measures of their predictive power (AUC). Maximum entropy is the only method tested here which is capable of utilizing pseudo-absence points (inferred absence data based on known presence data) and controlling for a non-representative sampling of the landscape, thus making maximum entropy the best modeling approach for common archaeological data when the goal is prediction. Regression-based approaches may be more applicable when prediction is not the goal, given their grounding in well-established statistical theory. Random forests, while the most powerful, is not applicable to archaeological data except in the rare case where true-absence data exist. Our results have significant implications for the application of predictive models by archaeologists for research and conservation purposes and highlight the importance of understanding model assumptions.
Maize is a cultigen of global economic importance, but when it first became a staple grain in the Americas, was unknown and contested. Here, we report direct isotopic dietary evidence from 52 radiocarbon-dated human skeletons from two remarkably well-preserved rock-shelter contexts in the Maya Mountains of Belize spanning the past 10,000 years. Individuals dating before ~4700 calendar years before present (cal B.P.) show no clear evidence for the consumption of maize. Evidence for substantial maize consumption (~30% of total diet) appears in some individuals between 4700 and 4000 cal B.P. Isotopic evidence after 4000 cal B.P. indicates that maize became a persistently used staple grain comparable in dietary significance to later maize agriculturalists in the region (>70% of total diet). These data provide the earliest definitive evidence for maize as a staple grain in the Americas.
In 1928, Noel Morss was shown “irrigation ditches” along Pleasant Creek on the Dixie National Forest near Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, by a local guide who contended they were ancient. We relocated the site and mapped the route of an unusual mountain irrigation canal. We conducted excavations and employed OSL and AMS ¹⁴ C showing historic irrigation, and an earlier event between AD 1460 and 1636. Geomorphic evidence indicates that the canal existed prior to this time, but we cannot date its original construction. The canal is 7.2 km long, originating at 2,450 m asl and terminating at 2,170 m asl. Less than half of the system was hand constructed. We cannot ascribe the prehistoric use-event to an archaeological culture, language, or ethnic group, but the 100+ sites nearby are largely Fremont in cultural affiliation. We also report the results of experimental modeling of the capital and maintenance costs of the system, which holds implications for irrigation north of the Colorado River and farming during the Little Ice Age. The age of the prehistoric canal is consistent with a fragmentary abandonment of farming and continuity between ancient and modern tribes in Utah.
Background:
Opal phytoliths (microscopic silica bodies produced in and between the cells of many plants) are a very resilient, often preserved type of plant microfossil. With the exponentially growing number of phytolith studies, standardization of phytolith morphotype names and description is essential. As a first effort in standardization, the International Code for Phytolith Nomenclature 1.0 was published by the ICPN Working Group in Annals of Botany in 2005. A decade of use of the code has prompted the need to revise, update, expand and improve it.
Scope:
ICPN 2.0 formulates the principles recommended for naming and describing phytolith morphotypes. According to these principles, it presents the revised names, diagnosis, images and drawings of the morphotypes that were included in ICPN 1.0, plus three others. These 19 morphotypes are those most commonly encountered in phytolith assemblages from modern and fossil soils, sediments and archaeological deposits. An illustrated glossary of common terms for description is also provided.
Silica is deposited extra- and intracellularly in plants in solid form, as phytoliths. Phytoliths have emerged as accepted taxonomic tools and proxies for reconstructing ancient flora, agricultural economies, environment, and climate. The discovery of silicon transporter genes has aided in the understanding of the mechanism of silicon transport and deposition within the plant body and reconstructing plant phylogeny that is based on the ability of plants to accumulate silica. However, a precise understanding of the process of silica deposition and the formation of phytoliths is still an enigma and the information regarding the proteins that are involved in plant biosilicification is still scarce. With the observation of various shapes and morphologies of phytoliths, it is essential to understand which factors control this mechanism. During the last two decades, significant research has been done in this regard and silicon research has expanded as an Earth-life science superdiscipline. We review and integrate the recent knowledge and concepts on the uptake and transport of silica and its deposition as phytoliths in plants. We also discuss how different factors define the shape, size, and chemistry of the phytoliths and how biosilicification evolved in plants. The role of channel-type and efflux silicon transporters, proline-rich proteins, and siliplant1 protein in transport and deposition of silica is presented. The role of phytoliths against biotic and abiotic stress, as mechanical barriers, and their use as taxonomic tools and proxies, is highlighted.
A series of farming experiments was conducted between 2013 and 2017 in Range Creek Canyon, Utah, to better understand the opportunities and constraints faced by prehistoric farmers in the Southwest. The experiments were designed to collect data on the optimal amount of supplemental water that should be applied to maize fields given the costs in labor and benefits in greater yield. We investigate expected variation in water management strategies using an optimal irrigation model (OIM). The model makes clear that the payoff for farming is best understood as a continuum of relative success and that irrigation is one activity (probably of many) that may improve farming efficiency as well as increase harvest yields. The optimal harvest will always be less than the maximum harvest when there are significant operating costs associated with irrigation. Estimating the costs and benefits of irrigation in a specific area allows for an assessment of whether irrigation is expected, and if so, how much effort should be devoted to water management. A local dendroclimatological study is used to provide the prehistoric context for the Fremont who occupied Range Creek Canyon, and irrigation is expected even in periods of greater precipitation.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-antiquity/article/an-optimal-irrigation-model-theory-experimental-results-and-implications-for-future-research/DF0CBBF86DF131028AA44DFA154DC4F8/share/7ccaff6cb4d6ef5e49110dadb518d6933946da73
We explore the concept of scales to examine emerging irrigation realities, i.e., connecting more agents within larger spaces - relates to the complexity of irrigation systems. Modern hydraulic models allow the inclusion of emerging multi-scale issues over time, including social issues related to different spatial and temporal scales. We show that the time needed to manage irrigation efficiently relates to the size of a system. By reconstructing ancient Hohokam irrigation systems in Arizona, we identify how longer-term extension of spatial scales created management problems beyond the scope of available technology. This approach allows greater understanding of how stresses in daily irrigation management may have impacted longer-term societal stability.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1007/s10745-018-0023-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Significance
Starch granules of Solanum jamesii extracted from ground stone tools establish wild potato use as early as 10,900–10,100 calendar years B.P. in southern Utah. This discovery is the earliest documented use of potatoes in North America, an important energy source that has been largely undervalued or even ignored when diet breadth analyses and optimal foraging theory have been applied in archaeological studies. Younger deposits also contained tools with S. jamesii granules, indicating at least 4,000 years of intermittent use. Ethnographic and historical accounts from the region extend the period of use to more than 10,000 years. Given this long prehistory and history, the question arises as to whether some S. jamesii populations could have undergone transport, cultivation, and eventual domestication over such a long period of time.
Prehistoric farmers in arid and semi-arid regions required irrigation to raise their crops. This was true for the Fremont that occupied Range Creek Canyon. Maize farming was important in Range Creek Canyon based on the frequent occurrence of food storage features and maize cobs, as well as the presence of maize starch on grinding surfaces and evidence of buried farm fields discovered in sediment cores. In order to understand the costs of simple surface irrigation, an experiment was conducted over two summers designed to collect empirical data on the time required to construct and maintain a diversion dam and associated irrigation ditches. The irrigation system was constructed using only simple tools and materials available onsite. Compared to similar experiments, our overall costs of construction are likely lower due to the fine-grained alluvial sediments and the shallow stream channel where we conducted the experiment. Our results indicate irrigation costs can range from small to large depending on a number of characteristics of the water source and surrounding terrain.
Water management was critical to the development of complex societies but such systems are often difficult, if not impossible, to recognise in the archaeological record, particularly in prehistoric communities when water management began. This is because early irrigation systems are likely to have been ephemeral and as such would no longer be visible in the archaeological record. We conducted a three year crop growing experiment in Jordan to test the hypothesis that phytoliths (opaline silica bodies formed in plants) can be used to detect the level of past water availability and hence be used as a source of information for inferring past water management. Over a three year period we grew native land races of six-row barley (Hordeum vulgare) and durum wheat (Triticum durum) at three crop growing stations in Jordan with the crops being subjected to different irrigation regimes. Seeds were sown in the autumn and the crops harvested in the spring. The plants were then exported to the University of Reading for phytolith processing. Our results show that while there were unknown factors that influenced phytolith production between years, at the higher levels, the ratio of 'fixed' form phytoliths (those formed as a result of genetically determined silicon uptake) to 'sensitive' form phytoliths (those whose silicon uptake is environmentally controlled) can be used to assess past water availability. Our study is the first large scale experimental project to test this method and take into account multiple variables that can affect phytolith production such as soil composition and chemistry, location, climate and evapotranspiration rates. Results from the cereals grown at two of the crop growing stations, Deir 'Alla and Ramtha, which received between 100 mm and 250 mm rainfall per annum, demonstrate that if the ratio of fixed to sensitive phytolith forms is >1, the level of past water availability can be predicted with 80% confidence. Results from the crops grown at the other growing station, Kherbet as-Samra, which received less than 100 mm of rainfall per year show that if the ratio of fixed to sensitive forms is >0.5, the level of past water availability can be predicted with 99% confidence. This demonstrates that phytolith analysis can be used as a method to identify past water availability.
Abstract
Water is arguably the most important resource for successful crop production in the Southwest. In this dissertation, I examine the economic tradeoffs involved in dry farming maize vs. maize farming using simple surface irrigation for the Fremont farmers who occupied Range Creek Canyon, east-central Utah from AD 900 to 1200. To understand the costs and benefits of irrigation in the past, maize farming experiments are conducted. The experiments focus on the differences in edible grain yield as the amount of irrigation water is varied between farm plots. The temperature and precipitation were tracked along with the growth stages of the experimental crop. The weight of experimental harvest increased in each plot as the number of irrigations increased. The benefits of irrigation are clear, higher yields.
The modern environmental constraints on farming in the canyon (precipitation, temperature, soils, and amount of arable land) were reconstructed to empirically scale variability in current maize farming productivity along the valley floor based on the results of the experimental crop. The results of farming productivity under modern environmental constraints are compared to the past using a tree-ring sequence to reconstruct water availability during the Fremont occupation of Range Creek Canyon. The reconstruction of past precipitation using tree ring data show that dry farming would have been extremely difficult during the period AD 900-1200 in Range Creek Canyon. Archaeological evidence indicates that the Fremont people were farming during this period suggesting irrigation was used to supplement precipitation shortfalls.
Large amounts of contiguous arable land, highly suitable for irrigation farming, are identified along the valley bottom. The distribution of residential sites and associated surface rock alignment features are analyzed to determine whether the Fremont located themselves in close proximity to these areas identified as highly suitable for irrigation farming. Seventy-five percent of the residential sites in Range Creek Canyon are located near the five loci identified as highly suitable for irrigation farming.
Analyses of the size, shape, and wear on western Mogollon manos and reveal that the dietary importance of maize remained low and stable from the Early Pithouse period (A.D. 200-550) through the Georgetown phase (A.D. 550-700). The consumption of maize increased during the San Francisco phase (A.D. 700-825/850) and continued to increase through the Three Circle phase (A.D. 825/850-1000). Changes in the ubiquity of charred pieces of maize (Zea mays) form paleoethnobotanical samples also indicate an increase in maize consumption for the Early Pithouse period through the Three Circle phase. The onset of increase maize consumption roughly coincided with the introduction of an improved variety of eight-row maize, around A.D. 650-700 (Upham et al. 1987). The analyses presented in this study do not agree with recent suggestions (Gilman 1987; Mauldin 1991) that maize consumption in the wester Mogollon region remained stable and low until the Classic Mimbres phase (A.D 1000-1150).
In a recent paper in American Antiquity (2002:231-256), Hildebrandt and McGuire argue that archaeofaunal patterns in California document an ascendance of artiodactyl hunting during the Middle Archaic. They also suggest that such a trend is inconsistent with predictions derived from optimal-foraging models. Given the apparent failure of foraging theory, they advance a "showing off" model of large-game hunting. While their presentation is intriguing, we do not see a theoretical warrant for predicting that show-off hunting would have increased during the Middle Archaic. We present here an alternative hypothesis for the increase in artiodactyl abundances and the hunting-related patterns they identify. That hypothesis follows directly from the prey model itself under what appears to have been a dramatic artiodactyl population expansion after the drought-dominated middle Holocene period.///En un artículo reciente en American Antiquity, Hildebrandt y McGuire sostienen que los patrones de archaeofaunas en California documentan un aumento en la cacería de artiodactylos durante el Arcáico medio. También sugieren que tal tendencia es inconsistente con los pronósticos derivados de teoría de forrejeo. Ante este aparente fracaso de la teoría de forrejeo, ellos proponen un modelo de "cacería por prestigio" de caza mayor. Aunque su presentacíon es interesante, no vemos ninguna base teorética para pronosticar que la "cacería por prestigio " hubiera aumentado durante el Arcáico medio. Aquí presentamos una hipótesis alternitiva para explicar el aumento en las abundancias de artiodactylos y los patrones de cacería que esas identifican. Esta hipótesis proviene directamente del mismo modelo de presa bajo lo que parece haber sido una expansíon dramática en la población de artiodactylos después de una época del Holoceno medio dominada por la sequía.
The introduction of maize agriculture into the Southwest and onto the Colorado Plateau was accompanied by irrigation techniques. Twenty-six radiocarbon dates at two sites, K'yana Chabina and K'yawatna'a Deyalchinanne, in the Zuni area of New Mexico, establish the use of irrigation canals to between 3,000 and 1,000 years ago. Associated features and the presence of nearby habitation sites independently corroborate the chronology of canal building. The geomorphology of the Zuni landscape and the morphology of the irrigation canals are consistent with the artificial construction of the canals. Pollen evidence points to an agricultural landscape and the cultivation of maize.
A unique interdisciplinary study of the relationships between climate, hydrology and human society from 20,000 years ago to the present day within the Jordan Valley. It describes how state-of-the-art models can simulate the past, present and future climates of the Near East, reviews and provides new evidence for environmental change from geological deposits, builds hydrological models for the River Jordan and associated wadis and explains how present day urban and rural communities manage their water supply. The volume provides a new approach and new methods that can be applied for exploring the relationships between climate, hydrology and human society in arid and semi-arid regions throughout the world. It is an invaluable reference for researchers and advanced students concerned with the impacts of climate change and hydrology on human society, especially in the Near East.
We evaluate local versus distant land-use models at Neolithic Çatalhöyük, central Anatolia, using strontium isotope analysis of sheep tooth enamel and charred plant remains. Interpretation of strontium in sheep tooth sequences is constrained by previous oxygen isotope work, which largely excludes summer movement to the mountains but cannot distinguish between herding on the plain and the closest upland-zone, Neogene limestone terraces. We establish a baseline contrast in modern plant strontium values between the plain and terraces and infer predominant herding on the plain from seven sheep tooth sequences. Archaeobotanical plant strontium values exclude the use of the terraces for cultivation and foraging. Relatively local crop and sheep management, plausibly intensive and integrated to some degree, given limited dry ground, appears likely on the basis of this pilot study.
Researchers frequently assume that phytolith assemblages in modern soils reflect composition of recent vegetation because of the direct deposition of silica into the soil, once plants decay. This paper tests this assumption and determines whether temperate grasslands of different composition can be reliably detected based on their silica record in topsoil in a controlled experiment. The differences in total biogenic opal concentration (TBOC) and diversity of morphotypes were assessed in the Biodiversity II experiment (E120) at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, Minnesota, USA, where controlled mixtures of C3 grasses, C4 grasses, legumes, non-legume forbs, and woody shrubs (Quercus) were grown for a period of eight years. The plots have been manually maintained to contain the target species, and thus provide an opportunity to test numerous hypotheses regarding phytolith production patterns under diverse mixtures of plants. Soil samples were obtained from plots representing a variety of functional group mixtures. Pinch soil samples of 20 g from 10 random locations inside each plot were obtained. Phytoliths were extracted from each sample by chemically removing organics and carbonates and using heavy liquid flotation. A chemical dissolution method was used to obtain estimates of TBOC. Morphotypes were counted under a microscope. Morphotypes were analyzed on all plots against each other and against the morphotypes expected in the plants that grow on each plot using ANOVAs, linear regression, PCA and cluster analysis. Average above-ground biomass of expected phytolith producers was weakly but positively correlated with the TBOC values (R2 = 0.42). The morphotype analysis showed that species' composition was most accurately reflected in the phytolith assemblages on grass-dominated plots. For example, it was possible to distinguish C3, C4, or mixed grass-dominated plots from each other. Although the majority of phytoliths were from Poaceae, large shares were also from forbs and woody plants. Plots without any grasses still had some presence of grass phytoliths suggesting limited horizontal translocation and/or inheritance.
In this paper, we present a model of prehistoric southwestern Colorado maize productivity. The model is based on a tree-ring reconstruction of water-year precipitation for Mesa Verde for the period A.D. 480 to 2011. Correlation of historic Mesa Verde precipitation with historic precipitation at 11 other weather stations enabled the construction of an elevation-dependent precipitation function. Prehistoric water-year precipitation values for Mesa Verde together with the elevation-dependent precipitation function allowed construction of the elevation of southwest Colorado precipitation contours for each year since A.D. 480, including the 30-cm contour, which represents the minimum amount of precipitation necessary for the production of maize and the 50-cm contour, which represents the optimum amount of precipitation necessary for the production of maize. In this paper, calculations of prehistoric maize productivity and field life for any specific elevation are also demonstrated. These calculations were performed using organic nitrogen measurements made on seven southwestern Colorado soil groups together with values of reconstructed water-year precipitation and estimations of the organic nitrogen mineralization rate.
A vital factor in the rise of the first state societies is the development of complex farming systems employing labour-intensive irrigation. Ancient irrigation is, however, difficult to recognize archaeologically. Here we report a new method for identifying ancient irrigation based on recognizing the increased deposition of silica in irrigated cereals. Our experiments showed that emmer wheat grown with irrigation in semi-arid plots produced phytoliths with greater numbers of silicified cells per phytolith than wheat that was dry-farmed. The presence of such large multi-celled phytoliths in semi-arid archaeological sites can be used as evidence for prehistoric irrigation.
For more than 40 y, there has been an active discussion over the presence and economic importance of maize (Zea mays) during the Late Archaic period (3000-1800 B.C.) in ancient Peru. The evidence for Late Archaic maize has been limited, leading to the interpretation that it was present but used primarily for ceremonial purposes. Archaeological testing at a number of sites in the Norte Chico region of the north central coast provides a broad range of empirical data on the production, processing, and consumption of maize. New data drawn from coprolites, pollen records, and stone tool residues, combined with 126 radiocarbon dates, demonstrate that maize was widely grown, intensively processed, and constituted a primary component of the diet throughout the period from 3000 to 1800 B.C.
We present results of multiproxy analysis of a sediment core collected from Billy Slope Meadow, a spring-fed wet meadow in Range Creek Canyon, Utah. Range Creek Canyon was the home to Fremont maize farmers between roughly 1200 and 800 cal BP (AD 750–1150). Stable carbon isotope analysis of core sediments from Billy Slope Meadow indicate the Billy Slope Meadow site was used as a field for maize agriculture during that time. Some scholars have suggested the florescence of the Fremont culture may have been driven by increased summer precipitation, which improved the economic profitability of dry farming maize. But analysis of pollen, macroscopic charcoal and sediment geochemistry from Billy Slope Meadow, and a comparison with a local tree-ring chronology indicate the Fremont period in Range Creek Canyon was probably marked by reduced summer precipitation, and not an invigorated monsoon. The Fremont maize farmers of Range Creek Canyon therefore likely used winter snowpack-derived water from Range Creek for maize agriculture. This observation has significant implications, as using creek water rather than direct precipitation and runoff necessitates the construction of dams irrigation infrastructure, limited evidence for which has been reported by archaeologists working in the Fremont region.
A 3300 year-long reconstruction of paleoenvironmental moisture conditions was constructed from a sediment core from North Gate Bog (NGB) in the northern section of Range Creek Canyon within the Colorado Plateau. The methods used to analyze the record include loss on ignition (LOI), magnetic susceptibility (MS), elemental analysis with X-ray fluorescence (XRF), charcoal influx, isotopic analysis, elemental ratios and pollen percentages, influx, and ratios. This study adds two new insights to the paleoenvironmental record of the northern section of the Colorado Plateau. First, four climatic zones were established. Zone 1 (3300–2750 cal yr BP) had 100-year wet to dry variations with droughts recorded from 3300–3200, 3000–2900, and 2800–2700 cal yr BP. Zone 2 (2750–1600 cal yr BP) had an overall dry period with an 800-year transition to increased warmth and winter moisture. Zone 3 (1600–850 cal yr BP) had an overall warm, wet, summer precipitation climate conducive to the establishment of Zea Mays and Pinus edulis, two staple foods of the Fremont culture. The Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) registered warm and wet in this part of the Colorado Plateau. Zone 4 (850–0 cal yr BP) had a sharp transition to a drier climate from 850 to 400 cal yr BP. During the Little Ice Age (LIA), wetter climate taxon increases such as Artemisia, Cyperaceae, and Pinus edulis. The second overall finding in this study was that NGB was a place of human activity including Fremont farming. The identification of a Zea mays pollen grain confirms the archeological presumptions that this higher elevation site was used to farm corn along with other sites in Range Creek Canyon (RCC). The post Fremont occupation period was marked by a sharp increase in organic material and a return of pinyon-juniper woodlands.
The lowland American tropics have posed great challenges for archaeologists. Working in awkward terrain, in humid conditions where preservation is difficult, modern scholars pioneered new methods that increasingly influence archaeological practice internationally. The contributors to this volume all have substantial experience in the region. Their essays explore problems of site discovery, excavation, the preservation of artifacts and osteological and botanical remains, and methods of analysis. Specific technical innovations are discussed in relation to particular excavations.
Water availability and water management systems were critical for the success of past agricultural societies. One way to determine past water availability is through phytolith ratios as demonstrated by research conducted on modern C3 plants. In order to determine if phytolith ratios in C4 plants are similarly affected by plant water availability, the C4 plant Sorghum bicolor was experimentally grown at three different crop growing stations over a two year period in Jordan. The husks, leaves and stems of the plants grown under the 0% and 100% irrigation regimes were processed and analysed for their sensitive to fixed form phytolith ratio. These results were then compared to results of those conducted using C3 plants. Our results showed that while there were differences in ratios between growing years and the crop growing site, the greatest difference in the ratios was in irrigation regime. Our results also showed, however, that the ratio of sensitive to fixed forms for the samples taken from the husks was far higher than the ratios found in the leaves and stems and far higher than those found in previous studies on C3 grasses. We suggest that if this method is to be used to interpret archaeological phytolith assemblages, an assessment of the likely taxa and plant part composition of the assemblage should first be undertaken through phytolith and macro-botanical analysis.
Microcharcoal in soils and sediments is an ideal proxy for studying fire activity. Phytoliths in soils and sediments record the environmental conditions in which the phytoliths were formed by plants. However, our understanding of the relationships between fire activity, plant communities, and the preservation of microcharcoal and phytoliths in soils and sediments remains limited. In this study, we collected soils and sediments across a gradient of burned and unburned forest in southwest China, and analyzed the microcharcoals and phytoliths in these samples to understand the relationships between these microfossils (ratios of microcharcoal to phytolith particles (Ch/Ph)), fire activity, and vegetation cover. We show that the Ch/Ph ratios recorded fire activity and were significantly different across the gradient of burned to unburned forest. The highest and lowest ratios (0.25 and 0.01) were found in burned forest (Bs1) and unburned forest samples (Us2), respectively. The ratios gradually decreased with increasing distance from the fire. This study suggests the ratio (Ch/Ph) to be a useful proxy for studying fire activity and/or history using soils and sediments.
A range of methods have been applied to identify whether phytoliths have been heated or fired: morphological alterations, changes in colour and opacity, refractive index and Raman spectroscopy. As not all phytoliths seem to be affected in the same way, these methods are obviously limited and none provide satisfactory results for sufficient discrimination between heated/burned and unheated/unburned phytoliths. We surveyed phytoliths in soil thin sections taken from a variety of modern and archaeological contexts in Northern Europe. Newly formed phytoliths are argued to exhibit no auto-fluorescence. Our observations of combustion features and heated material revealed that phytoliths commonly appear to become auto-fluorescent upon heating. This approach, thus, complements previously developed proxies for heating and burning of phytoliths.
The complexity of maize domestication
Maize originated in what is now central Mexico about 9000 years ago and spread throughout the Americas before European contact. Kistler et al. applied genomic analysis to ancient and extant South American maize lineages to investigate the genetic changes that accompanied domestication (see the Perspective by Zeder). The origin of modern maize cultivars likely involved a “semidomesticated” lineage that moved out of Mexico. Later improvements then occurred among multiple South American populations, including those in southwestern Amazonia.
Science , this issue p. 1309 ; see also p. 1246
Humans modify their environments in ways that significantly transform the earth's ecosystems.[1-3] Recent research suggests that such niche-constructing behaviors are not passive human responses to environmental variation, but instead should be seen as active and intentional management of the environment.[4-10] Although such research is useful in highlighting the interactive dynamics between humans and their natural world, the niche-construction framework, as currently applied, fails to explain why people would decide to modify their environments in the first place.[11-13] To help resolve this problem, we use a model of technological intensification[14, 15] to analyze the cost-benefit trade-offs associated with niche construction as a form of patch investment. We use this model to assess the costs and benefits of three paradigmatic cases of intentional niche construction in Western North America: the application of fire in acorn groves, the manufacture of fishing weirs, and the adoption of maize agriculture. Intensification models predict that investing in patch modification (niche construction) only provides a net benefit when the amount of resources needed crosses a critical threshold that makes the initial investment worthwhile. From this, it follows that low-cost investments, such as burning in oak groves, should be quite common, while more costly investments, such as maize agriculture, should be less common and depend on the alternatives available in the local environment. We examine how patterns of mobility,[16] risk management,[17] territoriality,[12] and private property[18] also co-evolve with the costs and benefits of niche construction. This approach illustrates that explaining niche-constructing behavior requires understanding the economic trade-offs involved in patch investment. Integrating concepts from niche construction and technological intensification models within a behavioral ecological framework provides insights into the coevolution and active feedback between adaptive behaviors and environmental change across human history.
This paper describes a geospatial model that was developed to be the basis for applying models from human behavioural ecology (HBE). Specifically, the logic of the ideal free distribution (IFD) is narrowed and applied to the post-colonisation spread of intensive agriculture in order to predict the order and locations of its expansion. The island of Rapa, Austral Islands, is used to highlight the utility of this method. Rapa is an ideal location due to the prominent use of intensive irrigated taro agriculture and its role in explanations of the social development of territoriality on the island. The use of similar geospatial models has wider implications for island archaeology in furthering the understanding of diachronic settlement patterns. Ce document décrit un modèle géo-spatiale qui a été développé pour être la base de l'application de modèles de l'ecologie comportementale humaine (HBE, en anglais). Plus précisément, la logique de la distribution idéale libre (DIL) est rétrécie et appliquée à la propagation post-colonisation de l'agriculture intensive afin de prédire l'ordre et l'emplacement de son expansion. L’île de Rapa, dans les îles Australes, est utilisée comme moyen pour mettre en évidence l'utilité de cette méthode. Rapa est un emplacement idéal en raison de l'importante utilisation de l'agriculture intensive d'irrigation du taro et son rôle dans les explications du développement social de la territorialité de l’île. L'utilisation de modèles géo-spatiaux similaires a des implications plus larges pour l'archéologie insulaire dans la poursuite de la compréhension des modes d’établissement diachroniques.
Runoff and erosion processes in desert watersheds were investigated by studying ancient irrigation systems discovered in the 100 mm rainfall region of the central Negev. Catchments delivering flood waters to these areas ranged in size from small plots to large watersheds. Runoff from small watersheds (less than 50 ha) varied from 4-12 mm year-1 compared to 0.5-2.5 mm year-1 for large watersheds (greater than 1000 ha). Even in extreme drought years, small watersheds produced at least 1.4 mm of runoff, while large watersheds experienced "dry" years (i.e. without any runoff event) about once in every three years. Ancient irrigation systems using runoff from small watersheds were much more efficient "water-harvesting" projects than those diverting flash flood flows from large watersheds. Rates of erosion from small watersheds averaged 3.6 mm century-1 (541 km-2 year-1), originating mainly as sheet erosion on the hillsides. Rates of erosion from large watersheds, where main wadis are stable broad depressions with deep loessial soils and a good winter vegetation cover, are about 4.6 mm century-1 (701 km-2 year-1). In large watersheds where wadi incision and headcutting processes are active, rates of erosion can be expected to range from 7.6-12.6 mm century-1 (115-180 t km-2 year-1).
The formation of discrete ‘tablets’ of hydrated silica in the bulliform cells of the leaf blade was followed over a 16-day period in three species of the Gramineae representing different habitats. Seedlings of Oryza sativa (rice) and Cynodon dactylon (Bermuda Grass) were cultured under growth-cabinet conditions at levels of 50 and 500 ppm dissolved silica (SiO2) in the nutrient solution. In addition, bulliform deposition was studied in mature tiller leaves of Sieglingia decumbens (Heath Grass). Attached leaves, as well as those excised from the culm, were used.
Initial stages of tablet formation were observed by the 2-day harvest in the central and basal zones of the fully expanded seedling blades. Deposition did not occur at a stage when bulliform turgor changes might influence blade evolvement. At the 16-day harvest, deposition was heaviest in the tip zone, and decreased progressively towards the base of the blade. In addition, proportionately higher tablet counts (P = 0.05) generally were absent from the leaves grown at the higher silica level. This indicated a limited availability of deposition sites.
These results are discussed in relation to (i) cellular maturation; (ii) internal leaf anatomy; (iii) leaf expansion; (iv) a basipetal senescence gradient within the leaf blade. Certain of these are considered to be possible limiting factors to silica deposition in the grass leaf.
The types of opaline silica-bodies (opal phytoliths) which occur in the mature prophylls, radical and culm leaves, culms, and inflorescence bracts of rye (Secale cereale L.) are described and figured. Silica-bodies are absent from the coleoptile, and the adaxial epidermis of the prophylls, leaf sheaths, and inflorescence bracts. The stages of silica-body formation in young radical leaf sheaths are also described. Alternative hypotheses for the origin of silica-bodies are discussed.
In the shoots of vascular plants, silica is deposited as amorphous silica gel, SiO2 · nH2O. It occurs in many plant families including the scouring rushes or horsetails (Equisetaceae), grasses (Poaceae), sedges (Cyperaceae), ginger family (Zingiberaceae), spiderworts (Commelina- ceae), nettles (Urticaceae), elm family (Ulmaceae), vervain family (Ver- benaceae), hemp family (Cannabaceae), and pea family (Fabaceae). A much more comprehensive and complete listing is found in Voronkov et al. (1975). In many of the plants in these families, silica is deposited in hairs (or trichomes). However, it may also occur in stomata, ordinary epidermal cells, and in specialized silica cells in grasses. Silica also occurs in other tissues internal to the epidermis in leaves, stems, roots, and reproductive structures. The groups of plants that accumulate significant amounts of silica in their shoots, which we shall call “silica rich,” include the scouring rushes or horsetails, grasses, and sedges.
As the Chimu empire (ca. AD. 900-1470) expanded along the north coast of Peru, it employed a mix of direct and indirect strategies to administer conquered populations. In order to investigate the extent to which Chimu conquest reshaped daily life in the provinces, I explore evidence from Pedregal, a rural farming village in the Jequetepeque Valley. I use cuisine as a window onto daily life at Pedregal, in order to construct a "view from the kitchen" of Chimu expansion. Excavation data from Pedregal households indicate that production of agricultural staples such as corn and cotton intensified during the Chimu period, but that while the focus of household culinary practice shifted, the overall range of household activities remained the same. The Chimu seem to have been able to establish political control and intensify agricultural production in conquered provinces without a radical reorganization of rural domestic economies. These findings have implications not only for emerging models of Chimu imperial expansion, but also for our understanding of how household-level change and continuity are articulated with regional political and economic processes.
Variation in the costs and benefits of maize agriculture relative to local foraging opportunities structured variation in the relative intensity of agricultural strategies pursued by prehistoric peoples in the American Southwest. The material remains of Fremont farmers and horticulturists, long identified as the "northern periphery" of Southwestern archaeological traditions, tire examined as a case representing extreme intersite variation in the economic importance of farming. New data quantifying the energetic gains associated with maize agriculture in Latin America tire compared to caloric return rates for hunting and collecting indigenous foods. These data suggest that prehistoric maize farming was economically comparable to manic local wild plants, but that intensive farming practices were most similar to very low-ranked seeds. The model predicts a continuum of prehistoric strategies that included horticulture within: a system of indigenous resource collection and high residential mobility at one end, and at the other sedentary farmers heavily invested in agricultural activities with residences maintained near fields during a significant portion of the growing season. Differences in agricultural strategies should have been: strongly influenced by the effects of local ecology on the marginal gains for time spent in maize fields and the abundant a of kept high-ranked gild foods, not harvest yields per se. Increasing agricultural investments are expected with decreasing opportunities to collect higher-ranked foods, while decreases in time spent farming are expected only with increases in alternative economic opportunities.
This preliminary phytolith and charcoal study of sediments from the Amazon Fan (Sites 932 and 933) shows changes that appear to reflect widespread climatic and vegetational oscillations in Amazonia over the last 75 k.y. The Pleistocene climate was much cooler than that of the present day, as arboreal taxa now confined mainly to elevations above 1200 m descended into the lowlands to form forests with novel species associations. The last glacial maximum appears to have been a significantly drier time than the postglacial era, with advance of open terrain vegetation, frequent grassland fire, and reduction of the sea-sonal forest. Forest and grassland fires have a deep history in the Amazon Basin. Data from the Amazon Fan support many of the interpretations of the Pleistocene in Amazonia based on paleobotanical study of scattered terrestrial sites.
The New World tropical forest is now considered to be an early and independent cradle of agriculture. As in other areas of the world, our understanding of this issue has been significantly advanced by a steady stream of archaeobotanical, paleoecological, and molecular/genetic data. Also importantly, a renewed focus on formulating testable theories and explanations for the transition from foraging to food production has led to applications from subdisciplines of ecology, economy, and evolution not previously applied to agricultural origins. Most recently, the integration of formerly separated disciplines, such as developmental and evolutionary biology, is causing reconsiderations of how novel phenotypes, including domesticated species, originate and the influence of artificial selection on the domestication process. It is becoming clear that the more interesting question may be the origins of plant cultivation rather than the origins of agriculture. This paper reviews this body of evidence and assesses current views about how and why domestication and plant food production arose.
Silica phytoliths preserved in three loess sections in southeastern Washington State revealed a 100 000-year history of the Columbia Basin grassland. Changes in the proportion of different morphotypes indicate large shifts in vegetation composition during the last 100 ka. A low-elevation section (677 m asl) near the center of the basin provided a record of alternating xeric Festuca–Poa and mesic Festuca–Koeleria grassland. The middle-slope section (1095 m asl) supported Picea–Abies or Pinus ponderosa forest or non-analog parkland at different times. Some trees were present at or near the site even during the Last Glacial Maximum. The highest site (1220 m asl) supported Stipa-, Festuca- and Poa-dominated grassland with some Artemisia shrub during most of the late Pleistocene, but supports a coniferous forest today. Variations in vegetation can be explained as a response to changes in large-scale climatic controls. Grasslands and shrub steppe were apparently more widespread and forests more restricted than today during the marine isotope stages 2 and 4, probably as a result of cooler and drier conditions. The three new records are well correlated with previously published paleo-reconstructions based on phytolith, cicada burrow and stable isotope data from a nearby KP-1 loess section, Carp Lake pollen record, and global ice volume variations.
At least two major views of agro-ecosystem change can be recognized–systematic and incremental. Systematic change involves the addition of new fields and associated features that are constructed completely prior to cultivation; incremental change involves gradual transformation of fields and features in conjunction with cultivation. The systematic view has been the more dominant of the two, particularly as applied to interpretations of past agro-ecosystems. Using present-day data on temporales or runoff-dependent fields in eastern Sonora, Mexico, this study describes one case of incremental agro-ecosystem change. Small, individual fields are developed into a more complex system by progressive modification resulting from the cumulative actions of individual farmers. In this case, the resulting constructional form of the agro-ecosystem alone does not allow assessment of the process of its development. Interpretations of past agro-ecosystems should recognize that both change processes are possible.
Water availability and water management have been critical to the ecology of prehistoric agriculture. Grasses (Gramineae) in general and cereals in particular are among the plants with the highest deposition of opal silica both inside the cells and also in the intercellular space (as discrete bodies called phytoliths). This study attempts to establish a correlation between biogenic opal silica from cereals and the plant-water conditions under which it has formed. A two-step experimental process was developed to check phytolith production (fixed and sensitive forms) under different conditions of water availability and to understand water binding in the opal silica reticule. The first results presented from this study show that there is some variability in phytolith production according to the water regime under which the plant grew and sensitive forms show to be directly influenced by the water regime at least in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and 2-row barley (Hordeum distichon). Also, phytolith X-ray analysis of T. aestivum shows that chemical bounding of water molecules in the biogenic opal matrix of the sensitive forms is associated with water availability during the plant growth.