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Domic AI, VanDerwarker AM, Thakar HB, Hirth K, Capriles JM, Harper TK, Scheffler TE, Kistler L, Kennett DJ. Archaeobotanical evidence supports indigenous cucurbit long-term use in the Mesoamerican Neotropics. Sci Rep 2024; 14:10885. [PMID: 38740801 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60723-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2023] [Accepted: 04/26/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024] Open
Abstract
The squash family (Cucurbitaceae) contains some of the most important crops cultivated worldwide and has played an important ecological, economic, and cultural role for millennia. In the American tropics, squashes were among the first cultivated crop species, but little is known about how their domestication unfolded. Here, we employ direct radiocarbon dating and morphological analyses of desiccated cucurbit seeds, rinds, and stems from El Gigante Rockshelter in Honduras to reconstruct human practices of selection and cultivation of Lagenaria siceraria, Cucurbita pepo, and Cucurbita moschata. Direct radiocarbon dating indicates that humans started using Lagenaria and wild Cucurbita starting ~ 10,950 calendar years before present (cal B.P.), primarily as watertight vessels and possibly as cooking and drinking containers. A rind directly dated to 11,150-10,765 cal B.P. represents the oldest known bottle gourd in the Americas. Domesticated C. moschata subsequently appeared ~ 4035 cal B.P., followed by domesticated C. pepo ~ 2190 cal B.P. associated with increasing evidence for their use as food crops. Multivariate statistical analysis of seed size and shape show that the archaeological C. pepo assemblage exhibits significant variability, representing at least three varieties: one similar to present-day zucchini, another like present-day vegetable marrow, and a native cultivar without modern analogs. Our archaeobotanical data supports the hypothesis that Indigenous cucurbit use started in the Early Holocene, and that agricultural complexity during the Late Holocene involved selective breeding that encouraged crop diversification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra I Domic
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
- Department of Geosciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
| | - Amber M VanDerwarker
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
| | - Heather B Thakar
- Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Kenneth Hirth
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Thomas K Harper
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | | | - Logan Kistler
- Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Douglas J Kennett
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
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Capriles JM, García M, Valenzuela D, Domic AI, Kistler L, Rothhammer F, Santoro CM. Pre-Columbian cultivation of vegetatively propagated and fruit tree tropical crops in the Atacama Desert. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.993630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
South America is a megadiverse continent that witnessed the domestication, translocation and cultivation of various plant species from seemingly contrasting ecosystems. It was the recipient and supplier of crops brought to and from Mesoamerica (such as maize and cacao, respectively), and Polynesia to where the key staple crop sweet potato was exported. Not every instance of the trans-ecological expansion of cultivated plants (both domesticated and wild), however, resulted in successful farming. Here, we review the transregional circulation and introduction of five food tropical crops originated in the tropical and humid valleys of the eastern Andes—achira, cassava, ahipa, sweet potato, and pacay—to the hyper-arid coastal valleys of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, where they have been found in early archeological sites. By means of an evaluation of the contexts of their deposition and supported by direct radiocarbon dating, stable isotopes analyses, and starch grain analysis, we evaluate different hypotheses for explaining their introduction and adaptation to the hyper-arid soils of northern Chile, by societal groups that after the introduction of cultigens still retained a strong dependence on marine hunting, gathering and fishing ways of life based on wide variety of marine coast resources. Many of the studied plants were part of a broader package of introduced goods and technological devices and procedures, linked to food, therapeutic medicine, social and ritual purposes that transformed previous hunter-gatherer social, economic, and ideological institutions. Based on archeological data, we discuss some of the possible socio-ecological processes involved in the development of agricultural landscapes including the adoption of tropical crops originated several hundred kilometers away from the Atacama Desert during the Late Holocene.
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3
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Bird D, Miranda L, Vander Linden M, Robinson E, Bocinsky RK, Nicholson C, Capriles JM, Finley JB, Gayo EM, Gil A, d'Alpoim Guedes J, Hoggarth JA, Kay A, Loftus E, Lombardo U, Mackie M, Palmisano A, Solheim S, Kelly RL, Freeman J. p3k14c, a synthetic global database of archaeological radiocarbon dates. Sci Data 2022; 9:27. [PMID: 35087092 PMCID: PMC8795199 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01118-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Accepted: 12/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Archaeologists increasingly use large radiocarbon databases to model prehistoric human demography (also termed paleo-demography). Numerous independent projects, funded over the past decade, have assembled such databases from multiple regions of the world. These data provide unprecedented potential for comparative research on human population ecology and the evolution of social-ecological systems across the Earth. However, these databases have been developed using different sample selection criteria, which has resulted in interoperability issues for global-scale, comparative paleo-demographic research and integration with paleoclimate and paleoenvironmental data. We present a synthetic, global-scale archaeological radiocarbon database composed of 180,070 radiocarbon dates that have been cleaned according to a standardized sample selection criteria. This database increases the reusability of archaeological radiocarbon data and streamlines quality control assessments for various types of paleo-demographic research. As part of an assessment of data quality, we conduct two analyses of sampling bias in the global database at multiple scales. This database is ideal for paleo-demographic research focused on dates-as-data, bayesian modeling, or summed probability distribution methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Darcy Bird
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany.
- Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman, USA.
| | - Lux Miranda
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA
| | - Marc Vander Linden
- Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK
| | - Erick Robinson
- Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, Boise, USA
| | - R Kyle Bocinsky
- Montana Climate Office, WA Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, Missoula, USA
| | - Chris Nicholson
- Center for Digital Antiquity, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, USA
| | - José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA
| | | | - Eugenia M Gayo
- Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES) & Nucleo Milenio UPWELL, Santiago, Chile
| | - Adolfo Gil
- Instituto de Evolución, Ecología Histórica y Ambiente (CONICET & UTN), Mendoza, Argentina
| | - Jade d'Alpoim Guedes
- Department of Anthropology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California - San Diego, San Diego, USA
| | - Julie A Hoggarth
- Department of Anthropology & Institute of Archaeology, Baylor University, Waco, USA
| | - Andrea Kay
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena, Germany
| | - Emma Loftus
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Madeline Mackie
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Weber State University, Ogden, USA
| | - Alessio Palmisano
- Department of Ancient History, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
| | - Steinar Solheim
- Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Robert L Kelly
- Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, USA
| | - Jacob Freeman
- Anthropology Program, Utah State University, Logan, USA.
- The Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, USA.
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4
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Domic AI, Capriles JM. Distribution shifts in habitat suitability and hotspot refugia of Andean tree species from the last glacial maximum to the Anthropocene. Neotropical Biodiversity 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/23766808.2021.1957652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra I. Domic
- Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University City, PA, USA
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University City, PA, USA
- Herbario Nacional de Bolivia – Instituto de Ecología, La Paz, Bolivia
| | - José M. Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University City, PA, USA
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5
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Capriles JM. Fitzpatrick, Scott M. (ed.). Ancient psychoactive substances. xii, 328 pp., maps, tables, illus., bibliogrs. Gainesville: Univ. Press of Florida, 2018. £90.50 (cloth). J R Anthropol Inst 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/1467-9655.13377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Nakatsuka N, Lazaridis I, Barbieri C, Skoglund P, Rohland N, Mallick S, Posth C, Harkins-Kinkaid K, Ferry M, Harney É, Michel M, Stewardson K, Novak-Forst J, Capriles JM, Durruty MA, Álvarez KA, Beresford-Jones D, Burger R, Cadwallader L, Fujita R, Isla J, Lau G, Aguirre CL, LeBlanc S, Maldonado SC, Meddens F, Messineo PG, Culleton BJ, Harper TK, Quilter J, Politis G, Rademaker K, Reindel M, Rivera M, Salazar L, Sandoval JR, Santoro CM, Scheifler N, Standen V, Barreto MI, Espinoza IF, Tomasto-Cagigao E, Valverde G, Kennett DJ, Cooper A, Krause J, Haak W, Llamas B, Reich D, Fehren-Schmitz L. A Paleogenomic Reconstruction of the Deep Population History of the Andes. Cell 2020; 181:1131-1145.e21. [PMID: 32386546 PMCID: PMC7304944 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2019] [Revised: 01/11/2020] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
There are many unanswered questions about the population history of the Central and South Central Andes, particularly regarding the impact of large-scale societies, such as the Moche, Wari, Tiwanaku, and Inca. We assembled genome-wide data on 89 individuals dating from ∼9,000-500 years ago (BP), with a particular focus on the period of the rise and fall of state societies. Today's genetic structure began to develop by 5,800 BP, followed by bi-directional gene flow between the North and South Highlands, and between the Highlands and Coast. We detect minimal admixture among neighboring groups between ∼2,000-500 BP, although we do detect cosmopolitanism (people of diverse ancestries living side-by-side) in the heartlands of the Tiwanaku and Inca polities. We also highlight cases of long-range mobility connecting the Andes to Argentina and the Northwest Andes to the Amazon Basin. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan Nakatsuka
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Iosif Lazaridis
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Chiara Barbieri
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany; Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich 8057, Switzerland
| | | | - Nadin Rohland
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Swapan Mallick
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02446, USA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Cosimo Posth
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | | | - Matthew Ferry
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02446, USA
| | - Éadaoin Harney
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02446, USA
| | - Megan Michel
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02446, USA
| | - Kristin Stewardson
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02446, USA
| | - Jannine Novak-Forst
- UCSC Paleogenomics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
| | - José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Marta Alfonso Durruty
- Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA
| | | | - David Beresford-Jones
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK
| | - Richard Burger
- Department of Anthropology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Lauren Cadwallader
- Office of Scholarly Communication, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge CB3 9DR, UK
| | - Ricardo Fujita
- Centro de Genética y Biología Molecular, Facultdad de Medicina, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima 15011, Peru
| | - Johny Isla
- Peruvian Ministry of Culture, DDC Ica, Directos of the Nasca-Palpa Management Plan, Calle Juan Matta 880, Nasca 11401, Peru
| | - George Lau
- Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Carlos Lémuz Aguirre
- Carrera de Arqueología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Edificio Facultad de Ciencias Sociales 3er Piso, La Paz 1995, Bolivia
| | - Steven LeBlanc
- Harvard Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Sergio Calla Maldonado
- Carrera de Arqueología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Edificio Facultad de Ciencias Sociales 3er Piso, La Paz 1995, Bolivia
| | - Frank Meddens
- School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AH, UK
| | - Pablo G Messineo
- INCUAPA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Olavarría 7400, Argentina
| | - Brendan J Culleton
- Institutes for Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Thomas K Harper
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Jeffrey Quilter
- Harvard Peabody Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Gustavo Politis
- INCUAPA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Olavarría 7400, Argentina
| | - Kurt Rademaker
- Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
| | - Markus Reindel
- Commission for Archaeology of Non-European Cultures, German Archaeological Institute, Berlin 14195, Germany
| | - Mario Rivera
- Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas 6210427, Chile; Field Museum Natural History 1400 S Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605, USA
| | - Lucy Salazar
- McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Downing St., Cambridge, CB2 3ER, UK
| | - José R Sandoval
- Centro de Genética y Biología Molecular, Facultdad de Medicina, Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Lima 15011, Peru
| | - Calogero M Santoro
- Instituto de Alta Investigation, Universidad de Tarapaca, Antafogasta 1520, Arica, 1000000, Chile
| | - Nahuel Scheifler
- INCUAPA-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Olavarría 7400, Argentina
| | - Vivien Standen
- Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Tarapacá, Antafogasta 1520, Arica, 1000000, Chile
| | - Maria Ines Barreto
- Museo de Sitio Huaca Pucllana, Calle General Borgoño, Cuadra 8, Miraflores, Lima 18, Peru
| | - Isabel Flores Espinoza
- Museo de Sitio Huaca Pucllana, Calle General Borgoño, Cuadra 8, Miraflores, Lima 18, Peru
| | - Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao
- Department of Humanities, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, San Miguel 15088, Peru
| | - Guido Valverde
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Douglas J Kennett
- Institutes for Energy and the Environment, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Alan Cooper
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Johannes Krause
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Haak
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena 07745, Germany
| | - Bastien Llamas
- Australian Centre for Ancient DNA, School of Biological Sciences and The Environment Institute, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - David Reich
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02446, USA; Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
| | - Lars Fehren-Schmitz
- UCSC Paleogenomics, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA; UCSC Genomics Institute, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
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Lombardo U, Iriarte J, Hilbert L, Ruiz-Pérez J, Capriles JM, Veit H. Early Holocene crop cultivation and landscape modification in Amazonia. Nature 2020; 581:190-193. [PMID: 32404996 PMCID: PMC7250647 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2162-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2019] [Accepted: 02/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
The beginning of plant cultivation is one of the most important cultural
transitions in human history1–4. Based on
molecular markers showing the genetic similarities between domesticated plants
and wild relatives, south-western Amazonia has been proposed as one of the early
centres of plant domestication4–6. However,
the nature of the early human occupation and the history of plant cultivation in
south-western Amazonia are still little understood. Here, we document the
cultivation of Cucurbita at ca. 10,250 cal yr BP,
Manihot at ca. 10,350 cal yr BP and Zea
mays at ca. 6,850 cal yr BP in the Llanos de Moxos. We show that,
starting ca. 10,850 cal yr BP, pre-Columbians created an anthropic landscape
made of approximately 4,700 artificial forest islands within a treeless
seasonally flooded savannah. Our results confirm the Llanos de Moxos as a
hotspot for early plant cultivation and demonstrate that ever since their
arrival, humans have caused a profound alteration of Amazonian landscapes, with
lasting repercussions for habitat heterogeneity and species conservation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - José Iriarte
- Department of Archaeology, College of Humanities, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Lautaro Hilbert
- Laboratório de Arqueologia dos Trópicos, Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Javier Ruiz-Pérez
- CaSEs - Culture and Socio-Ecological Dynamics Research Group, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
| | - José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.,Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas y Arqueológicas, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
| | - Heinz Veit
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
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8
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Stephens L, Fuller D, Boivin N, Rick T, Gauthier N, Kay A, Marwick B, Armstrong CG, Barton CM, Denham T, Douglass K, Driver J, Janz L, Roberts P, Rogers JD, Thakar H, Altaweel M, Johnson AL, Sampietro Vattuone MM, Aldenderfer M, Archila S, Artioli G, Bale MT, Beach T, Borrell F, Braje T, Buckland PI, Jiménez Cano NG, Capriles JM, Diez Castillo A, Çilingiroğlu Ç, Negus Cleary M, Conolly J, Coutros PR, Covey RA, Cremaschi M, Crowther A, Der L, di Lernia S, Doershuk JF, Doolittle WE, Edwards KJ, Erlandson JM, Evans D, Fairbairn A, Faulkner P, Feinman G, Fernandes R, Fitzpatrick SM, Fyfe R, Garcea E, Goldstein S, Goodman RC, Dalpoim Guedes J, Herrmann J, Hiscock P, Hommel P, Horsburgh KA, Hritz C, Ives JW, Junno A, Kahn JG, Kaufman B, Kearns C, Kidder TR, Lanoë F, Lawrence D, Lee GA, Levin MJ, Lindskoug HB, López-Sáez JA, Macrae S, Marchant R, Marston JM, McClure S, McCoy MD, Miller AV, Morrison M, Motuzaite Matuzeviciute G, Müller J, Nayak A, Noerwidi S, Peres TM, Peterson CE, Proctor L, Randall AR, Renette S, Robbins Schug G, Ryzewski K, Saini R, Scheinsohn V, Schmidt P, Sebillaud P, Seitsonen O, Simpson IA, Sołtysiak A, Speakman RJ, Spengler RN, Steffen ML, Storozum MJ, Strickland KM, Thompson J, Thurston TL, Ulm S, Ustunkaya MC, Welker MH, West C, Williams PR, Wright DK, Wright N, Zahir M, Zerboni A, Beaudoin E, Munevar Garcia S, Powell J, Thornton A, Kaplan JO, Gaillard MJ, Klein Goldewijk K, Ellis E. Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use. Science 2019; 365:897-902. [DOI: 10.1126/science.aax1192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 237] [Impact Index Per Article: 47.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
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9
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Miller MJ, Albarracin-Jordan J, Moore C, Capriles JM. Chemical evidence for the use of multiple psychotropic plants in a 1,000-year-old ritual bundle from South America. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019; 116:11207-11212. [PMID: 31061128 PMCID: PMC6561276 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1902174116] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Over several millennia, various native plant species in South America have been used for their healing and psychoactive properties. Chemical analysis of archaeological artifacts provides an opportunity to study the use of psychoactive plants in the past and to better understand ancient botanical knowledge systems. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to analyze organic residues from a ritual bundle, radiocarbon dated to approximately 1,000 C.E., recovered from archaeological excavations in a rock shelter located in the Lípez Altiplano of southwestern Bolivia. The site is located at an elevation of ∼3,900 m above sea level and contains evidence of intermittent human occupations during the last 4,000 years. Chemical traces of bufotenine, dimethyltryptamine, harmine, and cocaine, including its degradation product benzoylecgonine, were identified, suggesting that at least three plants containing these compounds were part of the shamanic paraphernalia dating back 1,000 years ago, the largest number of compounds recovered from a single artifact from this area of the world, to date. This is also a documented case of a ritual bundle containing both harmine and dimethyltryptamine, the two primary ingredients of ayahuasca. The presence of multiple plants that come from disparate and distant ecological areas in South America suggests that hallucinogenic plants moved across significant distances and that an intricate botanical knowledge was intrinsic to pre-Columbian ritual practices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melanie J Miller
- Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin 9016, New Zealand;
- Archaeological Research Facility, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720
| | - Juan Albarracin-Jordan
- Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas y Arqueológicas, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
| | | | - José M Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
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10
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Capriles JM, Lombardo U, Maley B, Zuna C, Veit H, Kennett DJ. Persistent Early to Middle Holocene tropical foraging in southwestern Amazonia. Sci Adv 2019; 5:eaav5449. [PMID: 31032413 PMCID: PMC6482008 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav5449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Accepted: 03/07/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The Amazon witnessed the emergence of complex societies after 2500 years ago that altered tropical landscapes through intensive agriculture and managed aquatic systems. However, very little is known about the context and conditions that preceded these social and environmental transformations. Here, we demonstrate that forest islands in the Llanos de Moxos of southwestern Amazonia contain human burials and represent the earliest settlements in the region between 10,600 and 4000 years ago. These archaeological sites and their contents represent the earliest evidence of communities that experienced conditions conducive to engaging with food production such as environmental stability, resource disturbance, and increased territoriality in the Amazonian tropical lowlands.
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Affiliation(s)
- José M. Capriles
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile
| | | | - Blaine Maley
- Department of Anatomy, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Meridian, ID 83642, USA
| | - Carlos Zuna
- Carrera de Arqueología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia
| | - Heinz Veit
- Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Douglas J. Kennett
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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Santoro CM, Castro V, Capriles JM, Barraza J, Correa J, Marquet PA, McRostie V, Gayo EM, Latorre C, Valenzuela D, Uribe M, de Porras ME, Standen VG, Angelo D, Maldonado A, Hamamé E, Jofré D. ACTA DE TARAPACÁ: “PUEBLO SIN AGUA, PUEBLO MUERTO”. Chungará (Arica) 2018. [DOI: 10.4067/s0717-73562018000200169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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Capriles JM, Santoro CM, Dillehay TD. Harsh Environments and the Terminal Pleistocene Peopling of the Andean Highlands. Current Anthropology 2016. [DOI: 10.1086/684694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
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Domic AI, Camilo GR, Capriles JM. Small-scale Farming and Grazing Reduce Regeneration ofPolylepis tomentella(Rosaceae) in the Semiarid Andes of Bolivia. Biotropica 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/btp.12075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Alejandra I. Domic
- Department of Biology; Saint Louis University; Saint Louis MO 63130 U.S.A
- Herbario Nacional de Bolivia; Universidad Mayor de San Andrés; La Paz Bolivia
| | - Gerardo R. Camilo
- Department of Biology; Saint Louis University; Saint Louis MO 63130 U.S.A
| | - José M. Capriles
- Instituto de Alta Investigación; Universidad de Tarapacá; Antofagasta 1520, Casilla 6-D Arica Chile
- Centro de Investigaciones del Hombre en el Desierto (CIHDE); Av. General Velásquez 1775 Arica Chile
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Capriles JM, Calla Maldonado S, Albarracín-Jordán J. TECNOLOGÍA LÍTICA Y ESTRATEGIAS DE SUBSISTENCIA DURANTE LOS PERÍODOS ARCAICO Y FORMATIVO EN EL ALTIPLANO CENTRAL, BOLIVIA. Chungará (Arica) 2011. [DOI: 10.4067/s0717-73562011000300008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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