Mano size,stable carbon isotope ratios,and macrobotanical remains as multiple lines of evidence of maize dependence in the American southwest |
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Authors: | Robert J Hard Raymond P Mauldin Gerry R Raymond |
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Institution: | (1) Center for Archaeological Research and Division of Behavioral and Cultural Sciences, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 78249 San Antonio, Texas;(2) Anthropological Research Center, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at El Paso, 79931 El Paso, Texas;(3) Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 87131 Albuquerque, New Mexico |
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Abstract: | While the level of agricultural dependence affects many aspects of human adaptation, estimating levels of dependence on maize through traditional archaeological techniques is problematic. Here we compare various measurements of manos (e.g., grinding surface area), macrobotanical evidence of maize use, and human collagen stable carbon isotope values from six regions of the American Southwest, encompassing 16 phases, as a means of assessing the power and limits of each approach for considering agricultural dependence. The analysis of each data class is considered separately, taking into account formation processes and arguments linking data and inferences. Correlations among the three data classes suggest that mano area and maize ubiquity can be considered ordinal measures of agricultural dependence, but Southwestern stable carbon isotope data have the analytical potential only to discriminate between little or no maize use and substantial maize use. The formation processes and linking arguments associated with each method must be considered when multiple lines of evidence are integrated in order to make sound behavioral inferences. Our results suggest that there were at least three patterns in the adoption of farming in the Southwest: early substantial use followed by continuous increasing maize dependence, initial intensive dependence with little change in later periods, and a long period of minor use followed by substantial dependence. |
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Keywords: | maize ground stone stable carbon isotope analysis paleoethnobotany prehistoric subsistence American Southwest multiple lines of evidence formation processes |
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